Evan Noon stepping a GVSU defender
Following an inspirational win by the first team, an eager second side took to the field against Grand Valley State’s second side sprinkled with a few first team starters as well as the UMRFC’s Ben Clemens. Within minutes, the killer B’s got their first scoring opportunity. A penalty on GVSU allowed the ball to fall in the hands of the back line where textbook passing between Steve Offringa and Mark Borowski led to an Offringa try. A missed conversion kept the score 5-0.
Offringa with the opening try
Shortly after, the Lakers found themselves in Michigan territory via several series with positive gains. Michigan came up with a big stop and sent the GVSU ball carrier out of bounds, however, a crooked lineout throw gave possession to the GVSU who would eventually pound the ball into the try zone. A missed conversion by the Lakers left the score tied at 5-5.
Keeping up with the eventful start, Michigan gradually got the ball within yards of the try zone. After several crashes, Sergio Rocha would find an opening in the Laker defense, which would make the score 12-5 after an Evan Noon conversion.
Sergio Rocha touching down right of the posts
Still on the attack, Michigan found themselves in Laker territory right before the end of the 30 minute half. The UMRFC’s John Palladino muscled his way through several tacklers to set up a crash ball to the forwards. After a couple failed attempts to get into the try zone, Ben Shapiro ran through an opening to score his first ever try. With a missed conversion, the score was 17-5 in favor of the Maize and Blue.
In the second half, Grand Valley cut the 12 point deficit to 7 points after a Laker found open space following a broken tackle. Penalties on GVSU would come back to hurt them though as they lead to a Cam Watson dash to the corner of the end zone for his first ever try. The match started to look lop-sided once Evan Noon drilled a conversion from the sidelines to put the score at 24-10.
A relentless GVSU squad, however, would eventually take the lead with 3 consecutive tries to bring the score to 25-24. More missed conversions would come back to haunt them though once Evan Noon broke up the middle with only minutes to spare and converted his own try. The final score: Michigan 31, GVSU 25.
1. Evan Rourke
2. Scott Miller
3. Ben Shapiro
4. Matt Pilon
5. Cole Van Harn
6. David Hitzlik
7. Cameron Scott Watson
8. Sergio Rocha
9. Colin Ward
10. Evan Noon
11. Brandon Gardner
12. John Palladino
13. Forrest Gilfoy
14. Mark Borowski
15. Steven Offringa
16. Benjamin Clemens
17. Dustin DeMink
18. Brent Dreaver
19. Oliver Gregerson
Tries: Offringa 3′, Rocha 20′, Shapiro 27′, Watson 45′, Noon 55′
Cons: Noon 21′, 45′, 56′
