Fall DI rugby is done and it’s time to select some award-winners; we here at Goff Rugby Report World Headquarters have combed the games and teams to bring you the best, and here they are.

All of these awards are for the fall only. So we will revisit these awards in the spring and expand on them to include 7s, as well.

 

GRR Leadership Award

Chris Mattina, Delaware

Honorable Mention: Bryce Campbell, Indiana, Jeremy Johnson, North Texas, Skyler Adams, AIC, Matthew Schick, Alabama, Logan McNeil, Tennessee

We were impressed by the leadership of many players on a variety of teams. Obviously, leaders on winning teams get a nod, as do those who marshaled their squads through  difficult competitions. We pick Mattina simply because, while in many recent stories of college rugby teams being suspended and revived, the driving force for redemption has been a coach or some other older adult, the University of Delaware rugby team got its punishment reduced and back onto the field in large part thanks to the work of the players. Mattina, who served as captain to Delaware in a nicely-played comeback season, was at the center of that.

 

GRR Golden Boot Award

Teddy Terezis, Indiana

One of six players from the Penn HS program on the Big Ten-winning and #2-ranked Indiana squad, Terezis was simply lights out when kicking for goal. While other players had good days or weeks or even months kicking, Terezis was always good, always a threat for points, and he proved that in the 38-34 ACRC Bowl Series win over Kutztown.

 

Best Game

Indiana v Kutztown

Honorable Mentions: Kutztown v Army, Indiana v Wisconsin, Tennessee v USC redux, 

Actually there are a lot of games we could have chosen. The Syracuse-Stony Brook games (both of them), Iona’s upset of Army. So many. Indiana v Kutztown is the one we pick because it was meaningful (possible #1 ranking on the line, and bragging rights between Big Ten and Rugby East), it was close, it came down to the final play, and it was well-played by both teams.

You can see it here:

 

Toughest Conference

Rugby East

Honorable Mention: SIRC South, ECRC, Big Ten

We wrote something earlier this fall calling the SIRC South the toughest conference in the fall, and at the time it seemed so, but Rugby East bypassed them. The definition of a tough conference, for us, is that the best teams are among the best in the division, there’s more than one major competitor for the conference title, and, as you go down the list, you see strong programs.

Rugby East fits that bill. Two teams, Kutztown and Army, were ranked #1 during the fall. Penn State could have been. The conference winner, Kutztown, did not go undefeated. The #6 team in Rugby East defeated the MAC Conference runner-up in an ACRC Bowl Game. While West Virginia and Buffalo lost most of their games by wide margins, the rest of the conference is rock-solid.

Big Ten is similar, but fades a little early in the standings. ECRC proved once again in the Bowl Series that even its #4 team is strong. But the conference as a whole is not evenly competitive, in that AIC is way ahead at the top and the bottom teams are pretty far behind.

 

Freshmen

Lui Sitama, AIC (backs), Tyler Ringwood, Iona (forwards)

We’ve seen several really good freshmen, and we know that Kevin Trotter out of Penn State was the Rugby East top freshman, and Evan Clark was the West D1A top freshman, but we pick Sitama as the best back in part because he fit so seamlessly into an experienced AIC squad, and in part because he was then asked to be the team’s go-to goalkicker, a job he took on nicely. Ringwood played loosehead prop for an Iona team that really needed him, and was a big part of their forward effort.

 

Coach

Rob Conway, Boston College

Honorable Mention: Bruce McLane, Iona; Marty Bradley, Tennessee; Mark Seitz, Alabama, Josh Macy, AIC; Gavin Hickie, Dartmouth; Mark Lambourne, James Madison

Many, many coaches doing many good things. We pick Conway because he BC team punched above its weight, and is a club team that needs all the held it can get. BC isn’t overwhelmed with athletes, and yet they have made a habit of taking down teams larger than they are - witness their 26-20 defeat of Alabama. See more on Conway here.

 

Forward

Malcolm May, Penn State

We will have a longer piece on May coming later.

 

Player

Jihad Khabir, AIC

See here.

 

We’re not going to both giving honorable mentions, because we could get wildly bogged down in thinking we need to mention everyone. We will say that Kutztown wouldn’t be where they are without their front row or Wes Hartmann at No. 8, or Jordan Ghyzel at #7, or Robert Stortz at #13. We will say that we think Indiana’s Bryce Campbell and Jake Hidalgo are great players, and Matt Schick kind of put Alabama on his back at times. Khabir isn’t the only AIC back were considered, because Adrian Ray is pretty special. See? You’ve got us doing this now … lots of good players. Above are our best two for the fall.