Rugby Tackles Another In-State Rival

In a rain-soaked and dreary day, the Men’s Rugby team emerged victorious 29-24 against league foe University of Maine-Farmington. Coming off a tough loss to arch rival Colby, the Men’s ruggers were determined to make a statement. And they did so with a tough-nosed, nail-biting victory over a very physical opponent.

Captain hooker Jeff Ramsayer commented, “We came into the game knowing we had to win. We stuck to our game plan and fought hard.”

The stormy day amounted to a sloppy, error-filled game that significantly slowed the pace of the match. The field was a wash of mud puddles that provided little traction for players. Play was concentrated in the middle of the field, and the reliance of Bates on the kicking game continued.

Ramsayer explained, “The rain allowed us to control the pace of the game through dominant forwards play.”

Following Bates opening kickoff, the Bobcats pushed the ball downfield, forcing an early Farmington penalty in the fifth minute. Rookie Ben Schrier booted in the kick, putting Bates up 3-0. Unrelenting, Bates forwards, led by Captain hooker Jeff Ramsayer, punished the Farmington defense and added two more penalty kicks to put Bates ahead 9-0. Farmington responded in the twentieth minute with the first try of the game, sneaking in weak side off of a Farmington restart. Maine missed the conversion, and the score was 9-5 in favor of Bates. A few minutes later, and reminiscent of last weeks match against Colby, outside enter Connor Boyle intercepted a Farmington pass and returned it 60 yards for a Bates try. The run was complemented by a Billy “White Shoes” Johnson dive into the try zone. Schrier added the conversion to make the score 16-5. Whether it was the rain, or the cold, or fatigue, Bates lost its competitive edge in the latter part of the first half, and allowed Farmington to put in two tries to go ahead 19-16.

The second half was back and forth, with each side threatening but not able to put any points on the board. Twenty minutes into the second half, the Farmington 8-Man was yellow carded and sent off for the remainder of the game for a ‘professional foul.’ Immediately following, inside center Schrier crashed and dumped the ball back to captain fly half Aron Bell, who skipped two Bates players in the line all the way wide to Senior Winger John Butos who sprinted into the corner of the try zone to put Bates in the lead. After a missed conversion, the score was 21-19 Bates.

Bates remained on the attack, and was awarded a rare penalty try after another certain score from Butos was stopped with an illegal Farmington tackle. Schrier shanked the conversion, and Bates led 26-19.

Farmington stormed right back, and after a sloppy play where the ball was pussy-footed by Farmington all the way down the field, they fell on the ball in the try zone to get within two points, 26-24. However, they missed the conversion, and squandered their last opportunity to catch Bates.

Then, in stoppage time, Schrier tacked on another penalty conversion, to make the final 29-24.

Schrier led the Bobcats with 14 individual points, booting four penalties and one conversion. Senior Joey Gracia played exceptionally well at fullback, coming in as a second half replacement for the concussed Bob Emery. Stumpy Jacobs also played admirably, also coming in the second half for gimpy “We’ve Got A Screamer” hooker Tex Ramsayer. Rookie Dave Rosenzweig got his first “A” side start at 2nd row.

Houston-native Ramsayer allegorized, “We’re like the ’95 Rockets—Clutch City baby!” Bell retorted, “I’m from Canada. I have no idea what that means. Gretzky is the greatest athlete of all time. Sorry, I just blacked out. What were we talking about again?”

Bates Men’s Rugby plays away this Saturday at Bowdoin.

-Andrew Simon, '04