Freshman Zack Burns breaks away to later find Nick Mattes for the game-breaking score
Saturday, March 29 saw UMRFC host the Saginaw Valley State University Men’s Rugby club as the two clubs took part in 120 minutes of rugby over the course of the day. UMRFC’s Spring 15s side took the hard-fought first game with a final score of 43-12. In the following 2 halves of developmental rugby, the mixed UMRFC side of young bloods and vets put up 53 points against Saginaw’s 5. Overall, it was a ton of fun for each club as both sides took strides towards improving their newer players and keeping each other’s competitive spirits alive. UMRFC was happy to have a great club like Saginaw come to play and both sides looked to grow a friendship between the two clubs. As always, if you’d like to watch the match for yourself, visit our YouTube channel for full match videos.
The first half was a slow and grueling opening to what would eventually become quite an explosive game. Both teams favored the ball in the hands of their forwards, with each side crashing over and over again, attempting to beat and break the others defensive line. However the Maize and Blue got the first strike as Mark Borowski carried the ball out of a ruck on the five meter line and offloaded it to rookie Jeremy Reid who touched the ball down and scored the first try of his first game at the eight minute mark. Drew Vecchio successfully converted the try. Saginaw responded in turn however, with their 8 man running a hard line, pounding his way through the defensive line 6 minutes later to score, without conversion. Each team continued to try each other’s defensive mettle, and for 15 minutes the forwards ground each other down until Vecchio received the ball from Albert Foo and took it in for the try with 10 minutes left in the half. Building off that momentum, Michigan got the extra energy to put Foo and Vecchio back in the exact same position two minutes before the end of the half, scoring in similar fashion. Neither of the tries were converted and the clock would run down with the score being 17-5 in Michigan’s favor.
While Michigan came out looking to build off their momentum, Saginaw Valley was also looking to show that they came to play. The previous pattern of heavy crashes continued, and Saginaw drove their way down the field to score seven minutes into the second half with conversion to bring themselves within a score at 17-12. However, as the clock wound down and the minutes started to pile up, the Wolverines conditioning started to become a factor. Weeks of patented Stu-FitTMbegan to show and 60 minutes into the game the floodgates burst open, starting with a breakaway run from Zack “Junior” Burns who offloaded to spring rookie Nick Mattes who scored his first career try. Not to be out done by his underclassmen, veteran Mark Borowski would get a breakaway of his own five minutes later through the Saginaw defensive line to score himself. Vecchio converted both tries, making the score 31-12. It appeared as if the Wolverines would close out the game from there with solid defensive play, but after some good offensive play, Zack Burns (So.) saw an opportunity to score and took it with three minutes left to give Michigan a commanding lead at 36-12. Borowski would also add another try of his own in the final play of the game with a successful conversion from Burns (So.) to bring the final score to 43-12.
1. Nick Azzopardi
2. Jackson Wagner
3. Jordan Ulmer
4. Nick Mattes
5. Drew Vecchio
6. Jason Anthony
7. Travis Sawyer
8. Zack Burns (Fr.)
9. Albert Foo
10. Mark Borowski
11. Aymen Maktari
12. Riley Hanson
13. Cody Griffin
14. Josh Patel
15. Drew Calcaterra
16. Jeremy Reid
17. Zack Burns
18. Soroush Labuf
19. Reed Hostrander
20. Alex Davidson
21. Brennen Arnett
22. Nick Fehrman
23. Ben Shapiro
Tries: Reid 8′, Vecchio 30′, 38′, Mattes 61′, Borowski 66′, Burns (So.) 77′, Borowski 80′
Cons: Vecchio 8′, 61′, 66′, Burns (So.) 80′
Friendly Development Game:
Saginaw Valley was excited to get some of their younger players experience against the Maize and Blue as well, so two 20 minute halves were played with rolling subs and 13 men each side to get some young bloods and vets a like that extra playing time for the day. Unfortunately for Saginaw, that meant several rested UMRFC veteran players would see the field, including 7s stalwarts Sequoyah Burke-Combs and Andre Cargill and 15s loosehead prop Nick Fehrman. The first half saw similar play to the first game, but with less players on the field, more open field play would occur and the backs saw the ball more than they had in the first match. Another effect of this opened field was that Burke-Combs would be able to fully use his speed to take control of the match and he would quickly score, running through and around Saginaw seven and half minutes into the game. Cargill converted the try. Fehrman would then follow up this long distance try with an up close run off a penalty to pound the ball in for the second try of the match with 4 minutes left in the half. Alex Davidson would then wind his way into the try zone during the last play of the half to end the half on a dominant note for the Wolverines. Neither try was converted and the score at half was 17-0.
The second half saw similar performances from the Maize and Blue, with Fehrman scoring right off the bat as Michigan quickly drove down the field from the opening kick. Burke-Combs followed this up with another try from far away, with an amazing run through and around the SVSU defense. Neither try was converted. Fehrman secured a hat trick for himself with 14 minutes left in the half with a 40 meter sprint that saw him trotting off to the oxygen tanks afterwards, while watching Cargill convert the try to bring the score to 34-0. Burke-Combs not to be outdone, added another try to his tally with another long and impressive run and Cargill conversion. SVSU player turned Wolverine, Cody Griffin, played for his original team for old time’s sake and was able to get SVSU on the board with 10 minutes to go. He could not convert however, making the score 41-5. Cargill and Burke-Combs would go on to finish the game with a try each, with one conversion being made by Davidson to close out the game at a commanding 53-5 score in favor of the Maize and Blue.
