Thomas More Puts in a Full 80 in Big Rivers Semifinal Win
Thomas More Puts in a Full 80 in Big Rivers Semifinal Win
In a dramatic and somewhat surprising result, a depth-challenged Thomas More defeated Principia in the Big Rivers semifinals Friday night in Chicago.
Dealing with injuries, Thomas More came into the game with only 17 available players because, in addition to the injuries, they had five players on suspension after the Rio Grande brouhaha two weeks ago. NCR had issued punishments for both teams, with Rio being dismissed from the playoffs. TMU saw three players suspended, but the university had already suspended those three, plus two more, from the team as their own internal punishment.
The result was that they arrived in Chicago with only two reserves and, in fact, used neither, as all 15 starters played the entire game.
Assistant Head Coach Corey Momsen (who was running the team as Head Coach John Fox was unable to be there) said he expected his team to start slowly as they paced themselves, but it didn't work that way.
Thomas More pressured early and it was Principia which saw a couple of their players take a knee—little innocuous knocks on an ankle or knee can be really painful in brittle, cold weather. TMU were stopped just short of the line, and then held up, but the Saints kept coming and finally, off a scrum, scrumhalf Luca Matassini, usually a fullback, sold an outrageous dummy and was in under the sticks.
Up 7-0 TMU held onto that lead. Principia had a couple of good chances but were unable to finish, and both teams missed shots at goal. Then, seemingly out of nothing, Thomas More burst through for a second try. Principia added a penalty but the first half ended with the Saints up 14-3.
It was a very different second half. Principia was better in the breakdown and cleaned up their connections. They used their pace to score, and then went right down to add a penalty and make it 14-13
TMU responded by going down to the Principia line and bashing away with the forwards. The Thunder Chickens defended brilliantly and when there seemed to be space out wide, TMU couldn't make the connection. They had to settle for a penalty to make it 17-13, but you got the feeling that was a letoff.
And Principia took advantage. A nifty pop kick from flyhalf Damir Conci was grabbed by center Braian Song and he connected with wing Emmanuel Mazhuhwa, who scored a brilliant try in the corner. The Thunder Chickens now led 18-17. However, Conci made an uncharacteristic error in kicking the restart out on the full. From the ensuing scrum Thomas More got a 50-22 on an excellent grubber, and some strong work from the forwards put prop John Sollers over.
The conversion was good and Thomas More had a two-score lead with about 11 minutes to go.
And when flanker Bautista St. Bonnet stole a Principia lineout at midfield, it was all but over. Matassini sniped down the tramlines, beat a couple of defenders, and found St. Bonnet with a pass for the flanker to go in. 34-18, and while Principia kept at it and scored one more, they ran out of time.
With Tyshaun Thomas, Taveon Veal, and Sollers all making huge plays both in creating or scoring tries and on defense, and with St. Bonnet and Matassini stepping up even further, the 15 Thomas More Saints had battled through to the final.
For Principia, Conci summed it up, saying "that's rugby. Little mistakes hurt you, or it just doesn't go your way. We'll come back for the next game."
