Wildcats Unstoppable, Roll to NCR D1AA Title
Wildcats Unstoppable, Roll to NCR D1AA Title
Saturday was not Bowling Green's day.
A strong Falcons side that had played well through the fall did not bring its A-game against a Kentucky team that was firing nicely. The result, in this NCR D1AA final was an emphatic Kentucky Wildcat repeat, 57-14.
Kentucky threatened early and were held up in-goal in the opening minutes, but the Wildcats kept at it and a superb pass from flyhalf Jack Phillips out to wing Joe Keough. He sidestepped his way calmly through the BG defense to score the opener. Kentucky looks powerful in contact, with props Jared Monier and Richard Donlon making all kinds of trouble for the Falcons.
A brilliant run from fullback John Hall set up a Monier score and Phillips converted that as easily as the first try for a 14-0 lead.
Bowling Green seemed to struggle to find the energy they needed to keep attacks going. Slow to secure the ball in the breakdown, they gave up turnovers and penalties. Phillips kicked on such penalty over the bar, and Kentucky built on that lead after Monier was held up with a counter from Joe Keough and a follow-up from flanker Holden Hahn.
That made it 24-0 and when Hahn broke three tackles to canter through the middle Bowling Green was in a too deep a hole.
Phillips, yet to miss a kick, converted that try to make it 31-0, and Kentucky wasn't done.
A nice tips pass to lock Michael Punzalan, followed nicely by Donlon, eventually led to Monier's second. A dropped ball led to center Luke Keough scoring and that kind of sealed it. Phillips converted both for a 45-0 lead and Bowling Green was flat just not playing well. They weren't tackling well, they weren't winning rucks, and the difficulty became infectious. Only captain Joe Apel, No. 8 Phil Tracey, lock Jacob Eicholtz, and, when he came on as a reserve, flanker Nico LaBianca, seemed immune.
But four players aren't enough. A blocked kick led to a wild chase for the ball, and Joe Keough was able to reach through to score.
Kentucky got one more before LaBianca scored and Ralph Merze were able to get over.
Not much more to say. Kentucky was adventurous, fun to watch, and multi-faceted. Bowling Green has certainly played better, and picked a bad day to have a bad day.
Kentucky wins their second straight NCR D1AA title in impressive fashion, capping a superb career for Monier and Phillips, who logged 17 points on the day.
