Penn State 44 Kutztown 37 (Ht: 18-17 Kutztown)

(State College, PA) Center Sam LaPaille delivered a hat trick to lift #8 Penn State over #9 Kutztown 44-37 at home, as the Nittany Lions extended their undefeated streak in the D1-A East.

Wing Andrew Stinson slotted two early penalties, establishing a 6-5 beachhead for the visitors halfway through the first. But Kutztown flanker Casper Huizenga was sinbinned, and the Nittany Lions wasted no time in exploiting his absence -  backrow Kevin Kimble and center Conor Mariani added a try each to bring the score to 17-5. The Golden Bears responded with scores from hooker Jamie Gregory and center Robert Stortz, reclaiming a slight 18-17 lead at halftime.

LaPaille broke open the second half with his second try for PSU, converted by fullback Joseph Baker. Gregory, the Kutztown captain, led from the front with a second try of his own, bringing the score to 24-23 - as small as Penn State's lead would ever be. The Nittany Lions made effective use of their backline and precise kicking from Stinson, piling on twenty points in twenty minutes. Kutztown's forward pack closed the gap in the final moments, with tries from lock Mike Lawrenson and the sinbinned Huizenga, but PSU's one-try margin was enough for a 44-37 win.

The Nittany Lions (4-0 East) continue their D1-A campaign against #5 Army April 21st in College Station, PA. Both teams have already secured playoff seeds, having gone unbeaten to this point - they will battle for first place in Rugby East. Kutztown (3-2 East) is now out of playoff contention and will wrap up their season against Rutgers (1-4 East) at home.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Tries: Sam LaPaille (3), Kevin Kimble, Conor Mariani, Ben Janssen
Conversions: Joseph Baker (4)
Penalty goals: Joseph Baker (2)

Joseph Baker; Ben Janssen, Conor Mariani, Sam LaPaille, Dominic DeFalco (David van Hoof); Blaze Feury, Christopher Saint; Matthew Spellman (Gabe Free), Chris Karas, Jonathan Hellman, Ryan Goulding (Brian Mellody), Daniel Metcalf, Sean Herbert (Michael Fredin), Kevin Kimble (Cameron McFeely), Michael Erickson. 

Kutztown Golden Bears

Tries: Jamie Gregory (2), Robert Stortz, Mike Lawrenson, Casper Huizenga
Conversions: Andrew Stinson (3)
Penalty goals: Andrew Stinson (2)
Yellow card: Casper Huizenga

Gareth Lourens; Devon Somma (Justin Duncan), Robert Stortz, Bruce Dolan, Andrew Stinson; Tom Domino, Dan Callahan; Zack Jessell, Jamie Gregory ©, Joe Brady (Rob Anderson), Greg Conover, Mike Lawrenson, Casper Huizenga, Matthew Frederick, Michael Cress.

Referee: Unavailable
Attendance: Unavailable 

Comments

[FrontRow]

Sounds like an exciting game. Too bad I missed it on ESPNU... Oh wait... no, ESPNU was showing women's bowling on Saturday.

[Mister Info]

According to the info I saw, the referee's name was Rogers.

I think that is likely to be Jim Rogers from the NorthEast.

[WTF?]

Notice anything unusual about this entry on Rugby Mag?

http://rugbymag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4205:cal-turns-eye-to-7s&catid=149:usa7s-crc&Itemid=392

No comments section. Any truth that it was negotiated by the big man himself?

[Pete M]

WTF-Doubtful as I have seen pieces on Rugbymag without comment sections in the past.

[Widdle Cal gots a boo boo]

ya and its usually when Cal has a negative article on them. And by "negative" I mean when they lose, back out of a premier competition last minute, or cant get in to D1AA playoffs. The same playoffs that are played at the same time of year as the D1A playoffs... the competition they left because they were worried about their kids and their schooling...

[7's vs 15's]

will be curious how cal performs at the crc in june, they finished 5th in the regional qualifier for last year’s collegiate 7's and missed out on the championship tourney, they lost twice this year in 15's, their season is over because of their failed stare down of league play, now they have 7 weeks to prepare...no pressure, no pressure at all....

[College]

I left a comment on the Delaware article asking why we could place comments there an not on the Cal article?
Be interesting what their response is?

[prof]

@Widdle

Don't let the facts ruin your rant.

The D1aa playoff's are in April, last weekend. The CPD playoffs are the first two weeks of May. The playoff are not at the same time, but carry on.

It is only the championship matches played on the same day, the third weekend in May when almost all schools have finished exams and school is over.

[WTF?]

Thing about the article on RM about Cal and 7s preparations is how JC complains about how tough things were for them last year to compete in 7s with their varsity "relegation", as he calls it, taking a lot out of them. Is this a joke? He does know that he is competing against teams with a small club sports budget, non paid coaches who rely on talent that shows up and not recruited, and who have to raise funds just to exist much less stockpile a foundation account. What planet is this guy from?

[college]

good point. I couldnt believe that I was reading Jack Clark tick off a list of excuses

[WTF?]

Competing in the CRC 7s tournament is very difficult. The coaches at Cal do not have direct deposit and their coaching salaries require them to go to the bank at least 2 times per month. We also can only select from the 60+ athletes we recruited and it is tough when you only get to train 5 times per week. Furthermore, there is a lot of stress knowing that the $15K travel cost will remove up to 0.375% of the total amount in our $4M foundation fund. Therefore we are a clear underdog.

Signed JC

[RM Fan]

The article about Cal's preparation for the CRC doesn't have comments for a simple reason. The folks that own the CRC also own RM and they don't want to have an article that is essentially a promotion of their CRC product to be filled with mostly true accounts about Cal complaining when they are the most stacked team in the nation. Unwanted facts will diminish their false claims that it is:

A) A championship
B) Attending by the best college rugby programs in the country that are professionally run

The current article to the casual or new fan presents Cal's perceived constraints as if all the teams are dealing with NCAA type issues.

Spin Baby Spin
Fake It Till You Make It

[Widdle]

prof -

SO SORRY... ONLY the FINAL is during the same weekend.... bwhahahaha!!! do you Cal apologists hear yourselves?

[college 7's fan]

I thought the Rugby Mag Cal/CRC article was good.

I think Cal has done pretty well in the CRC. They has reached the finals and lost in the quarters. They are 8-2 in the CRC losing twice to Utah. I think it is pretty clear that Utah is better than Cal at 7's as is maybe several other teams.

However it is safe to say most other teams would be happy with that 8-2 record at the CRC. In fact all other teams minus the two champions Utah and Dartmouth. Something tells me Cal wants to do better in 7's than they have proved thus far. JC said "we weren't very good on the first day and he knew the team was in trouble". The first day of the 2011 CRC Cal beat Ohio State, Penn State and LSU.

I guess time will tell if Cal gets better in 7's but, I wouldn't bet against them improving and winning in 7's before too long.

[Sergeant Hulka]

I wouldn't doubt it if the whole Cal philosophy changes to focus on sevens rugby, now that it's an Olympic Sport. The one weekend of CRC gets more national exposure than any amount of 15s national championships.

[Realist]

It may end up making Cal a more skilled team overall. Yes, they've produced Eagles in Colin Hawley and Blaine Scully lately, but historically they've produced far more forwards than backs. They have traditionally dominated teams in the forwards while having serviceable backs so a switch to more focus on 7s may make them a better all-around team.

[Working Class Rugger]

http://news.yahoo.com/grand-prix-entertainment-announces-sale-201200136.html

Discuss.

[Remote chance]

WCR

I'll take the bait. With the exception of Ms. Childress, everyone in that article is searchable and has the background as hyped by Tatham. This might not mean anything but you'd think anyone who can drop $10mill on a fledgling league might have at least one relevant snippet on the interweb. I searched on Google and Mamma. If it pans out, then good for Tatham and all involved. Otherwise, staying skeptical....

[college]

Tim O'Brien, or anyone who knows him and can ask him to pleeeeease post the game film of their win over Cal on vimeo or somewhere so people can see it. All the CPD games get posted, and I understand this isnt one, but damn, it was a huge win and a huge upset and I think people would like to see it.

[7sFan]

@Remote Chance

I agree. This smells like all sizzle and no steak.

[college]

10 million dollars is steak dude.

[7sFan]

Spend some time on google and you will see this "buyer" is not very established and has ties to Atlantic City. Her production company Donalyssa Entertainment was just established in March 2012 - http://www.bizapedia.com/nj/DONALYSSA-ENTERTAINMENT-LIMITED-LIABILITY-COMPANY.html - in New Jersey.

The Polaris Development Group has a website - http://www.thepolarisdevelopmentgroup.com/ - but the only info on it is that they did a deal with Grand Prix. The companies Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Polaris-Development-Group-LLC/223427437699043?v=info - has a PO Box for an address. This is the website for their big Kentucky Ave project - http://historicalkentuckyavenue.com/

Ms. Childress' partner in cable TV production is this guy - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/zaire-baptiste/1b/844/7a9 - and his Visualizer Filmz Inc. website - http://www.visualizerfilmz.com/ - isn't up. Yes it is with a z.

Not sure there is much steak after spending 5 minutes on Google. Unless Ms. Childress is getting massive royalties from the mysterious automotive patent she "pioneered" which had to wait until the last sentence of the press release - you know after slipping in Harvard educated sports and entertainment lawyer mentions, nods to Bank of America Wealth Management Vice Presidents, great American jazz icon shout outs, name brand professional sports franchise name drops, the Olympics & FIFA and enough horse dung to make me choke - I don't see these folks doing anything for the betterment of rugby 7s in the USA.

[college]

Good points. but it was still 9-10 million dollars. And none of it out of CIPP member's pockets. So I'm happy to let them try to do something with it.

[Smoke and Mirrors]

9-10 million dollars payable over how many years? 50? How much up front? Zero? We don't know any of this. If she stroked a check for $10 million, that is one thing, but I HIGHLY doubt that is the way this went down. I had been feeling more confident about Grand Prix after the NFL Network announcement. Now I am back to being doubtful...

[MoneyLine]

@college

I have some properties to sell you.

[college]

Yea yea. you're making good points. Excitement should be held until something tangible is done or some absolutely credible info comes out first. But, I still say this is more steak than any of us have ever seen. Even though it might not be seasoned or even cooked yet.

[college]

Ark St. @ Army
PSU @ Life
UCLA @ BYU
Utah @ SMC

Picks?

I got Army close, Life eviscerating PSU, BYU ending UCLA's program, and SMC by 10.

[STFU]

"College"... no one cares who you pick or what you think.

[You mad, bro?]

Jeez, did "college" bang your wife or something? Why the hostility?

[STFU]

It's general commentary on all the trolls who post regularly on here. They like to hear themselves talk, but what good does it really do? None. Keep your opinions to your self. No one cares what any of you think... except for the 4 guys who post stuff here from their mother's basement.

[college]

"stfu"... Im not sure if you are aware of this, but this website (gainline.us) has a message board feature. thats where people post their opinions. Im sorry if you are a fan of arkst, psu, ucla, or utah, but saying they are going to lose isnt "trolling." If you take issue with my descriptions of the outcomes then i am sorry. I'll rephrase. Life is going to beat PSU by a whole lot. And BYU is going to beat UCLA by an even more whole lot.

Debate about who is going to win and lose important games happens to be a cornerstone of sports fandom in America, especially online.

[Ragby]

I'd be pissed too if I had to travel 10 hours from beautiful Cali to Utah just to get my head beat in by a bunch of large, angry guys who dont even have the decency to curse at you.

[Respect]

UCLA has come a long way in a matter of 3 or 4 years. They should be commended and not mocked.

[Just be fair!]

I don't like this name "BYU". I would respect the team a lot more if they would insist that they be called "MCR" or "Men's Cougar Rugby" in a show of solidarity with their female counterparts.

[Working Class Rugger]

@smoke and mirrors

As I understand it, it's $10 million over 5 years.

[college]

Is there anything else you "understand" WCR. haha. As in do you have any other details that havent been mentioned publicly?