Aggies Announce End of Year Awards for 2013 Season

Texas A&M Rugby held its annual end of season banquet at the Pebble Creek Country Club on April 25th.  It was a fantastic evening shared among friends and family.  The Aggies announced their end of year awards at the end of the night with the award winners listed below.  Congratulations again to the Aggies on a brilliant season and to all of our award winners - well done!

MVP - Conor Mills

Forward of the Year - Armando De la Garza

Back of the Year - Lukas Jacobson

Most Improved - Philip Hanson

Rookie of the Year - Matt Theodore

7s MVP - Conor Mills

Defensive Player of the Year - Chris Frazier

Klinghoffer Coaches Award - Garett Dishman

Doug White Memorial Award - Brian Guillen

Aggie Man of the Year - Chris Frazier

Picture Links - AF, ARC Championship, OU, TT, UT, and Baylor

 

Here are the photo links for the ARC Championship game, UT, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma, and Air Force.  The easiest way to access these links is through Google Chrome.

 - Aggies vs. Air Force (04.13.13):  http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/BrettMMills/library/Aggies%20vs%20US%20Air%20Force%20Academy%20-%2004-13-13 

  - Aggies vs. UT - ARC Championship (04.06.13):  http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/BrettMMills/library/Aggies%20vs%20UT%20-%202013%20ARC%20Championship%20-%20040613

  - Aggies vs. Oklahoma (03.30.13):  http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/BrettMMills/library/Aggies%20v%20Oklahoma%20-%20033013

  - Aggies vs. Texas Tech (03.23.13):  http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/BrettMMills/library/Aggies%20v%20Texas%20Tech%20-%20032313

  - Aggies vs. UT (03.08.13):  http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/BrettMMills/library/Aggies%20vs%20UT-030813

  - Aggies vs. Baylor (03.02.13):  http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/BrettMMills/library/Aggies%20vs%20Baylor%20-%2003-0213

Final Thoughts on ARC 15s

Wow, what an amazing year for the Aggies!!!  We claimed the ARC 7s Championship, the SEC 7s Championship, secured another berth to the Collegiate 7s National Championship, won the University Cup and now hold the ARC 15s championship trophy.  It does not get much better than that and it is a testiment to the quality and character of the players who played throughout the season.  What an amazing bunch of guys - especially our seniors!

We had some major difficulties to overcome this spring, but our players surmounted them with grace, hard-work, and a binding together that is rarely seen in sport.  They kept their eyes on the prize and as the say, "Good things come to good people."  This was definitely true of the Aggies this season.  The leadership of our President Chris Frazier and Captain Conor Mills was fanastic throughout the year.  Perhaps more revealing, were all those who stepped up even though they had no official leadership role - well done men!

 

The Aggies not only demonstrated championship caliber character, but championship caliber play as well.  They dominated the competition, scoring an amazing 389 points - 64.8 ppg, while giving up only 68 points - 11.3 ppg.  The stats speak for themselves.  A number of local and national critics had us down and out after our three non-conference losses, but the team managed to regroup after an outstanding effort against BYU in Las Vegas.  We used those early matches to get ready for conference and we can attribute the adversity we faced early for helping us win later. 

 

Winning the ARC was our number one goal this season and to be able to beat UT twice during the competition made the championship even sweeter.  Despite some of the lopsided scores, TAMU believes that the competition was very physical and hard-fought.  The conference is well-run and very worthy of the Aggies' support.  We know that we will be fighting for our life in the very near future as the rest of the conference closes the gap.

 

We finished the season ranked 6th in D1-A and 20th among all schools.  After a rough start, that is a great way to finish the season.  I could not be prouder of the effort and committment of the guys who finished the season.  Their legacy has been established and they will be forever remembered as the first champions of the ARC! 

 

Aggies Dominate UT in ARC Championship Match

Mills and Howell go up for a high ball

The Aggies finished off a perfect season in the Allied Rugby Conference with a dominating 45-5 victory over the Longhorns.  This game was a rematch of the regular season tilt played in Austin and won by the Aggies 44-17.  It was fitting that both Texas teams were matched against one another in the championship game.  The Aggies finished the regular season undefeated and Texas earned the other championship spot with a 4-1 record.  The game in Austin was a physical affair, as can be expected from such a long-standing rivalry, and proved to be a preview of Saturdays match.  While windy, the weather conditions for the game were outstanding.  National-panel USA referee Kurt Weaver was brought in to do the match and all the ingredients for an outstanding game were in place.

The match started with the Aggies mishandling the kickoff, resulting in Texas possession deep in TAMU territory.  The Ags came to play though and managed a valiant goal line defense that kept the Longhorns out of the try zone.  TAMU was awarded a lineout at their own 5 meter line and UT attempted to put hard pressure on what they thought would be a clearance kick.  Instead, flyhalf Conor Mills decided to run it out of his own end and the ball went through a number of hands before winger Brian Guillen took it the distance for huge try (5:46).  The play went over a 100 meters with some outstanding handling from the backs.  After spending five minutes on defense inside their own 10 meter line, this was a game-changer for the Aggies.

The match settled after the try and was a back-and-forth defensive struggle for most of the first half.   The Aggies eventually managed to cross the try line again when lock John Deao took a blind-side ball off the ruck and sprinted over for a try after multiple phases by the TAMU backline (36:26).  TAMU mishandled the restart giving the Longhorns the ball.  Unfortunately, they suffered a devastating injury when Francisco Brito and Philip Hanson delivered a massive blow to UT's captain and #8 Danny Cotton, knocking him out of the game.   In the ensuing chaos surrounding the injury, UT personnel came out on the field which stopped the game.  The Aggies were awarded a scrum after the injured player was removed, but they knocked the ball on in the ensuing phase play and then were penalized at the breakdown.  The Longhorns took a quick tap and quickly moved the ball wide where they achieved an overlap and scored in the corner (39:50).  This score came right at the half and left the score at 10-5.

UT had trouble with the restart at the start of the second half and the Aggies made them pay.  Mills hit Grayson Dowlearn with a cutout pass and Dowlearn turned on the afterburners for a 50 meter try (41:10).  Mills hit the conversion from the sideline and TAMU had a 17-5 lead early in second.  They got another quick score after Mills made a long linebreak before getting brought down at the goal line.  An alert Lukas Jacobson was quick in support and Mills handed him the ball before Jacobson leaped over for the try (44:10).  Mills hit the conversion again the Aggies gained some distance between them and the Longhorns at 24-5.

The Aggie offense continued to take advantage of Longhorn miscues.  After a Texas knock-on in Aggie territory Jacobson had a powerful run through the UT defense before Dowlearn had a 20 meter dart.  After a couple of more phases, the ball was worked wide and Jacobson hit Guillen who ran over his opponent for the score in the corner (49:05), Mills knocked in the extras and the Aggies were in control with a commanding 31-5 lead.

The game settled again for a time with neither side gaining advantage.  Tempers had been building throughout this phase of the game with a great deal of off the ball activity.  Unfortunately, an incident insued and Chris Semler (who had come on for Philip Hanson) was given a red card.  Texas also lost a player (#6 was issued a yellow), so both teams were playing a man down.

Mills, who used his tactical boot all second half, kept the Longhorns pinned, but after another long kick, a poorly executed clearance found Mills in open field for a counter.  Mills split the defense and ran in untouched for a try (66:29).  After another conversion the Aggies built their lead to 38-5.  The final score came off a brilliant play by scrumhalf Matt Theodore.  Theodore was part of a tackle and immediately ripped the ball away from the UT player before slicing through a number of Longhorn players before scoring under the posts (78:45).  Mills added the conversion and the Aggies came away with a dominating 45-5 championship win.

This was a fantastic team effort by the Aggies one that was representative of their play in the ARC throughout the 2013 season.  The Man of the Match was awarded to the whole squad for this exciting win.
  The Aggies finished ARC play 6-0 and swept the silverware with 7s and 15s championships.  Congratulations on a brilliant season Aggies!







 

2013 Final Scoring Statistics

TAMU Rugby Scoring Summary 2013
Player			Tries	Conv.	PK	DG	Assists	Total
Conor Mills			7	43	8	1	19	148
Andres Diaz			7	0	0	0	0	35
Philip Hanson			6	0	0	0	1	30
John Deao			6	0	0	0	0	30
Brian Guillen			10	0	0	0	2	50
J.D. Smiley			5	0	0	0	0	25
Lukas Jacobson			5	0	0	0	2	25
Matt Krath			3	0	0	0	0	15
Francisco Brito			2	0	0	0	0	10
Matt Saladino			2	0	0	0	0	10
Dylan Starks			3	0	0	0	0	15
Matt Theodore			3	0	0	0	0	15
Alex Demblon			1	0	0	0	0	5
Chris Frazier			2	0	0	0	0	10
Grayson Dowlearn			6	0	0	0	0	30
Armando De La Garza			2	0	0	0	0	10
Jan Young			2	0	0	0	1	10
Dickson Garnett			2	0	0	0	0	10
Danny Amsler			1	0	0	0	0	5
Andrew McMath			1	0	0	0	0	5
Garrett Dishman			1	0	0	0	0	5
Rob Larsen			0	5	0	0	0	10
Totals			76	48	8	1	25	508

Aggies Crush Sooners in Norman

Texas A&M travelled to Norman, OK, to play their long-time rival the University of Oklahoma on Saturday (03-30-13) and as has been the case all season, the match had major implications within the ARC standings.  The winner would take the regular season championship and a place in the ARC championship game in College Station.  While the Aggies had already earned a spot in the championship, a bonus-point win by Oklahoma would make them the higher seed in a rematch.  If Oklahoma lost, the best they could do was a spot in the 3rd-4th place match at the championships, so a great deal was on the line for the Sooners.  Oklahoma is always extremely tough at home and the Aggies were expecting a hard game in Norman.  Wind conditions on game day were bad which added to the concerns of the coaching staff.

Guillen scoring one of his three tries

The Aggies began the match by asserting a great deal of pressure on the Sooner's backline, resulting in a penalty which flyhalf Conor Mills quickly converted (3:01) for a 3-0 lead.  The defense continued to stifle OU with pressure at the 9-10 exchange which resulted in more Aggie ball.  Wing Brian Guillen scored the first of his three tries (4:35) after getting a pass from Mills and it looked like the Aggies were off to the races.  The Aggies maintained possession after the restart and were able to create a massive overload wide after multiple phases.  Hooker Andres Diaz cruised in for the score (14:46) as the Aggies upped their lead to 13-0.

Guillen scored his second try after delivering a devastating stiff-arm to his opposite number.  He shook loose from the defense and sprinted in for an exciting score (21:45).  The Aggies now had a 18-0 lead, but the offensive onslaught came to a sudden halt.  TAMU began to exhibit the negative effects of the hot day and an early lead.  They allowed the Sooners to come roaring back at the end of the half.  The Sooners managed to score the next two tries (26:12 and 40:32) to close the halftime score to 18-12.

After making some serious halftime adjustments the Aggies unleashed their potent offense in the second half, outscoring OU 52-7.  The Aggies had tries from De la Garza (48:11, 83:07)), Guillen (54:05), Jacobson (58:56), Dowlearn (61:15, 78:56), Mills (67:32), and Smiley (74:18).  TAMU was unstoppable and the Sooners had no solution defensively.  All the tries were well-worked, through multiple phases and demonstrated that the Aggies are continuing with their growth on offense.  The effort in the second half was  fantastic - providing the Aggies with another excellent team win - 70-19.

The Men of the Match were Armando De la Garza (forwards) and Brian Guillen (backs) - both had multiple try days and dominated their opposite numbers.

Scoring Summary (04-09-13)

TAMU Rugby Scoring Summary 2013
Player			Tries	Conv.	PK	DG	Assists	Total
Conor Mills			7	37	5	1	15	127
Andres Diaz			7	0	0	0	0	35
Philip Hanson			6	0	0	0	1	30
John Deao			6	0	0	0	0	30
Brian Guillen			9	0	0	0	2	45
J.D. Smiley			5	0	0	0	0	25
Lukas Jacobson			5	0	0	0	2	25
Matt Krath			3	0	0	0	0	15
Francisco Brito			2	0	0	0	0	10
Matt Saladino			2	0	0	0	0	10
Dylan Starks			2	0	0	0	0	10
Matt Theodore			3	0	0	0	0	15
Alex Demblon			1	0	0	0	0	5
Chris Frazier			1	0	0	0	0	5
Grayson Dowlearn			4	0	0	0	0	20
Armando De La Garza			2	0	0	0	0	10
Totals			65	37	5	1	20	417