Photos Ben French
Email From Roger Mazzarella
After a rough Saturday, the Bowling Green State University rugby team managed to battle back to win the consolation round of the National Collegiate Sevens Rugby Tournament and finish third in the nation.
Added to the tournament almost as an afterthought, the Falcons proved they belong on the national rugby stage with the victory.
The Falcon ruggers demolished Arizona State 32 – 12 in front of a national TV audience on NBC to win the consolation final.
The Falcons defeated Penn State 22-12 on Friday and then had to battle through a pair of hamstring injuries to key players on Satuday, losing to Ohio state 12 – 0 and eventual tournament champion Utah 12 – 10. Bowling Green was the only team to to seriously challenge Utah until the Utes made it to the final.
The Penn State victory was enough to put BG in the consolation round where they faced the daunting task of needing to win out on Sunday in order to go home with a trophy.
BG started the day by edging Army 15 – 12 and then crushed Indiana University 27 – 0 in the semi-final.
Against Arizona State in the final, the Falcons held a slim 7 – 5 lead on the strength of a Rocco Mauer try, only to break the game open by scoring twenty five unanswered points. Mauer tacked on another pair of tries, while Dominic Mauer matched his brother’s output with three tries as well as a conversion kick.
Rocco Mauer, with eleven tries, more than twice as many as his nearest rival, was the tournament’s leading scorer and was voted itsmost valuable player.
