The game was played on a beautiful fall afternoon on a lush green field. Of course, it was a beautiful green color because it had been dyed that way and, being plastic, held the color rather nicely. That said, our first run-in with an artificial turf field turned out to be a non-issue. It's a good playing surface and didn't cause any problems.

UGA started the game looking tentative and soft while UNC came out hard and fast. UNC scored a try in the 10th minute when we tried to touch down a loose ball, but weren't in the try zone (the field lines were a bit confusing because the field was lined for a heapin' helpin' of different sports), UNC came up, got the ball, and touched it down. They missed the conversion.

They scored a second try 10 minutes later when they ran their 8 man through our centers, creating an overload out wide. They took advantage and touched it down in the corner. They converted this one.

UNC went up 15-0 in the 30th minute with a penalty kick.

We started coming out of the zombie-like funk around the 30th minute and in the 35th minute a penalty was called on UNC, we went to quick-tap but a UNC guy interfered. A yellow card was given for a professional foul, which was then followed by another to their 8 man for arguing. So we had 15 on 13 for 10 minutes. We immediately threatened a try in the left corner but a forward pass 5 meters out ended that. A couple of minutes later Blake made the corner and fed Meeks, who came back inside and hit Botwin for a nice try. The conversion was missed so it was 15-5 at the half.

We still had 5 minutes of 15 on 13 to start the second half but were unable to do anything with it. When their guys came back on they put on a big push, hitting a penalty goal in the 50th minute and then having several minutes of sustained pressure on our goal line. We defended well and ended up getting the ball back and going 90 meters with good support and smart contact passing before being stopped 5 meters out. We proceeded to lose a lineout, then another, and UNC moved down the field and hit a 35 meter drop goal for a 21-5 lead, which proved to be the final score.

Overall we scrummed very well, driving them back consistently (which was a first against UNC). We lost nearly every one of our own lineouts, though, and our support in the loose wasn't as good as it should be. UNC stole several balls by getting to their feet and grabbing it before support could get there to clean.

UNC's flyhalf and inside center did an excellent job of pressuring our backline into tentative play and lots of mistakes. Their forwards also did an excellent job of taking and retaining possession in the loose. Overall it was a game UNC deserved to win.

1 Josh Tedder
2 Eric Rogers
3 Chris Davis (Josh Feller - 15th)
4 Daniel Van Dijk
5 Ethan Beck
6 Jason Skrzyeek
7 Brian Sanders (Chris Davis - 15th) (Chris Payne - 55th)
8 Matt Botwin
9 Adrian Marks (Michael Francis - 60th)
10 Blake Richter
11 Michael Francis (Chase Dalton - 60th)
12 Scott Hutchison
13 Trevor Maliro
14 Tyler Boykin (Kevin Wilson- 40th)
15 Julian Harris

Second Game
UGA 22 UNC 15

We dominated the scrums in the second game against what looked to be a very young forward pack as we had a couple of A-side guys filling out our side in the second game.

We ran in 2 tries in the first half of what was a very scrappy game. The referee was a beginner and let the breakdowns get sloppy, which led to a lot of messy ball for the backs and a messy game in general.

In the first half our guys did a lot of running sideways and then throwing wild passes out of contact rather than setting the ball. In the second half we did a better job of playing to pattern, setting the ball and getting it out cleanly.

Our halfback combination was tighter than in the first game and we ran better in the centers, setting up some opportunities for the outside backs.

UNC put in a couple of veteran players, including their best player from the past 2 years, and scored a couple of tries off of good crashes and sustained attack. They also added a penalty kick in the second half. We also ran in 2 more to make the final score 22-15.

1 Josh Feller (Eric Rogers - 40th)
2 Eric Rogers (Brian Sanders - 40th)
3 Richard Butler
4 Will Baldwin (Ethan Beck - 40th)
5 Rick Crowson
6 Daniel Van Dijk (Jason Skrzyeek - 40th)
7 Chris Payne
8 Chris Davis (Will Baldwin - 40th)
9 Josh Price
10 Michael Francis
11 Kevin Wilson
12 Nima Soltane
13 Mark Thomas
14 Anthony Arichiello (Chase Dalton - 70th)
15 Chase Dalton (Julian Harris - 70th)

If there are any mistakes or inaccuracies, it's likely because Doug and Ray are getting old, so please let us know what we messed up.