{"id":15071,"date":"2013-04-15T12:30:48","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T16:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=15071"},"modified":"2013-04-16T09:04:13","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T13:04:13","slug":"unionville-rugby-holds-off-salesianum-24-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=15071","title":{"rendered":"Unionville rugby holds off Salesianum, 24-10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three matches in eight days take toll on side; league title in focus<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"U-Rugby-2\"<\/a>

Unionville’s Brad Pechin eludes a Salesianum player \u2014 and looks to move the ball forward, during Sunday’s match. The Indians won, 24-10.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\nPENNSBURY \u2014 With two matches in less than 48 hours \u2014 and three in last eight days \u2014 it was no surprise that the Unionville varsity rugby team was a bit frayed at the edges, but it still managed to hold off a stubborn Salesianum team, 24-10, Sunday.<\/p>\n

The nationally ranked Indians ran up their record to 8-1 and 2-0 in league play and while the win might not have been as dominating as some recent performances, it was a gritty win against a determined opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is that Sallies is a really good side, we\u2019re a really good side and we\u2019re really tired side right now having played three matches in eight days,\u201d Unionville head coach Curt Baker said after the game. \u201cIt was a nice win for us, it was an ugly win, but it was a nice win \u2014 we\u2019ll take \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sallies came out early and dominated the early play, scoring a try \u2014 a five-point play \u2014 just six minutes into the match.<\/p>\n

\"U-Rugby-1\"<\/a>

Unionville’s Chris Baker attempts to break away from a Salesianum player, Sunday.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe had a couple of folks who were dinged up that didn\u2019t play today, so it wasn\u2019t our normal line up out there, so some of the guys hadn\u2019t played together,\u201d Baker said. \u201cSo the chemistry disappears when you start changing players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding themselves trailing \u2014 not an entirely familiar feeling for a team ranked in the top 10 of single-school rugby squads in the U.S. \u2014 seemed to awaken something in the Indians.<\/p>\n

The Indians were able to gain control of the match and methodically moved the ball downfield, grabbing the lead for good on a Tim Christopher try, followed by Chris Baker\u2019s conversion kick, to give them a 7-5 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half.<\/p>\n

\"U-Rugby-3\"<\/a>

Unionville’s Ethan Fish looks for options, running with the ball, Sunday.<\/p><\/div>\n

Just before the half, Zach Barnes added another try to put Unionville up 12-5 at intermission.<\/p>\n

Although another Christopher try \u2014 and Baker conversion \u2014 opened a bit a of breathing room in the opening seconds of the second half, running the score to 19-5, the game remained tense and close.<\/p>\n

After the Sallies closed to within 19-10, Brad Pechin\u2019s try with just three minutes left in the match sealed the deal, 24-10.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, guys who have been key all year stepped up and well as one of two guys who helped fill the breech.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris (Baker) played a really good game,\u201d the elder Baker said. \u201cTim Christopher did a really nice job for us in terms of getting us around the corners. Pechin scored a try. Robbie Wheatcraft probably played the best game he\u2019s played all season.\u201d<\/p>\n

With two wins \u2014 including a big win over Bishop Shanahan \u2014 in the league, just three more matches stand between Unionville and the league championship, with St. Joseph\u2019s up next, there\u2019s not a lot of looking ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe we\u2019ve got to get everyone rested and beat St. Joe\u2019s in a week,\u201d Baker said, with matches the following weeks against Mosigner Bonner and \u2014 potentially the toughest \u2014 Malvern Prep.<\/p>\n

And while the Baker and the Indians are honored to be ranked nationally, the goals for 2013 are clear: win the league and then win the state title.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to have the national ranking, but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re playing for, we\u2019re playing for a state championship,\u201d Baker said. \u201cIt sure is nice to get recognition on the national level, though.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three matches in eight days take toll on side; league title in focus By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times PENNSBURY \u2014 With two matches in less than 48 hours \u2014 and three in last eight days \u2014 it was no surprise that the Unionville varsity rugby team was a bit frayed at the edges, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[32,175,3176,24],"class_list":["post-15071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-indians","tag-rugby","tag-salesianum","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}