KNOXVILLE, TN – Junior Steven Beck scored three trys and set up two more to lead the Nazareth College Rugby team to a convincing 50-26 win over Salisbury University Saturday afternoon in the consolation game of the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) Regional Championship Tournament in Knoxville.
The Golden Flyers fell into the consolation match after a tough 46-19 loss to Boise State Friday afternoon. Boise State will face Virginia Tech in the Regional Championship match Sunday afternoon. The Hokies defeated Salisbury 91-0 in its Friday semifinal match.
Against Salisbury, the Seagulls opened the scoring with an early sideline run and a conversion kick for a 7-0 lead.
After a penalty and red card against Salisbury, sophomore Patrick Notaro converted the penalty kick as Nazareth closed the gap to 7-3.
Just two minutes later, sophomore Jacob Townsand took advantage of a gap in the defense and cut forward to run in a try after taking a good pass from fellow sophomore Joseph Sergant.. The try and kick gave the Golden Flyers a 10-7 lead.
Junior Khalil Lynch and Beck took over at that point for Nazareth as the duo put together a few long plays.
Lynch opened the scoring rally with a 50-meter run for the try. The successful conversion gave Nazareth a 17-7 advantage.
Lynch had another long run before making a pass to Beck for another try but the kick was no good as the Golden Flyers extended the lead to 22-7.
Beck started another play with a pass to sophomore Tyriek Thomas for a sideline run and try. Notaro was able to hit the tight angle kick for the conversion and a 29-7 lead.
After pushing up the field, sophomore James Gardner pushed in from a couple meters out for a try. The good kick improved the Nazareth lead to 36-7 before Lynch closed out the first half with another run and pitch to Beck for a late try. The kick gave Nazareth a 43-7 halftime advantage.
Notaro started a scoring play in the early minutes of the second half as he pitched to Lynch who passed to Beck for a try as Nazareth opened to a 50-7 lead after the successful kick.
Salisbury pounded in a couple trys over the next several minutes and one good kick narrowed the score to 50-19 with 10 minutes remaining.
The Seagulls added one more try on a 20-meter run with a good kick to make the score 50-26 with five minutes to play and Nazareth held it's defensive line for the rest of the time and the final victory.
In the Boise State match, sophomore
Owen Fitzwater scored a pair of trys for the Golden Flyers and sophomore
Gerard Powers took advantage of a short kick and raced in for his first career try. His points trimmed the Boise State lead to 29-19 with 15 minutes remaining in the second half but the Broncos punched in three late trys for the final 46-19 score. Fitzwater was named the "Man of the Match" for the weekend matches, earned the NCR "Heart and Soul" Award for the weekend and was presented the game ball from the Saturday victory.
