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by ROB JENKINS
Intern Sports Reporter
The Appalachian State University men’s and women’s AHO Club Rugby teams hosted the 9th annual Rucktoberfest this past weekend at State Farm Fields Complex.
This marked the second year Rucktoberfest was organized by the AHO men’s rugby team, president and coach, Matt R. Espy, a senior hospitality and tourism management major, said.
 Appalachian State University men’s AHO Club Rugby team performs a line-out versus N.C. State. AHO won the match against Elon in the finals to be Rucktoberfest champions. Photo By Alisha Park |
“This year [Rucktoberfest] is a lot more organized,” Espy said. “In years past, the tournament has just been dropped on us.”
The tournament included teams from all across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
“We had
two teams drop out at the last minute. But as far as competition goes,
this is one of the best tournaments we have had,” senior marketing
major and men’s AHO vice-president, M. Wilder Clark said.
The men’s team opened up the tournament with a resounding 38-0 victory over Western Carolina University Saturday morning.
“It’s always good to beat Western. To dog them that bad was really great,” Clark said.
Saturday afternoon, the men’s team defeated the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 10-7 and lost to Elon University 3-0.
On the
women’s side, the team compiled a 1-1-1 record Saturday that included a
33-0 win against Western Carolina, a loss to the University of Virginia
and a 0-0 tie against Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University.
“This
year we have a very young team. We’re in a rebuilding phase and the
competition was pretty steep,” senior communications and journalism
major and vice-president of the team Sarah M. Mosseller said.
The playoff portion of Rucktoberfest took place Sunday.
The men’s team defeated North Carolina State University 10-3 in the semi-finals earning the team a rematch against Elon.
In the championship game, AHO scored two tries and three place kicks to take the victory over Elon 23-6.
“You
know, senior year, going out on top, it’s the way to go. It’s been a
long time [since we have won Rucktoberfest]. This is the best team I
have ever been with,” Clark said.
The Rucktoberfest championship was the first for the men’s AHO team since 2003.
“I’m just so happy to be able to coach these guys and see it come together like that as a team,” Espy said.
The team relied heavily on the contributions of rookies throughout the tournament.
“We had
a whole new set of guys that this was their first time playing for
AHO,” Espy said. “The younger guys, mostly rookies, stepped up and
replaced our injured players.”
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