Michigan took a long road trip to Minneapolis this weekend to compete against the University of Minnesota Gophers. It was over 20 hours on the road, but that did nothing to quell the energy of your boys in blue.
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The first 10 minutes of the match started out fairly evenly as both sides were making good plays but losing possession to knock ons. At the 8 minute mark Michigan started hitting their stride and marched down the field into the Minnesota red zone. Just as it seemed Michigan was sure to score, the ball was lost to an unfortunate knock on, but not to worry. Michigan kept the pressure on and at the 11 minute mark was awarded a lineout just 5 meters from the try line. After some forward smashing and bashing, freshman Jamie “Cha Cha” Demers got his first try. The conversion from Guy Burke was just wide and Michigan took the lead 5-0. Minnesota responds 5 minutes later when they make their way into the Michigan red zone after some repeated and gratuitous offsides rulings by the sir. Michigan held up Minnesota 4 times in the try zone until the sir gave Cole Van Harn a yellow card for offsides. I am usually one to respect the sir, but this was surely not warranted. No matter, after a few more phases of forward on forward action Minnesota finally managed to touch the ball down in the try zone to score. Conversion was no good and the scored was tied 5-5. Michigan had solid control of the game after that. Ball possession was well maintained, and when it was lost turn-overs were quickly forced with strong counter-rucks. The next try would come from full back Matt Kasten. After already making some runs that made the Minnesota defense look a bit silly (refer to 27:40 in the game film) at 29 minutes in Kasten burned around the outside edge after his wing Colin Walters popped the ball into his hands as he was being tackled out of bounds. Kasten touched the ball down in the center and the kick from Burke was good. Michigan leads 12-5. On the following kickoff Chening Duker made an excellent 70 meter break, but on the next phase the ball was unfortunately turned over after a forward pass. At 38 minutes a Minnesota lock received a yellow, for what exactly I am not sure as it is not apparent in the film, but I suppose the sir must have gotten a new set of cards in the mail. At the very end of the half Jamie Demers got his second try of the match after some more forward violence and nonsense. The kick from Burke is good and the half ends 19-5 Michigan.
The second half started with a bang as Michigan quickly took ball possession and maintained it. Within 3 phases they were already within meters of the Minnesota try zone. Minnesota played good goal line defense, but it was no match for our wolverine-ness and within 3 minutes of the second half Chening Duker scored. The kick from Burke is good and Michigan leads 26-5. 50 minutes into the match, Michigan pushed back a scrum to Minnesota and gained the ball back after a knock on. 8-man Jeremy “Dozer” Reid picked up the ball and ran to the weak side, making a 50 meter break and even juking their wing in the process. Reid was brought down just short of the try line, but the first pass went to fly half Zack Burns, who slipped through the back-tracking Minnesota defensive line with ease and scored. The conversion from Burke missed, Michigan leads 31-5. An hour into the match, Matt Kasten made another huge break on the outside that set up Cole Van Harn to score, shedding a couple of tackles in the process. The kick from Burke is good and Michigan leads 38-5. With 10 minutes remaining in the match, Reid makes another huge break and pops the ball the Kasten as he is being tackled. Kasten uses his speed and finishes the try with ease. Kasten elects to go for the conversion from a drop kick and makes it. Michigan leads 45-5. With just five minutes remaining Kasten makes a defender slip and scores his third try of the match with a 70 meter break. After scoring he pats his head indicating he wants a sub, coach says no. Kasten converts and the score is 52-5. In the last try of the match, Chening Duker offloads to Cole Van Harn, and Cole makes a 45 meter run to score the try. Kasten makes the conversion and the final score is 59-5 Michigan!
Roster:
1: Nick Azzopardi
2: Evan Rourke
3: Lee Moore
4: Mike Shay
5: Jamie Demers
6: Travis Sawyer
7: Chening Duker
8: Jeremy Reid
9: Guy Burke
10: Zack Burns
11: Colin Walters
12: Cole Van Harn
13: Ron Marine
14: Cooper Smart
15: Matt Kasten
16: Alex Carson
17: Jackson Wagner
18: Nate Fisher
19: Jason Anthony
20: Jesse Fenno
21: Albert Foo
22: Tomer Chen
23: Kevin Watt
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Academy:
Unfortunately there was no game footage for this match, but I will provide the best write up I can via out twitter account. Minnesota scored early and made their conversion, putting them in the lead 0-7. Michigan follows up with a try from Matt Ko, but is not converted. Score is 5-7. Minnesota kicks their first (of many) penalty kicks and furthers their lead 5-10. Robert Dunne scores on a pick and go and Justin “Mouse” Malin converts, putting Michigan in the lead 12-10. At the end of the half, Argentinian fullback Matias Ferro scores but the kick is not converted. Michigan leads at half 17-10. Freshman Kevin “Sparky” Watt receives a yellow early in the second half after a kick and chase, but while pursuing the ball also managed to perform a kick and face (he accidentally kicked a player in the face who dove on the ball). Minnesota scores a try off of a scrum, but misses the kick. Michigan leading 17-15. After some forward on forward warfare on Michigan’s try line, Minnesota manages to get the try and convert the kick, Minnesota takes back the lead 17-22. Minnesota interestingly goes for a drop kick and adds some more points, leading 17-25. Minnesota goes for more points with kicks and scores again off of a penalty, leading 17-28. Kyle “Grueb” Gruebnau makes a huge break and scores to put Michigan back in it. Michigan catches up 24-28. Minnesota kicks another penalty and leads 24-31. On the very last play of the game however, Kevin Watt makes a huge break around the outside and scores in the middle. Justin Malin makes the conversion and the final score is 31-31.
(The math behind the scoring was incorrect on Twitter, which is why this report is slightly different)
Roster:
1: Alex Carson
2: Kyle Gruebnau
3: Sam Cipriani
5: Jason Anthony
6: Robert Dunne
7: Will Biel
8: Cameron Zamanian
9: Albert Foo
10: Tomer Chen
11: Ryan Hart
12: Matt Ko
13: Justin Malin
14: Alex Bourdeau
15: Kevin Watt
16: Juan Borjas
17: Lyric Kleber
18: Marek Salhaney
19: Rob McMahon Gibson
20: Matias Ferro
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