Tech Ruggers Maintain Dominance in Arizona Tournament

(Left to right: Pat Garcia and Patrick Simons with the small college division plaque.)

For Tech, which sometimes struggles against physically larger men’s club teams, the weekend was a validation of their mastery of the ten-man code. The Pygmies have now won the last four tens tournaments they have entered, recording 17 wins without a loss in capturing the 2004 editions of the Santa Fe Tens (Labor Day weekend) and Northern Arizona Tens tourneys, and repeating in both this year. In Flagstaff last weekend, the Pygmies outscored their five opponents 144 to 31.

On Saturday the Pygmies started by dismantling Black Sheep Rugby Club of Prescott, Arizona 35-12 after conceding an early 5-0 deficit. Scrumhalf Seth Daly scored two tries with Matt Nelson, Mike Bauer, and co-captain Patrick Simons finishing team efforts with their own five-pointers. Daly drop-kicked conversions of all five tries from a variety of angles, beginning a notable string of seven in a row.

In Tech’s second pool match with Arizona State University, Matt Nelson, drafted into the forward unit in the absence of experienced second-row players, snagged Daly’s opening kickoff and sprinted past the shocked Sun Devils to score in the first five seconds. First-year man Jeremy Mardambek got his first try to give Tech a halftime lead of 14-0, and in the second 20 minutes Daly touched down when co-captain Pat Garcia’s men in the forwards drove an ASU scrum off the ball to complete a 19-0 whitewash.

NMT advanced to Sunday morning’s semifinal by scoring seven tries in a 41-5 thrashing of Occidental College of California. Tech led 22-0 at halftime as John Rundberg, Nelson, Theo Hosemann, and Tory Tadano all crossed for a Pygmy side in full cry. Freshman Matt Kretz, in only his second weekend of play, displayed phenomenal lineout jumping ability as he stole virtually all of Oxy’s throw-ins. Pat Simons slotted a penalty kick to open the second-half account before Daly finished matters with two more tries. Occidental’s lone score came from a kick and chase in the second half.

Sunday’s semifinal pitted Tech in a rematch with Black Sheep, whose hard-nosed play presented problems. Each team scored two tries in the first half, with Simons’s penalty goal supplying the scant difference in a 17-14 score at the break. Tadano made a fingertip catch of a Simons pass to open Tech’s scoring, and Hosemann bulled through for Tech’s other first-half try. Tech pulled away in the second half as Black Sheep’s larger forwards tired. Tadano added his second try after some textbook back play from Daly, flyhalf Paul Quintana, and the center Simons, and then Daly found pay dirt again to close matters at 29-14.

In the championship match, Tech once again stymied Arizona State with a smothering defense which forced a penalty after five minutes, and Tech led 3-0 when Simons took the option of a kicked goal. At eight minutes Quintana took a finishing pass from Simons to score a try which Daly converted for a halftime lead of 10-0.

The Pygmies missed opportunities early in the second half through unforced handling errors, leading Simons to once again choose the penalty kick to inch closer to the title after six minutes, 13-0. Paul Quintana scored another try on a nifty give-and-go with Simons after ten minutes, and when the latter player added the conversion for a commanding 20-0 lead, Tech’s young reserves came on to taste championship glory.

New Mexico Tech will host the El Paso Scorpions in a 1 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Tech Athletic field. El Paso is a Rio Grande Union men’s division club.