Miami of Ohio Makes a Move
Miami of Ohio Makes a Move
Miami of Ohio's convincing victory over Middle Tennessee State was the tipping point to get the team into GRR's Top 15 among D2 college teams.
It's a step for something of a comeback for a program that hit some tough times over the past years.
"We have a great group of student-athletes excited about rugby and the club," said club President Wesley Seay.
Numbers are up, with most of them underclassmen.
"We've been fortunate to have quite a few freshmen and sophomores who have previous experience playing rugby in high school, which has been essential in our quick development and success so far this season," said Seay. "As a club sport with limited resources, we have been engaging in a lot of grassroots recruitment on campus and social media and have had some success recruiting students with no previous playing experience, many of whom have been key players on our team so far this year despite a lack of rugby knowledge."
Seay credits the team's more experienced players with getting the new recruits up to speed. That rugby experience then gets shared quickly.
The Miami team is a bit small—in terms of player size not player population—but they use that.
"Our size sometimes plays to our advantage defensively, because we are able to close space quickly and put a lot of pressure on the opposing attack," said Seay. "Offensively, our playmaking ability on the edge coupled with our ability to move the ball quickly in the midfield has been essential in us scoring points. In training we do a lot of fast-paced games, in part to keep practices exciting and fun which helps grow numbers, but also to develop our players' ability to be reactive athletes in a variety of situations."
Flyhalf Chris Mathews has been a standout. Bringing his experience from St. Ignatius HS, Mathews is the team captain and runs the attack.
"He controls the game with his vision and passing ability," said Seay. "Our dynamic offense flows through him."
Mathews has also scored four tries so he is a running threat as well.
Linking nicely with Mathews is center Nick Kuras out of Illinois. He leads the team in tries and combines speed and power.
"Chris's passing and Nick's running ability make quite the combo," said Seay.
In the forwards, flanker Matt Fry is new to the game but has embraced it nicely. Aggressive and hardworking on defense he makes up for his lack of size with intensity and speed.
"He is the heart and soul of the defense and has a knack for always being around the ball, causing disruption whenever and wherever possible," said Seay.
All of that has resulted in wins over Xavier, Southern Indiana, Western Kentucky, and MTSU, outscoring them 189-14. That has put them in a strong position to make a move come playoff time, and at #14 in the GRR rankings, they still have room to move up.
