Gorillahead smites John Brown 29-0
Josh Letner
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Sports
The Gorillahead Rugby Club took one step closer to the post season last Saturday with a 29-0 pasting of John Brown University.
Gorillahead improved to 5-1 overall on the season with a 1-1 record in merit table matches.
According to Mike McInerney, senior in construction management, the Gorillas are most interested in winning their merit table matches.
"This was a merit table match, so it is part of our competition to advance to Westerns and maybe on to Nationals," McInerney said. "These are the games that matter. We have a lot of games that are friendlies, where we like to win, but it's not going to affect us in the post season if we don't, but these games are the most important part."
Gorillahead dominated the game from the starting whistle. The squad used a physical running attack to punish their opponents. Early on, the Gorillas tried to use kicking to their advantage, but to no avail. Then they settled into a running game. The strategy paid off as the Gorillas predominantly pounded the ball in the first half to prevent John Brown from kicking with the wind.
"We made some mistakes. We were kicking a lot in the first half when we should have been pounding it," James Ismert, senior in plastics engineering, said. "Our backs were hitting hard and rucking hard. We were putting the ball up in the air and losing field position because they would just kick it right back and we needed to pound it all day, which we ended up doing."
Pitt physically dominated the first half. They didn't lose a single ruck in open play and the Gorillahead pack was repeatedly able to steal the ball from John Brown in the scrums.
"The first half we didn't lose a single ruck," Ismert said. "We stole the ball multiple times on the scrum-downs, we drove their pack off the ball and we were able to get the ball out to our backs, and they made plays."
Gorillahead scored two tries in the first half to take a 14-0 lead, but coming out of the break, many expected the well-conditioned John Brown squad to make a second half run.
Gorillahead improved to 5-1 overall on the season with a 1-1 record in merit table matches.
According to Mike McInerney, senior in construction management, the Gorillas are most interested in winning their merit table matches.
"This was a merit table match, so it is part of our competition to advance to Westerns and maybe on to Nationals," McInerney said. "These are the games that matter. We have a lot of games that are friendlies, where we like to win, but it's not going to affect us in the post season if we don't, but these games are the most important part."
Gorillahead dominated the game from the starting whistle. The squad used a physical running attack to punish their opponents. Early on, the Gorillas tried to use kicking to their advantage, but to no avail. Then they settled into a running game. The strategy paid off as the Gorillas predominantly pounded the ball in the first half to prevent John Brown from kicking with the wind.
"We made some mistakes. We were kicking a lot in the first half when we should have been pounding it," James Ismert, senior in plastics engineering, said. "Our backs were hitting hard and rucking hard. We were putting the ball up in the air and losing field position because they would just kick it right back and we needed to pound it all day, which we ended up doing."
Pitt physically dominated the first half. They didn't lose a single ruck in open play and the Gorillahead pack was repeatedly able to steal the ball from John Brown in the scrums.
"The first half we didn't lose a single ruck," Ismert said. "We stole the ball multiple times on the scrum-downs, we drove their pack off the ball and we were able to get the ball out to our backs, and they made plays."
Gorillahead scored two tries in the first half to take a 14-0 lead, but coming out of the break, many expected the well-conditioned John Brown squad to make a second half run.
Be the first to comment on this story