Baylor met the University of North Texas on Saturday and was looking to get back on the winning track. The guys have been working very hard on their fitness and they would need every ounce of it on this day. The weather was great it was in the mid 60s and sunny with a fairly brisk breeze blowing out of the North. Baylor would receive the ball to begin with the wind at their back and going uphill. Baylor came out running hard but it was clear from the beginning that UNT was up to the challenge and worked hard to stymie any attack Baylor could throw at it. The first half was a back and forth affair with Baylor attacking and UNT counterattacking. Neither team could get the upperhand. With about 10 mins to go in the first half a UNT player high tacked flanker Josh Terndup and Jon Hosket retaliated by pushing the guilty party. Immediately the UNT player retaliated. This led to a 10 minute sin bin for Jon Hosket and a 20 minute double yellow (which was awarded in lieu of a red just so the ‘kids could play on’ a slight change to the IRB rules, but fair enough). In the next 5 mins Baylor seemed to gain the upperhand and was knocking on the door and eventually lock Miklos Valdez finally barrelled over for his first ever try. Baylor missed the conversion but went into half with a 5 – 0 lead.
The second half began with the UNT player still in the sin bin and Baylor having the 1 man advantage. From here they were looking to capitalize early. They attacked well from the opening kickoff and were awarded with a penalty kick that flanker Gavin Goetchius ably slotted to extend the lead to 8 – 0. The remainder of the first half saw Baylor forgetting to run straight and UNT putting in some solid defense. With about 15 minutes to go UNT was awarded a penalty 5 mins from the goal line. UNT choose to tap and go and Gavin Goetchius put in a crushing tackle to stop the attack. But Baylor infringed again and this led to another UNT 5 meter penalty. Again UNT tapped but Baylor held strong and stopped UNT on the 1 meter line. UNT spun the ball wide but Baylor was offsides which led to another 5 meter penalty. This time UNT decided to to tap and spin the ball to their winger. The pass was about a meter forward and Baylor quickly let the referee know. The referee decided that since Baylor was back chatting and trying to ‘call the game’ that the forward pass did not matter and the try was awarded. Instantly Coach Zachary Oliphant had to question this dramatic change to the IRB rules and after about a 10 minute discussion the play was overturned and UNT was awarded a penalty 5 meters out under the post (I am still not sure how that was determined but it was better than a try). The UNT 10 tapped again and again was nailed by Gavin Goetchius. This time Baylor turned over the UNT ball and booted it deep down the field finally repelling about 10 minutes of pressure. In the 72nd minute UNT was awarded a kickable penalty and closed the gap to 5 points 8 – 3. The last 8 mins of the match was a back and forth affair as Baylor clung on to a 5 point lead. Finally the whistle blew and Baylor was victorious. A tough hard fought win and hats off to UNT for playing some very tough rugby.
Baylor Starting XV:
1 Sebastian Price
2 Douglas Spence (Jack Noe @ 40)
3 Chip Camp
4 Nate Sloan
5 Miklos Valdez
6 Josh Terndup
7 Gavin Goetchius
8 Blake Rodgers (Captain)
9 Anthony Torres
10 Sean Reid
11 Cody Riles
12 Jon Hosket
13 Brent Jukubec
14 Josh Keys (Jordan Dubuisson @ 40)
15 Jeff Kreisel
Man of the Match: Flanker Gavin Goetchius for his stellar defense.
In the second side match UNT fielded their entire 1st side vs an A/B mix for Baylor. This was another tough game, but Baylor came up short 8 – 0. It was a good game for Baylor B to gain some experience.
Next week Baylor travels to SFA to try to improve to 2 – 1 on the season.