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Truman sizzles at KC Collegiate Invitational
Truman State’s Tony Giubardo hitting it up (Truman photo)
By Brian Lowe
Los Angeles, CA – (March 26, 2006) – #19 Truman State was on fire at the inaugural Kansas City Blues Collegiate Invitational putting together two solid wins against Oklahoma State and St Louis University Saturday in Kansas City, MO.
In their opening game, Truman racked up a ton in blanking OSU 107-0, then backed up that decision later in the day with a 43-7 victory over St Louis. It was the last opportunity to tune up before the Western RFU championships on the weekend of April 7-9 in Norman, OK. Truman will face LSU in the first round and then either Wyoming or Oklahoma.
Truman entered the OSU match knowing they had to win and score at least four tries to get the bonus point. That would create a three-way tie for first place in the Central League with Nebraska and Oklahoma with each team holding a 4-1 league record. In this event, the deciding factor would be the cumulative point differential for all league games played. With a win and a bonus point, Truman’s point differential would propel them into the #2 spot and secure a seed at the West Collegiate Championships.
More unlikely was the notion that Truman could score the net 46 points necessary to pass OU. As it turned out, Truman won, got the bonus point, and exceeded the 46 point margin and moved from third to first in the Central League and will be the #3 seed in the West Championships facing #6 LSU in the first round.
“What happened could not have been predicted,” Truman head coach Bill Sexton told American Rugby News. “OSU has had a good year, and was competitive in virtually every match they played. We fully expected them to be big and tough, and that they would be a hard test. We prepared physically and mentally for the challenge and we took the field with a mission and a single-minded determination to win.”
Getting on the board for Truman were Branch (4), Sean Foley (3), Tony Giubardo (2), Harris (2), Smith, Jones, Tom Tajkowski, Kiyokuni, Dougherty and Fitzgerald. Foley went 9/17 with kicks at goal.
With approximately ten minutes left in the game and with the score at 93-0, the referee reportedly asked OSU if they wanted the match to be called early. They reportedly decided to finish the match. “OSU deserves praise not only for their commitment to honoring their league fixture and playing the match with just 15 players, and playing about 45 minutes with only 14 players,” added Sexton. “This says volumes about the OSU players and their leadership, and shows character and commitment. Credit to them, as they rebounded to take Nebraska to the wire, losing by two points later in the afternoon.”