TERESA DULAC
STAFF WRITER
The Franciscan University of Steubenville rugby team obliterated the visiting team from University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in a shutout 82-0 home game Sept. 28.
The game started with a bang as the Barons scored their first try within the first minute of the game. At the 34-minute mark, junior scrumhalf Anthony Hobbs made an assist to sophomore flyhalf Rafe Lewis who brought the score to 10-0.
At 25 minutes, Lewis made an assist to senior hooker James Reichert who scored another try. After making the conversion, the Barons were up 17-0. Franciscan managed to score three more tries, and the first half ended 34-0.
At the beginning of the second half, senior forward Josh Leatherby scored with a touch and go, and the conversion brought the score to 41-0. At the 40-minute mark, senior 8 man David Prezzia received the ball, ran down the field and shoveled the ball to Hobbs right before crossing the try line so that Hobbs could score the try.
At the 30-minute mark, tensions were high on the opposing team’s side, but the Barons continued unfazed. By the 15-minute mark, Franciscan was up 72-0.
As the clock wound down, Lewis scored two tries back-to-back by taking the ball and running down the field, dodging and outrunning the opposing team along the way.
In the last minutes of the half, Franciscan didn’t give the Mountain Cats any leverage. The Barons proceeded to kick the ball down the field and crush the opposing team until the end of the game, with a final score of 82-0.
Head coach Jason Adams said, “One of the things we wanted to work on this week was just to kind of clean up our game a little bit. Last week, we left a lot of points on the field. This week, I think we’re starting to build on our game plan a little bit more. It is hard when you have a big lead like that because it can get complacent. … But the guys kept pushing each other, and I thought they did really well playing together as a team. I thought it was a really good game.”
Catch the Baron ruggers taking on Fairmont State University, Saturday, Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. on Franciscan’s home pitch.