By
Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Men's rugby holds off Devils rally, remain undefeated
The Arizona men's rugby club fought off a second-half rally by Arizona State Sunday to extend its winning streak to five and maintain dominance over the Sun Devils with a 26-15 win at Estevan Park.
"I am grateful to win," UA head coach Dave Sitton said. "We are always happy to beat ASU."
Arizona (5-0, 1-0) controlled the Sun Devils up until their 18-3 lead at the half.
The beginning of the second half started much like the first, with the Wildcats moving the ball down with little difficulty.
Unlike in the first half, UA couldn't score. ASU took advantage of the Wildcats' missed opportunities, and scored a "tri" to pull within 10 at 18-8, seven minutes into the second half.
Arizona's inability to make big tackles let ASU dominate time of possession further into the second half. The Sun Devils once again took advantage of a failed scoring opportunity, securing another "tri" to make the score 18-15 halfway through the second half.
"We are letting these people hang around," Sitton said to his assistants as he paced up and down the field.
The Wildcats' offense, described by Sitton as "flatter than a pancake all of a sudden" was desperately in need of a big play.
ASU was once again threatening, but the UA defense held, and Andrew Brischke booted the ball away from the goal line.
"We dodged a bullet there," Sitton said.
UA and ASU traded short possessions at mid-field until freshman Kyle Hoertz punched across the goal line and into the tri-zone to give UA a 23-15 advantage and some breathing room with six minutes left.
Andrew Brischke added a penalty kick to complete the scoring with two minutes left.
"We have to play on a boil for 80 minutes," Sitton said after the game. "If we stop competing for 10-20 minutes, that's when we get into trouble."
ASU controlled the ball for the majority of the second half, as UA continued to struggle offensively.
"We dominated about three-fourths of the game," Sitton said. "We have uncovered some things we need to work on. I am very concerned with the 20- minute lapse."
Freshman Kyle Hoertz said he enjoyed his first UA-ASU experience.
"I love the rivalry," Hoertz said with a smile. "We kept it a lot closer than it should have been, but we still won."
The rugby team continues their home stand Friday against UC-San Diego at Estevan Park.
