It was a crisp morning the Wolverines woke up to on October 28th. It was Rivalry Day all over again: Ohio State. Play kicked off at 1 pm on Mitchell Field Turf. Welcoming Captain Ron Marine back to play, Michigan fought hard from the gates. After numerous offensive phases, a knock-on and penalty allowed for an Ohio line break and try. Kick was good. Recovering the kick, Michigan marched down the pitch optimizing penalties and lineouts. However, a hard Ohio defense prevented Michigan from advancing any further during Michigan’s many phases. Possession continuously changed hands, including a break by Michigan’s Colin “Shaggy” Walters, eventually resulting in a try by Ohio’s very wide offense. Kick was good. Only two-and-a-half minutes later, a line break from a missed tackle followed by several phases out wide resulted in another Ohio try, but a missed kick. Stealing the ball back soon after the kickoff, a long pass by Wolverine Tanner Daubenspeck to Walters led to a deep break and an attempted chip kick that was barely caught by a defender. Soon after, a heavy Michigan offense broke the plane of Ohio’s 22 meter, but the ball was poached. A deep kick and quick lineout later, Ohio scores and successfully kicks. Captain Ron Marine went down a few minutes later with a hurt shoulder, knocking him out of the rest of the season. Fortunately, Michigan didn’t let this weaken the defense, jackaling the ball, or slow the offense, passing the ball out to Ian “Gronk” Kwant, who ran some 65-odd meters down the sideline to score both his and Michigan’s first try. Kick was no good. Major return runs by Davis Grimm, Pierre Finn, and Guy “Buddy” Burke brought the ball deep into the red zone, but Ohio kicked the ball back to Kwant just inside their half. Consistent Ohio victory in both offensive and defensive rucks led to another try out wide. Kick was good. A couple ferocious runs by the Buckeye 8-man and phases later, Ohio forced another try. Kick was good, concluding the first half.
Ohio opened the half by kicking off, recovering the ball nearly in the Michigan tryzone, and passing the ball across the field to score on the wing. Kick was short. More hard Michigan defense slowly gave ground until the Ohio 8-man scored off a scrum. Again, kick was short. Returning a defensive kick from Ohio, Michigan rushed forward, but lost the ball to a counterruck. A very, very deep Ohio kick caught the Wolverine backs by surprise and cost the team the ball on their own 18 meter line. Strong Michigan defense recovered the ball and scrum half Jordan “Zero” Perez initiated a string of offloads to Burke, Will Biel, Jaime “Cha Cha” Demers, and Finn. The offense concluded with a try from a perfect kick by Burke into the Ohio tryzone that was chased and caught by Nate “Fish” Fisher. Kick was short, and forty eight minutes into the game, the entire Michigan front row was subbed out. An adept defensive steal by Walters saved an impending try resulting from a stolen Michigan lineout. However, the steal stole more from the wing, knocking him out of the game due to injury, allowing Ohio to optimize on the hole in the Michigan defense and score. Kick was wide. Four scrums in half as many minutes led to a weakside score from Ohio’s full back. Kick was no good. A short defensive battle on Michigan territory ended when an Ohio back scooped a loose ball off the ground and ran it in. Kick was good. After recovering from a defensive scrum on their own 5 meter line, Perez ran thirty meters, offloaded to Ben “Tower” Cotsarelis, and at the ruck, offloaded the ball weakside to Jake “Maddie” Bodner to score his first and Michigan’s third try off a forty meter run. Kick was good. Stellar Michigan defense prevented any Ohio offensive gains, later stealing the ball back. But, it was to no avail; the Buckeyes marched back down and scored. Kick was short. Time expired a couple minutes later, and the game ended with Ohio kicking the ball out of bounds. Final score: 17-72.
(Written by Jake Bodner)
Roster:
1: Alex Carson
2: Lyric Kleber
3: Davis Grimm
4: Ben Cotsarelis
5: Jamie Demers
6: Travis Dantzer
7: Nate Orlowski
8: Jack Vechhio
9: Jordan Perez
10: Guy Burke
11: Colin Walters
12: Nate Fisher
13: Ron Marine
14: Ian Kwant
15: Tanner Visco
16: Connor Jones
17: Jake Bodner
18: Will Biel
19: Jake Bailey
20: David Caputo
21: Eoin Sansevero
22: Brandon Walter
23: Pierre Flin
On November 4th the maize and blue arrived at the Mitchell turf to play Indiana University. After a last minute field change the two teams went to battle on the wet and muddy Mitchell east field. The wolverines put the pressure on the undefeated Indiana and took the game to them right from kickoff. However Indiana scored first, with an early try and conversion. The game went back and forth, with both teams putting on equal pressure. However at the end of the first half Indiana remained the only to score, ending the half 12-0. Michigan came out and kept Indiana to only 17 points up until the last 20 minutes. Indiana ended the game scoring 22 points, finishing 40-0. Michigan gave Indiana their most challenging game of the season so far, showing a great defensive effort against a great attacking team.
(Written by Jordan Perez)
Roster:
1: Brandon Walter
2: Lyric Kleber
3: Davis Grimm
4: Ben Cotsarelis
5: Jamie Demers
6: Travis Dantzer
7: Jake Bailey
8: Jack Vechhio
9: Jordan Perez
10: Guy Burke
11: Nick Campbell
12: Nate Fisher
13: Pierre Flin
14: Ian Kwant
15: Tanner Visco
16: Mahmoud ElNeggar
17: Jake Bodner
18: Connor Jones
19: Nate Orlowski
20: Alex Carson
21: Truman Stovall
22: Jimmy Terry
23: Bryce Watson
Michigan rugby piled into vans and headed to elkhart Indiana for a cold day at the big ten rugby championships. With a chance at revenge against the University of Illinois the wolverines were ready for a big day. Just seconds after the kickoff Davis Grimm picks off a pass and heads for the try zone. Guy Burke kicks the conversion and Michigan is up 7-0 with 80 minutes to play. In the first portion of the game, the two teams went back and forth with possession of the ball changing constantly. Both teams were committing penalties at the breakdown or knocking the ball on, causing the game to come to a stop constantly. After about twenty minutes of back and forth rugby Michigan takes advantage of a turnover. Jack Vecchio leads a line break and puts Ian Kwant through for the second try of the game. The conversion is no good and the score is 12-0. As the half nears the end, Illinois counters and scores a try and kicks the conversion to bring the score up to 12-7. The half ends, with both teams ready to come out and take control of the second half. The fight for dominance continues throughout the second half, with the teams bringing equal fight. Illinois breaks through to score a try and kicks the conversion to take the lead 19-7. Illinois quickly dots down a try after a blocked kick to extend the lead to 24 points. Illinois finishes off the game with two more tries and one more coversion to finish the game 33. Michigan showed heart all throughout the game, but didn’t come out with the win.
(Written by Jordan Perez)
Roster:
1: Alex Carson
2: Lyric Kleber
3: Davis Grimm
4: Ben Cotsarelis
5: Jamie Demers
6: Travis Dantzer
7: Jake Bailey
8: Jack Vechhio
9: Jordan Perez
10: Guy Burke
11: Nick Campbell
12: Nate Fisher
13: Truman Stovall
14: Ian Kwant
15: Pierre Flin
16: Connor Jones
17: Jake Bodner
18: Brandon Walter
19: Nate Orlowski
20: Caleb Fisher
21: David Caputo
22: Liam Clancy
23: Bryce Watson
Academy Games:
Ohio State: Loss 20 – 58
Indiana: Loss 15 – 34
