Chening Duker reaches for the ball during a lineout.
Michigan fell to the WMU Broncos this past Saturday in a hard fought game in Kalamazoo, just barely losing in the last minutes of what was certainly an enjoyable game to watch and play in.
WMU came out to a strong start with hard running and hit holes in the Michigan defensive line. They picked up the first score of the game quickly, scoring a try at 4’ with a good conversion to take the early lead. The Broncos followed this up with a second try a few minutes later but missed the conversion to put them up 12-0 over Michigan. Michigan however was not about to give up and rallied, making harder tackles, runs, and rucks. They finally got on the board as Stuart Starkweather crashed the ball in for the try half way through the first half. Joel Conzelman’s conversion was no good, making the score 12-5. The Wolverines kept up the hard play through the half and finally on the last play of the first half Jared Bosma was able to drive through his tacklers and fall in for the try. Conzelman’s conversion was good to make it a tie game at 12-12.
Michigan came out in the second half with a great deal of intensity and immediately pushed the Broncos down to their own try zone. After a few phases, Brennen Arnett picked the ball and crashed in, powering the ball through the WMU line for the try. Conzelman’s conversion was good to put the Wolverines up 19-12. The Broncos responded to Michigan’s scoring spree with one of their own, putting up two tries in relatively rapid succession, getting one at 47’ and 55’. Both conversions were no good. Christian Mentzer had the next score for the Wolverines, able to make a hard run through his old team’s defensive line, giving Michigan the lead at 24-22. However WMU was able to score a late try at 76’ as they pieced together hard fought phases and good runs to push the Wolverines to their try zone and score. The conversion was no good, making the score 27-24. Michigan put all of their effort into a last minute drive in an attempt to respond. They looked to be close to scoring as they made it all the way to the Bronco’s try zone but unfortunately right in front of the try line the ball was stripped from Michigan. WMU kicked the ball out to end the game.
Michigan will look to make up for this loss tomorrow against Oakland University.
- Nick Fehrman
- Evan Rourke
- Brennan Arnett
- Stuart Starkweather
- Drew Vecchio
- Kenny Andutan (Pilon 73’)
- Chening Duker (Sawyer 70’)
- Cole Van Harn (LaCivita 46’)
- John Palladino
- Joel Conzelmann
- Mark Borowski (Padmos 57’)
- Jared Bosma (Mentzer 55’)
- Evan Noon
- CJ Stock
- Grady Bridges
- Jackson Wagner
- Ben Shapiro
- Matt Pilon
- Mike LaCivita
- Max Arevuo
- Christian Mentzer
- Chris Padmos
- Travis Sawyer
- Cooper Smart
Tries: Starkweather 22′, Bosma 40′, Arnett 43′, Mentzer 60′
Conversions: Conzelmann 40′, 43′
The B-side matchup was another chance to get some of the younger members of the club to get playing time and experience on the pitch. Most of the game was in favor of WMU’s B-side with the scoring starting in the sixth minute and continuing to a 33 point lead at the half. The Wolverines began to put up more of a fight in the second half, limiting the Broncos to 25 points and scoring two tries of their own. The first was scored by Chris Padmos after a string of breakaway runs capped off by a hard push into the try zone. The second was a sneaky Scrumhalf run by Max Arevuo after a penalty, taking advantage of an unawares WMU defense. Overall it was a great experience for a lot of new players and helped them understand how the game is played.
- Ben Shapiro
- Travis Sawyer
- Jackson Wagner (Fehrman 40’)
- Sergio Rocha
- Matt Pilon
- Oliver Gregorson
- Jesse Fenno
- Michael LaCivita (Stevens 40’)
- Max Arevuo
- Evan Noon
- Neal Slabbekoorn
- Ryan McDonough
- Ben Clemens
- Kevin Linder
- Cooper Smart
Tries: Padmos 72′, Arevuo 79′
1 comments
Way to go Max!