Men's Rugby 

BENNINGTON, Vt. - Heading into their homecoming match against visiting Colby-Sawyer, the Southern Vermont College men's rugby team knew that it had the fleet feet and powerful legs to run past the Chargers - or over them, if necessary. What SVC likely didn't count on, however, was the showcase - or rather, shoe-case - that fullback Mike Nosek put on with his place-kicking.

Nosek earned "Man of the Match" honors by racking up 12 points on perfect 5-for-5 kicking, helping deliver SVC a convincing 27-8 victory. Nosek opened scoring by slotting a penalty kick early in the first half, then tacked on three straight conversions before capping his team's output with a second kick-for-points with seven minutes remaining in the game. In-between, the junior made a number of crucial tackles from the fullback position to prevented the Chargers from mounting any semblance of a comeback.

"Mike probably saved us three or four tries on plays where (the Chargers) broke through," SVC head coach Jeremiah Madison said. "He was never out of position; he was where he needed to be all day, to make tackles or at least slow people down."

SVC (1-3 overall, 1-1 conference) took a commanding 17-0 lead in the first half that ballooned to 24-0 after the break before Colby-Sawyer managed a penalty kick and single try with 10 minutes left in the match. Madison said that his team's dominance was a product of cohesion, as all 15 Mountaineers worked as a unit instead of trying to take the game into any single set of hands.

"We had been playing as individuals, but this game we finally played as a team," Madison said. "No one was selfish, trying to run anyone over and try to score - we dished it off when we needed to, and really played Southern Vermont College rugby."

After Nosek put his team up 3-0 on a kick 10 minutes into the match, teammate Keith Upham of Post Mills ramped up the intensity with a highlight-reel try. The junior centre took a pass just beyond the attacking 22-meter line and ran around, over and through a handful of Colby-Sawyer defenders before sliding into the try zone. Nosek's conversion then staked the home team to a 10-0 lead.

The Mountaineers drove down the pitch a few minutes later and went into smash-mouth mode, crashing the ball several times before junior Mike Colgan hammered it in from two meters out for SVC's second try. Another Nosek conversion sent the Mountaineers into the break with a 17-point cushion.

Freshman eight-man Robert Cabrera got into the act in the second half, scooping up a weakside pick off an SVC scrum and rambling 20-odd meters downfield before dishing to senior wing Tommy Snide of Springfield - who carried the ball the remaining 20 yards to score the Mountaineers' third try and set up Nosek's final conversion for a 24-0 lead.

Madison commended Cabrera's open-field running on the play.

"He did a great job of sucking in the opposing fullback," Madison said. "He set (Snide) up perfectly."

The Chargers finally got on the board with a penalty kick midway through the second half, then scored their only try with 10 minutes remaining in the match. Colby-Sawyer's offensive highlight started as a breakaway down the sideline, after which the Charger backs overloaded on Nosek and rolled into the left corner of the try zone.

The ensuing conversion failed, and Nosek slotted his final penalty kick three minutes later to bring the final score to 27-8.

The Mountaineer women picked up a win by forfeit on Saturday, as Saint Anselm's College did not make the trip to Bennington and SVC effectively cleared its biggest conference hurdle of the season without even taking the pitch.

"That would have been our toughest game," Madison said. "So it's good to get the win, but the girls are disappointed. They really wanted to play."

For more local news go to http://www.benningtonbanner.com