ADRIAN, Mich. - Yesterday, the Davenport men's rugby team traveled to Adrian College for the inaugural Bulldog 7s tournament. It was a four-team competition featuring Adrian, a combined Ohio University team and the Michigan Renegades.
The first match for the tournament was the Renegades versus the Panthers. The Renegades caught the Panthers off guard, attacking with a series of pick 'n' go's around the tackle breakdown, which helped them to strike first. After they regrouped, Davenport struck back with a try of their own that soon led to the flood gates to be opened up. The Panthers won the match with tries scored by
Jaylin Steedman,
Alex Null,
Sean Nolan, Garret Hill,
Jonathan Kutzli, and Christian Van Der Westhuizen.
The second game for Davenport was against the host Adrian College Bulldogs. It was a tight match with each team scoring back and forth. Thanks to conversion kicks, Davenport won by two points with tries scored by Sam Evans and
Enrique Carmona scoring twice.
Our third match of the day, against the combined teams of Ohio and Renegades, was a barn-burner. Our bench players had a day scoring tries to multiple Panthers. Tries were scored by
Saul Pitout,
Takunda Makiwa,
Kaden Barksdale,
Garrett Hill,
Ajay Prasad, and
Lowe Noe.
In the Championship game, Davenport was up against the Adrian Bulldogs. The Bulldogs attack was relentless with their offloads, making our defense work hard to contain them. However with our creative attack, we were able to overtake the Bulldogs. Carmona had two tries in the final using his kicking ability and fancy footwork. Tries were also scored by Noe, Evans, Null, and Van Der Westhuizen. The Panthers won the Inaugural Bulldog 7s Tournament which was their last tournament to tune up before this upcoming weekend.
Both the Men and Women rugby teams have qualified for the Rugby 7s Collegiate Championships and will travel to Kennesaw State University near Atlanta, Georgia. The national tournament will air on NBC, CNBC and Peacock on May 14th & 15th, 2022.
provided by Chris Hathaway
