Its the middle of November and that means that the men’s college sports spotlight is on football and basketball. Unfortunately for the mid state, this year hasn’t been pretty. Vanderbilt football is 3-7. Vandy basketball is coming off of a losing season. TSU is 5-6 on the season and have yet to begin their basketball season, same with Belmont and Lipscomb. The MTSU football team has a solid C-USA record but are still just 5-4 on the season and the MTSU basketball team just lost an exhibition game to Martin Methodist. However there is 1 team that is looking to add onto an already impressive resume. And it’s back at MTSU with the rugby team.
The MTSU rugby team advanced to the Sweet 16 last season before injuries caught up with them and they fell to Missouri. This season they seem poised to advance even further. MTSU sits 4-0 so far this season and sits ranked in the top 25. Lead by experienced players like captain Josh Pentecost, Adam Byrd, Matt Belew, and Stephen Wyatt and talented youngsters Brandn Jerrett, Mason Hubbard, and Coty Baker, MTSU looks like they have the players to take the next step.
MTSU Rugby, affectionately known as the Moosemen, started their regular season with a 33-7 win over in state rival Memphis. The Moosemen then took on another rival in Kennesaw State where that came away with a 37-12 win. The following week MTSU found themselves in a shootout against underdog Georgia Tech. But the Moosemen pulled away to a tune of 54-30 over the Yellow Jackets. MTSU ended the fall portion of their schedule with a home contest against rival and fellow ranked team Georgia Southern. The Moosemen were in a dogfight through the first half holding a 15-12 lead at the break. But 3 early second half tries powered MTSU to a 44-24 win over the Eagles. While the start has been impressive so far, MTSU knows that they have a lot of work to do to get to the level they want to be. This feeling was reidarated by Head Coach Jody Hensley,”We finished up the first half of the season pretty strong but we have a long road ahead to get back to the national playoffs.” MTSU will resume their season in January after the conference mandated holiday break.
A Local Contender
Nov 13, 2014 | 7:01 PM