Griffon RFC News - 04/09/05

April 9th, 2005: Battle Creek Griffons 34 - C.M.U. 15 - (see pictures)

Despite the best efforts of the CMU travelling bagpiper, the young students from Mount Pleasant were defeated by the Battle Creek Griffons by 34 - 15 in a tough, hard-fought game.
Some quick thinking by Griffon center Ben Overgaard allowed him to take advantage of a gap in the CMU defense, and he dived over for a try. Another opportunistic score in the second half was snapped up by the Griffons when the CMU lineout tapped the ball back into "no man's land", and the Griffons dived on the ball for a try.
In between these scores, it was a see-saw battle of scores being traded by both sides.
The main advantage for the Griffons was the fine kicking of Eric Rothney, who slotted 2 conversions, and a fine penalty kick for the last score of the match.
This was a great tactical decision from captain Hiram Garcia to go for goal from a long distance - this slowed the game down at a time when CMU were trying to increase the pace of the game.
The CMU shoulders slumped a little when the long distance kick went over; it took the wind out of their sails, and of course the Griffons were then given back possession of the ball after the kick, allowing them to keep possession and seal the victory.
Griffon scorers Ben Overgaard (5), Ken Burdett (5), Steve Collins (5), Dave Rohrbach (10), Eric Rothney (9).
For CMU , three tries were scored with no conversions.

Click here for News from the game on March 19th.

Click here for News from the game on March 26th.

Click here for News from the game on April 2nd.