Wharton dominates Hogfest Invitational
Dhruv Prasad, WG'07
Issue date: 10/16/06 Section: News
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The championship was truly a team effort, with second-year leadership providing experience, guts, and guile, while the emergence of new stars in the first-year class on both the Wharton A and Wharton B sides bodes well for the future of the rugby club.
Day One: Saturday, October 7
The first day of the tournament dawned early and... well, just really early, as the bleary-eyed Wharton ruggers streamed out to the pitch in Fairmount Park to begin preparations for the start of the tournament. Play began with a tough Wharton B side loss to Harvard's A side. The development of several B side ruggers, many of whom were new to the game as recently as a month ago was notable. Jeff "Feel the" Schwartz (WG '08); backed Scott "Don't Call Me Jason" Walker (WG '08) and Blake "Legacy" Sonnek-Schmelz (WG '08), while forwards Matt "Sommer's sister is hot" Blank (WG '08) and Aydin "as in Aiiiiyyy-den" Kadaster (WG '08) played courageously despite the defeat.
The A side began its day with a solid 17-0 victory against Harvard's B side, which proved tougher than expected. After shaking off the cobwebs against Harvard, the A side's second match against Columbia University provided the offensive fireworks that Wharton supporters had come to see. Wharton's talented back line exploited Columbia's defense, leading to a lopsided 40-0 victory. Center Brendan "SportsCenter" Dillon (WG '08) contributed three tries to the Wharton victory, including one breathtaking run through half the Columbia defense where he shrugged off tacklers at virtually every step.
The victory did not come cheap, however, as key Wharton forwards Anthony Sawtell (WG '08) and AJ Washington (WG '08) suffered injuries in this match, causing these players to be sidelined for the remainder of the tournament and cutting short brilliant Day One efforts.
After a Wharton B side loss to Harvard B, Wharton A retook the field for their final match of the day against Cornell, a tough side. The Big Red had clearly come to play and the Hogs experienced their first real test of the tournament, through which they prevailed 15-0.
The victory placed Wharton A in a tie with Harvard A for the #1 seed in Day Two's semi-final matches. Though Wharton suggested the tie-breaker be decided by a boat race, the teams settled on aggregate points scored and thanks to a dominating 60-0 Harvard A victory against NYU-Stern, the lads from Cambridge took the #1 seed. This meant Harvard A would meet Columbia in the first semi-final, while Wharton A would claim the #2 seed and draw the tougher Cornell squad for their semi-final.
Day Two: Sunday, October 8
The Hogs received an early lift from Co-Captain Lachlan McLean (WG '07), who shrugged off a serious rib injury sustained in practice earlier in the week and rejoined the team after sitting out Saturday's matches.
"He has cojones the size of watermelons, said Luis Perez (WG '07) of the return of McLean, the forward pack's leader. "In addition, we have a saying in my country - the coyote of the desert likes to eat the heart of the young and the blood drips down to his children for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
Wharton A began its day with another test against Cornell in the tournament semi-finals. Cornell had arguably drawn the toughest Day One schedule with matches against Harvard A, Wharton A, and NYU-Stern. The effect of their first-day battles showed: despite a game effort, Wharton cruised to a 31-5 victory behind another strong all-around team performance.
Wharton's victory against Cornell and Harvard's easy win against Columbia set up the most anticipated match of the tournament, which was a reprise of the last four Hogfest finals, and a match-up that Wharton had not won since 2003.
The tone of the first half of the match was one of defensive intensity with few, if any, sustained offensive drives. Wharton's pre-match defensive adjustments (suggested by first-year Anthony Sawtell) freed up flankers Michael "the Weapon" Song (WG '07) and Dennis "Ooh-rah" Santare (WG '08) for a series of crushing hits on Harvard's scrum-half. On those rare occasions when the Crimson were able to escape the reach of Santare and Song, Center and Co-President JT Clark (WG '07) launched his body like a human missile into Harvard's offensive players with a ferocity and intensity that was clearly the result of all the milk he drinks.
Wharton drew first blood on the scoreboard with a long penalty kick conversion by Co-Captain and fullback Joe Newell (WG '07) with about five minutes remaining in the half. The Hogs' celebration was cut short, however, as Harvard quickly responded with a clever left-sideline break just before halftime to edge in front 7-3.
Following some half-time motivation and further defensive adjustments from Co-Captain Tim Bannister (WG '07), Wharton came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, controlling play down in the Harvard end of the field. Brilliant kicking by Bannister and Newell kept Harvard pinned in its own end and ferocious tackling and rucking by the Hogs kept them there.
Finally, with about 5 minutes remaining in the game, Wharton finally broke through down the left sideline as the ball worked its way through the hands of Bannister, Clark, and Dillon and into the waiting arms of wing Jim Christian (WG '08) who hauled it in and scampered past the Harvard defense to score his second try of the tournament and earn a place in Hogs' history. Despite the missed conversion, Wharton led by 8-7, a slim margin that the Hogs' defense would hold until the final whistle.
Although Wharton's talented and explosive back line tends to draw the limelight, this match's outcome was determined by the inspired play of Wharton's forwards - the "big boy" group of Jon Samuels (WG '08), Chris Statler (WG '07), Jed Brawley (WG '07), Co-President Dhruv Prasad (WG '07), Rob Wolfman (WG '08), Jon Smith (VET), Dan James (WG '07), Scott Grueser (WG '08), Santare, Song, Perez, and Co-Captain McLean. The result echoes the rugby mantra that "the forwards decide who wins the match, and the backs decide by how much."
In the glow of victory, Co-Captain Joe Newell (WG '07) was heard to exclaim, "this is my finest moment at Wharton - a triumph for the rugby credo of team over individual and a proud moment for everyone who has ever donned the Hogs uniform." Added Co-Captain Bannister, "It's even better than the day I became a Marketing 621 TA!"
The WRFC wishes to thank this year's Tournament Co-Chairs Jed Brawley and Quincy Evans (WG '07) for their hard work and preparation. Secondly, we wish to thank this year's participants: the Harvard Business School, Columbia University, Cornell University, and New York University. In addition, we wish to thank Steve Cohen and the EPRU, the Fairmount Parks Commission, and the Referees Society who worked with us to make this tournament a success.
Finally, and most importantly, we wish to thank our sponsors Wachovia Securities and Carlson Capital: the tournament would not have been possible without their support.
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