Championship Highlight Video
STANFORD, Calif. – The Davenport Panthers D1 Rugby team battled back from a halftime deficit to claim the school's first Rugby National Championship. After jumping out to an early lead, the University of California – Santa Barbara came back to take a 19-17 lead. The Panthers used stingy defense in the second half to hold UCSB scoreless en route to the 38-19 victory.
Mason Baum (Osceola, Ind.) got things started for Davenport scoring a try five minutes into the game. Jean Pierre Eloff couldn't convert the conversion attempt.
Santa Barbara took their first lead nearly half way through the half when a try and conversion put them up 7-5. Davenport responded with a pair of tries by Jean Pierre Eloff (Pritoria, South Africa) over the next several minutes. Eloff converted one of the two conversion to give Davenport a 17-7 lead.
A little complacent, Davenport allowed Santa Barbara to score two tries in the final ten minutes of the half. Santa Barbara held a 19-17 lead at the half.
Just like in the first half, Mason Baum got Davenport started scoring a try less than four minutes into the second half. A missed conversion gave Davenport a 22-19 lead. A few minutes later, JP Eloff converted a penalty kick to increase Davenport's lead to six with 32 minutes remaining in the half.
The next several minutes was a defensive struggle, with both teams finding it hard to move the ball. With 17 minutes left in the half Davenport kicked the ball into Santa Barbara's end and while the Santa Barbara player was attempting to catch the ball Eloff was able to wrestle it away from him and walk into the try zone for the score. Eloff made the conversion to increase Davenport's lead to 32-19.
Davenport converted two penalty kicks down the stretch, including a 46 meter kick by Zebb Dewes-Taylor (Rockford, Mich.), to win the Championship 38-19.
Jean Pierre Eloff, who scored 25 of Davenports 38 points, was named the Most Valuable Player.
Davenport finishes their first season at the D1 level with an overall record of 15-2.
