The Massachusetts club rugby team took down defending East Coast Rugby Conference champion Middlebury 38-5 Saturday in an aggressive and fast-paced game.

The Minutemen bounced back well from their season-opening loss to Boston College, dominating the weekend’s contest with fervor and grit.
Though it appeared that Middlebury would score first, UMass disrupted its intense efforts early in the half, a pattern that would continue throughout the rest of the game.

The Minutemen controlled the majority of the scrums, but possession transferred back and forth between the two teams as the game remained scoreless.

After an electrifying breakaway by Liam Firth, UMass maintained possession and Todd Theodat scored the first try late in the half. Brendan

Kelly completed the conversion to put the Minutemen up 7-0.

Momentum was evidently crucial for UMass as it exploded on offense in the second half. Thomas Thekaekara scored a try that was soon followed by Joe Hastry to extend the Minutemen’s lead to 19-0.

Consistent and quick, hard drives down the field led to an added score by Tim Porter.

Middlebury responded with its first try of the game, but UMass answered with a try by team president Jonathan Rossini.

Theodat scored his second try of the game to cap the scoring for the Minutemen.

Sophomore Ben Brzoski, was injured prior to the game on Saturday after taking a teammate’s knee to the face during warm ups.

The blow resulted in a gash above the eye area, an EMS evaluation, a gruesome black eye and a trip to the hospital that was complete with seven stitches. Brzoski played throughout the entire first half of the game with his head wrapped and only partial vision in his uninjured eye due to the bandages before his inevitable hospital trip following the game.

“When it happened I just thought that it was a lot of blood, and that I needed to get wrapped up fast so I could play,” Brzoski said. “It was a huge game for us, playing a high-ranked team. It was also my first time starting for a-side this year (so) I had to play.”

The Minutemen return home Saturday, Oct. 4 to take on AIC at 1 p.m.

Ariel Kallenbach can be reached at [email protected].