Duluth Stymies JMU
Duluth Stymies JMU
University of Minnesota-Duluth, the top-ranked team in Goff Rugby Report’s DII rankings for the entire fall, showed why they are so highly regarded as they pummeled a brave James Madison 47-24 to win the DII national semifinal Saturday in Greenville, SC.
Duluth will face Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked #2 for most of the fall by GRR. While Whitewater had to battle early on in their game. the Fighting Penguins were on top within the first minute - No. 8 Jake Luetgers intercepting a bobbled ball and bursting through the JMU backline to score under the posts.
That set the tone and Luestgers often sang the song, thundering through the JMU line on several occasions. Duluth also used prop Lars Anderson and lock Andrew Buntrock to great effect, and when the Madison defense gathered in to stop the UMD forwards, the backs started running.
Buntrock powered over after a long Anderson run for the second try, and then Luetgers scored off a turnover to make it 21-0 - flyhalf Trace Bolstad had an excellent day kicking, missing just one out of seven conversion attempts, many from tough angles.
JMU did get one back - they kicked for the lineout after a UMD penalty, mauled it, and after several runs at the line, No. 8 Michael Creighton powered over.
But Duluth answered, almost scoring through Leutgers, and then, from the ensuing scrum, shoving the JMU pack backwards and allowing scrumhalf Cody Christensen to dive over with the ball. Halftime, and a 28-7 Duluth lead.
In the second half, UMD once again scored early, this time send it wide to wing Zach Schwartz. It wasn’t long after that try that Anderson took an inside pass from Christensen to ramble over. That made it 40-7, and it was soon 47-7 when a huge run from Luetgers took Duluth well into the JMU 22, and wing Sam Torvinen finished it off.
JMU did not give up and were tackling hard when they could. And despite the punishment they were receiving in a physical match, they scored a try after a long break from flanker Matt Petrik. Duluth infringed, and were then marched back ten for throwing the ball away, and from the quick tap JMU got to the line, lost the ball, won it again, and put flanker Evan Larson over.
In the closing minutes JMU scored two more. Prop Mo Katz powered over, and then wing Matt Narzikul capped off a nicely-taken weak side move off the scrum. But really the story was all about the Minnesota-Duluth power. They scored quickly, and then asserted their forward dominance in loose play and in tight. Luetgers was a handful but it was the unsung work of forwards such as Derrek Van Klein, Blake Martin, Zach Lucas, Anthony Wilson, and Luc Desroches as much as the flashier work of Anderson and Luetgers that won the game for the Penguins.
JMU has a date with Notre Dame College to see who takes third in the nation.
Minnesota-Duluth 47
Tries: Luetgers 2, Buntrock, Christensen, Schwartz, Anderson, Torvinen
Convs: Bolstad 6
James Madison 24
Tries: Creighton, Larson, Katz, Narzikul
Convs: Kunkel 2
