28-point run sparks Bulls rugby to victory
Blake Toppmeyer
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Sports
For the first 38 minutes of the Bulls' rugby game Saturday, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln bottled up the Bulls' offense.
That all changed in a matter of seconds just two minutes before halftime when senior Dylan Rohr burst free for a 50-meter run to the try line. Rohr finally was stopped just outside the end zone, but he pitched to senior Luke Wenger, who carried the ball in for a try.
The try sparked a 28-0 scoring run for Truman, and the Bulls pulled out a 28-15 victory to finish the fall season 3-3.
Head coach Bill Sexton said falling behind early was not a concern, but rather it essentially was the game plan for Saturday. Two weeks ago the Bulls staked a 19-17 lead against St. Louis University, but they didn't have enough left in the tank at the end of the game and suffered a 24-19 loss.
Sexton said the Bulls were aiming to prevent a similar late collapse Saturday against Nebraska.
"We actually consciously talked about starting the game a little slower, not getting too wound up, not getting too hyper-kinetic and just going out there and burning ourselves out but instead really focusing on the long-term aspect of the game and staying close," Sexton said.
Wenger's try and the subsequent conversion came after Nebraska, playing with the wind in the first half, jumped to a 15-0 lead on two tries and a field goal. But Nebraska's lead could have been even bigger had it not been for a try-saving tackle near the goal line from senior Dustin Homer. Homer made a one-on-one, two-legged tackle as the last line of defense to prevent a try.
"You can coach a lot of things but you can't coach fearless[ness], and you can't coach a willingness to go in there and make the tackle," Sexton said. "That's a senior player making a clutch tackle that prevented a try that surely would've put us down 22-7 or 22-0 at the half. That could've changed the whole tone of the game."
Homer is one of three seniors, including Justin Lacy and Scott Boswell, who will graduate in December and were playing their last game for the Bulls on Saturday.
That all changed in a matter of seconds just two minutes before halftime when senior Dylan Rohr burst free for a 50-meter run to the try line. Rohr finally was stopped just outside the end zone, but he pitched to senior Luke Wenger, who carried the ball in for a try.
The try sparked a 28-0 scoring run for Truman, and the Bulls pulled out a 28-15 victory to finish the fall season 3-3.
Head coach Bill Sexton said falling behind early was not a concern, but rather it essentially was the game plan for Saturday. Two weeks ago the Bulls staked a 19-17 lead against St. Louis University, but they didn't have enough left in the tank at the end of the game and suffered a 24-19 loss.
Sexton said the Bulls were aiming to prevent a similar late collapse Saturday against Nebraska.
"We actually consciously talked about starting the game a little slower, not getting too wound up, not getting too hyper-kinetic and just going out there and burning ourselves out but instead really focusing on the long-term aspect of the game and staying close," Sexton said.
Wenger's try and the subsequent conversion came after Nebraska, playing with the wind in the first half, jumped to a 15-0 lead on two tries and a field goal. But Nebraska's lead could have been even bigger had it not been for a try-saving tackle near the goal line from senior Dustin Homer. Homer made a one-on-one, two-legged tackle as the last line of defense to prevent a try.
"You can coach a lot of things but you can't coach fearless[ness], and you can't coach a willingness to go in there and make the tackle," Sexton said. "That's a senior player making a clutch tackle that prevented a try that surely would've put us down 22-7 or 22-0 at the half. That could've changed the whole tone of the game."
Homer is one of three seniors, including Justin Lacy and Scott Boswell, who will graduate in December and were playing their last game for the Bulls on Saturday.
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BullDOG Alum
posted 11/05/09 @ 9:59 AM CST
When did we change our mascot to Bulls?
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