CALEDONIA, Mich. - The Davenport men's rugby team hosted Life University last Saturday for the one and only home game of the semester. The Panthers fought hard at home, competing all 80 minutes of
the test.
Life struck first and hard, being up 24–0 over DU going into the second half.
Refusing to give in to the momentum, the Panthers continued to fight, getting across the try line within the first 10 minutes of the half. The try came from the efforts of Jr. scrum half
Dawson Hovingh with a massive 30-yard line break, finished by Sr. fly half
Luther Deacon getting across the line. Conversion made by Sr. Fullback
Josh Botha to make the score 24-7.
Life would put themselves up 3 more points with a made conversion 18 minutes in.
After 4 big penalties and resets in favor of the Panthers, they would find themselves back across the try line bringing the score up to 14-31 with 20 minutes left in the game. So. wing
Thango Mgidlana would put the ball across with a pass from Jr. center
Joe Bennie.
The score would go up again in favor of the Panthers 10 minutes later, with So. lock
Max Goethals taking the ball down the sideline by himself for a 75-yard try. With another conversion from Sr.
Josh Botha the Panthers moved the score to 19-31.
Life would go on to score 2 more times before the end of the match resulting in a 19-47 Loss for the Panthers.
Big shout out to the seniors playing their final home game last Saturday and Jr.
Joe Bennie for being named MVP of the match by teammates after huge efforts on both sides of the ball.
The Panthers are on the road this week, heading to Saint Charles, Missouri to take on #3 ranked Lindenwood University.