SOCORRO, N.M. – For the first time in many years, a women’s rugby match opened New Mexico Tech’s 49ers homecoming festivities Friday afternoon at NMT’s rugby ground. The student team faced off opposite a collection of their forerunners in a game of seven-a-side, and in the fun-loving spirit of 49ers, both teams donned prom dresses for the event.

After four seven-minute quarters of play, the youngsters came away with an action-packed 46-30 victory over the alumnae. The win was sweet reward for the winless effort put forth by the developing team over three muddy matches the previous week in the annual Northern Arizona Tens tournament in Flagstaff.

Ironically, the match’s first scorer was a double agent. Angela Hail, who volunteered to fill in for the alumnae team, showed impressive speed in scoring the game’s first try in the first two minutes.

(Pictured: Tierra Candelaria looks for support in the 49ers women's rugby 'prom dress' game. Photo by Mia Navarro.)

Veteran Lennae Logan pitched in another five-pointer, but as with Hail’s try, Logan’s two-point conversion kick attempt was unsuccessful. Mia Navarro finally got the students rolling with a try converted by Samantha Goldman just before the quarter break to bring the score to 10-7.

The graduates strengthened their lead to 20-12 at halftime through tries by Logan and Cassie Coleman. Tierra Candelaria, who was voted best-dressed by spectators after the match, scored for students.

The students hit their stride in the decisive third period by scoring three tries. Mia Navarro got her second try for the students, with Ramsey Baker and Tyana Watchman following suit. Goldberg added one conversion and the students took a 29-25 lead into the final quarter.

The students stretched their lead in the fourth quarter, with Navarro completing her hat trick (the try converted by Goldberg), followed by touchdowns by Esperanza Aguilar and Ramsey Baker. Megan Armstrong bagged a five-pointer for the grads in the match’s final moments to finalize the students’ 46-30 win.

Student Ruggers Defend Home Turf in Homecoming Classic

In the men's game, the New Mexico Tech Rugby Club repelled a potent second-half comeback from the Ancestors team of graduates  to squeak out a 48-40 win in the annual Black & Blue alumni match Friday evening. With the win, the students kept their two-year winning streak in the 49er classic alive.

The match’s oldest participant, Canadian-born prop forward Bruce Denouden (class of 1988) claimed the game’s first try with a powerful short-range charge after five minutes. In a magical 49ers twist, Denouden’s two sons, Kase and Willem, suited up for the old boys, making the affair, in the elder Denouden’s words “an international match.”

And indeed, it was Kase, a student at University of British Columbia, who scored the Ancestor’s second try 22 minutes into the match. However, by that time the students led 17-14 on the strength of two five-point tries by wing Everson Cruz and fullback Dillon Mann, and a successful two-point conversion kick by Ruckhaus.

The supposed understudies were on fire early in the match, adding three more converted tries before halftime. The students kitted out a good two dozen players for 15 positions, and a rotating pack of eight forwards were solid in the scrums against their heavier opponents while enjoying aerial superiority in the lineouts (inbounds throws). Seven more-experienced backline players were able to make repeated penetrations of the old boys’ defense, leading either directly to tries by their number or follow-up scores by the forwards. Openside flanker Dane Robergs, scrumhalf Logan Blake, and blindside flanker Tim Chavez finished their teammates’ good lead up work to grab a seemingly unassailable 38-14 halftime lead.

But the Ancestors, long known for their cagey, rope-a-dope tendencies, rallied strongly in the second stanza to produce a cliffhanger. When veteran scrumhalf Seth Daly’s opening kickoff was allowed to drop by the students, Ancestor wing James Fallt was there to claim the ball at full tilt and score a statement try between the goalposts. Scant minutes after Fallt converted his own try, the Ancestor’s opposite wing, Essiel Carrasco, showed his heels with a long scoring run to narrow the students’ lead to 38-26 following Daly’s two-point conversion.

Head captain Logan Blake made the decision to have Ruckhaus attempt a three-point penalty kick minutes later, and the resultant three points widened the scores to 41-26.

Mark Kelly, like match official Dr. Clint Richardson a certified Rio Grande Rugby Union referee, tallied the Ancestor’s next try, which after Tanner Graham’s conversion got the old boys realistically close, at 41-33, to overcoming the students’ lead with over 15 minutes left to play.

With the clock ticking down Dane Robergs dove over for a try, converted by Ruckhaus, that advanced the undergrads’ lead to 48-33, beyond two theoretical scores. Still, three-time Jeremiah Wright Memorial Player of the Year Tanner Graham had not been heard from, making Graham’s match-closing try and conversion entirely appropriate. Final score: NMT 48, Alumni 40.

New Mexico Tech will resume their National Small College campaign Saturday, Oct. 27, as they host Colorado College at 1 p.m. on the NMT Rugby Ground.

– NMT –