This past Saturday, October 25th, the Purdue Boilermakers made the trip up to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan. Unfortunately for Purdue they faced a hungry Wolverine team that was looking to make a statement after a tough close loss to Indiana a week prior. The Maize and Blue scored fast and frequently, tallying up 13 tries over the course of the match to end the game with an impressive final score of 83-8.
For once the Wolverines were lucky enough to have almost perfect playing conditions, so everyone was anticipating a great day of rugby. It started off a little slow as Purdue had to sort some blood and injury subs early on, but the scoring would start off quick and early from there. Three minutes in Chening Duker broke away for a long run that would be capped off by Zack Burns (So.). Joel Conzelmann converted the try. This was followed up by a try from Zack Burns (Jr.) and a Conzelmann conversion four minutes later. The thoughts of a shut-out were quickly quashed however when Purdue was awarded at the 10 minute mark only 30 meters out and nicely centered. Purdue kicked for points and made it, bringing the score to 14-3. The game proceeded at a slightly slower pace for a while until prop Nick Fehrman made a break for 40 meters that would lead to Cooper Smart scoring a try along the sideline 15 seconds later at the 19 minute mark. Conzelmann could not convert the long kick however. Scoring opened up from here however, with Matt Kasten and Nick Fehrman netting tries each at the 23rd and 39th minutes respectively and Cole Van Harn adding two tries to his season tally in the 31st and 36th minutes. Conzelmann converted 3 out of the 4 tries, bringing the score to 45-3 in Michigan’s favor at the half.
The Wolverines weren’t going to let up in the second half, still looking to make a statement. The scoring opened back up quickly with Duker adding a score to his season tally four minutes into the half. Kasten followed this up with his second try of the day six minutes later. Conzelmann converted both tries. Andre Cargill followed this up with a try as well, three minutes later at the 53 minute mark with Conzelmann converting, making the score 66-3. The next 10 minutes saw a bit slower play as subs from both sides streamed onto the field. This eventually played out in Purdue’s favor as they were able to get themselves a try in the 63rd minute with a hard run through the Michigan line. The conversion was failed however. Seven minutes later a few hard runs by Michigan saw Duker get his second try of the day as well. Cargill converted it. Burns (So.) and Smart both added second tries to their tallies for the day, but Cargill was unable to convert either unfortunately, making the final score 83-8.
1. Nick Fehrman (Reid 73′)
2. Jackson Wagner (Sawyer 40′)
3. Jordan Ulmer (Azzopardi 55′)
4. Zack Burns (So.)
5. Drew Vecchio
6. Jesse Fenno (Griffin 53′)
7. Chening Duker
8. Cole Van Harn (Byer 60′)
9. John Palladino (Foo 60′)
10. Joel Conzelmann (Marine 60′)
11. Cooper Smart
12. Jared Bosma
13. Zack Burns (Jr.) (Aguirre 32′)
14. Matt Kasten
15. Andre Cargill
16. Nick Azzopardi
17. Travis Sawyer
18. Jeremy Reid
19. Chris Byer
20. Cody Griffin
21. Albert Foo
22. Ron Marine
23. Juan Aguirre
The Academy side match played out similarly with the Wolverines racking up the points with little stopping them. The first half saw Jeremy Reid score two tries in the first 20 minutes with David Caputo and Cody Griffin following up with tries of their own in the next 8 minutes. Meng Shi converted one of three conversions and Ron Marine missed one conversion, making the score 22-0 at the half. The second half of the game saw a bit of a show from Guy Burke who scored quickly into the half with a quick tap and run on the 5m line. He then picked the ball off of the scrum 8 minutes later from 15m out and bounced his way through the Purdue defense for the try. He could not convert either however. Nate Fisher streaked through from the 22m line for a try about 5 minutes later, with no conversion, putting the score to 37-0. Sam Cipriani got a score of his own at the 65 minute mark after Kevin Linder fell on a dropped ball. Guy Burke then would secure himself a hat trick with a long run for a try. Neither try was converted, making the final score 47-0.
1. Jeremy Reid
2. Kyle Gruebnau
3. Alex Carson
4. Mike Shay
5. Chris Byer
6. Jason Anthony
7. Cody Griffin
8. Brian Chu
9. Albert Foo
10. Justin Malin
11. David Caputo
12. Ron Marine
13. Reed Hofstrander
14. Juan Aguirre
15. Meng Shi
16. Sam Cipriani
17. Travis Sawyer
18. Nick Azzopardi
19. Ben Cotsarelis
20. Robert Dunne
21. Guy Burke
22. Tomer Chen
23. Vinodhan Ravichandran
The last game of the day saw a developmental side face off against Spring Arbor, an up and coming nearby program with good athletes. A couple Wolverines helped Spring Arbor out by playing for them, but it was mostly separate teams. The Wolverines jumped out to an early lead with two tries from freshman prop Alex Carson. Burke converted one of the two to make the score 12-0. Burke tacked 3 more points onto the total with a penalty kick for points at the 30 minute mark. A try from Spring Arbor without conversion and another penalty kick for points from Burke made the score 18-5 in Michigan’s favor. However in the second half, the long day started to wear on the Wolverines and the fatigue of playing 2 games for many of them started to catch up. Spring Arbor got 2 early tries in the second half with one converted before Michigan scored again. Reid secured himself another try with some hard running but the conversion was no good, making the score 23-17 in Michigan’s favor. This is the last time they would lead however. Michigan’s own Drew Calcaterra, who was playing for Spring Arbor, was the next to score with conversion, giving Spring Arbor their first lead at 24-23. This was followed up by another four tries as Spring Arbor started to blow the game open. Only two were converted, but this gave Spring Arbor a commanding 48-23 lead with 10 minutes to go. However Nate Fisher capped the game off on a high note for Michigan with a run plowing through the Spring Arbor defense to score. The conversion was no good however and the final score would be 48-28.
Overall it was a great day of rugby and a great day of learning for some of the younger players as they got the valuable minutes that lead to improvement in the game. Next up Michigan has an off week and many of the players will be travelling to Chicago to watch the USA vs. All Blacks match. The week after, Michigan will take on their arch rivals, Ohio State. The game will take place in Columbus on Saturday, November 8th. With the rights to go to the championship on the line, it’s sure to be a great game and one the Wolverines will fight for tooth and nail, with both the Big 10 and rivalry pride on the line.
1. Alex Carson
2. Travis Sawyer
3. Sam Cipriani
4. Ben Cotsarelis
5. Mike Shay
6. Ian Charpie
7. Jeremy Parks
8. Robert Dunne
9. Guy Burke
10. Justin Malin
11. Dylan Aiken
12. Tomer Chen
13. Jacob Clode
14. Soroush Labushe
15. Vinodhan Ravichandran
16. Nate Fisher
17. Ben Clemens
18. Alec Ventrice
19. Nick Mattes
20. Austin Girelli
21. Charlemagne McHaffie
22. Mitch Maisel
