Michigan Handles Michigan State in 34-7 Win

This past Friday, October 10th, the Michigan State Spartans traveled the short distance to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines in a classic grudge match. Michigan coming hot off of a win against Wisconsin had them feeling confident, but the Wolverine side knew that this match would be as tough as any other. In the end, after great defensive play by each side, Michigan would come out the victor with a score of 34-7.

The game definitely took a slow start, with each side holding firm on defense and making some mistakes on offense. However, the Wolverines would take first blood as they manage to retain possession long enough move the ball down the field and get within scoring distance, with Drew Vecchio finally taking the ball through the Spartan defense and over the try line within the goal posts. Joel Conzelmann converted the try to give Michigan a 7-0 lead 10 minutes into the match. The game continued on at a similar pace, with defense and possession errors dominating the game play. Michigan State’s chance would come at the 25 minute mark with a line break through the Wolverine defense to score near the posts with a successful conversion, tying the game right back up at 7-7. This would be the last time the two teams would find themselves on equal footing as the Wolverines unleashed a slow and steady stream of scoring. The next score came about 5 minutes later when after a hard pick and go run from Jordan Ulmer, Cole Van Harn picked the ball right out of the ruck 1 meter off and plowed his way over the line for the score. Conzelmann converted the try again, and 7 minutes later, he also converted a penalty kick for points to put the Wolverines up 17-7 as the half closed out.

The first half opened up to a quick try two minutes in from impact wing sub Tohy Rakotovololona who sprinted and weaved his way about 50 meters for the impressive try. Conzelmann continued his kicking dominance with another conversion, to put the Maize and Blue up 24-7. At the 51 minute mark, Conzelmann put another kick through the uprights off of a penalty attempt. Five minutes later, prop Nick Fehrman slipped through the line on the weak-side of the Michigan State defense and manage to outrun his pursuers for the 30 meter try just outside the uprights. Conzelmann once again sealed the deal and added two more points to the Michigan score with a successful conversion, making the score 34-7. From this point on, each team continued to play solid defense and it seemed like Michigan had more points in them, but handling errors followed by an emptying of the bench left these points off the scoreboard, leaving the final score at 34-7.

1. Nick Fehrman (Azzopardi 58′)
2. Jackson Wagner (Gruebnau 68′)
3. Jordan Ulmer
4. Zack Burns (So.)
5. Drew Vecchio (Griffin 70′)
6. Chening Duker
7. Seqouyah Burke-Combs (Anthony 45′)
8. Cole Van Harn
9. John Palladino (Foo 75′)
10. Joel Conzelmann
11. Cooper Smart (Rakotovololona 40′)
12. Jared Bosma

13. Zack Burns (Jr.) (Marine 70′)
14. Matt Kasten
15. Andre Cargill

16. Nick Azzopardi
17. Kyle Gruebnau
18. Jeremy Reid
19. Jason Anthony
20. Cody Griffin
21. Albert Foo
22. Tohy Rakotovololona
23. Ron Marine

In the Academy side game, defense was the name of the game. The game was decided by a single conversion kick with a final score of only 7-5 in Michigan’s favor. Similarly to the First XV, the game was dominated by strong defense and some handling errors. The Wolverines signature defense paid off midway through the first half with freshman David Caputo picking off a Spartan pass and taking it 50 meters for the try. Guy Burke converted the try from between the uprights to give Michigan the points that would eventually win them the game. The half closed out without any more scoring. 10 minutes into the second half, the MSU 13 managed to run in the try from 10 meters out, but MSU was unable to convert. The next 30 minutes of the game saw Michigan attempt to secure their lead further, but denied each time. However their defense was also rock solid and kept MSU out of the try zone as well, with the clock ticking down to end the game at 7-5 in a win for the Maize and Blue.

1. Alex Carson
2. Kyle Gruebnau
3. Nick Azzopardi
4. Nick Mattes
5. Mike Shay
6. Jason Anthony
7. Cody Griffin
8. Brian Chu
9. Guy Burke
10. Kevin Linder
11. Justin Malin
12. Ron Marine
13. David Caputo
14. Vinodhan Ravichandran
15. Jacob Clode

16. Jeremy Reid
17. Nate Fisher
18. Jeremy Parks
19. Ben Cotsarelis
20. Reed Hostrander
21. Austin Girelli
22. Tomer Chen
23. Juan Aguirre