May 9, 2009 against DePaul University

Final Score 34-5

The Ravens travelled with numbers for a 9 am kickoff against DePaul University this weekend and play some quality rugby.  The Ravens had plenty of numbers in the pack and dominated all aspects of forward play against the undersized college side.  Skip and Will did a good job at scrum half controlling the pace of the game and utilizing both forward runs and getting the ball out to the more experienced backline than the opposition.  The forwards did a great job of supporting the ball all day long.  After a loose ball that kept rolling towards the Ravens try line, a DePaul player set it down to take an early 5-0 lead.  That would be the only serious attack the the young side put together all day.  The Ravens maintained possession and used some quality ballhandling to create two first half try's.  The second half was all Rockford as several players added try's for a final score of 34-5 in favor of the Ravens.  Try's on the day were scored by: Neil, Jake, Eric, Curt, Aaron and Riley.  Eric was 2 of 6 on conversion attempts.
____________________

May 2, 2009 against Chicago Blaze
Final Score 45-5

The Ravens hosted the Chicago Blaze this past weekend at Blackhawk Park.  The first twenty minutes were back and forth with each team feeling one another out.  Some early injuries for the Ravens back row lead to numerous scoring chances for the Blaze.  The match was tied at 5 after Ben Hronek had a quick tap and go try about the twenty minute mark of the first half.  The opponents got rolling a few minutes later and scored 26 unanswered points in the next fifteen minutes.  The Ravens defense stiffened up and came together to keep the Blaze scoreless in the second half until two late try's and conversions in the last ten minutes of play.  Final score in favor of the visitors 45-5. The boys will regroup this week at practice and head to the Chicago lakefront to take on Depaul this weekend.
____________________

April 25, 2009 against Cedar Rapdis Headhunters
Final Score 0-55

The boys travelled a couple short for the drive to Cedar Rapids but played hard against a quality Headhunters side.  Many of the forwards played out of position and the make shift back row struggled to get on the same page.  The side that took on Cedar Rapids was a young team with many of the guys having less than two years of men's side experience.  The Iowa club moved the ball well and scored early and often as the Raven's took one on the chin in dreary conditions. - Yerk

Well the guy's went to Cedar rapids this weekend and the only good thing about it was we traveled there with 13 guys.
Every one of them can stand proud for turning up and going even though they got beat 55 to 0 .
The rest of you guys that see this on here should feel a shamed that we had to take high school kids and rookies to make the game possible .
The game was winable if we had a full side and this goes down to commitment that we can't get from most of the guys.
So saying thanks to all the guys that went. - Casson
____________________

April 18, 2009 NIU Tournament of Champions

The Ravens took good numbers to NIU’s Tournament of Champions this past weekend and put forth a strong effort on the pitch.  The day started with a fast paced 19-0 defeat of the Peoria Piggies.  Kerno scored in the closing seconds of the first half with Eric putting the conversion through.  Luke gathered up the ball after he and Danny Boy blocked a kick attempt and scampered in for the second score of the day.  Adam Truman added a late try for the Ravens.  

The second match was on a short and skinny pitch which did not allow the Ravens backs to get out and run.  The Northwest Woodsmen held the Ravens to a single try, by Elliot, with conversion by Ben H.  Thad broke the make-shift post and the sir attempted to call the match.  The posts were fixed and VW Dave made a tremendous run after a quick tap-and-go to put the Ravens up by the final 14-0 score.

The third match of pool play was against Iowa Falls.  Both teams were 2-0 coming into the match and the winner would receive the higher seed for the semi-final match.  It was a back and forth battle and Iowa Falls struck first with an impressive two meter maul to take the early lead.  Kerno and Luke both tallied their second try’s of the tourney to put Rockford up 5-12.  In the closing minutes of the match Iowa Falls converted on a penalty kick to make the score 13-12 in favor of the Iowa club.      

Palmer College was the opponent in the semi-final match for the Ravens and the younger club had too much fire power late in the day for the Ravens to compete with.  

Outstanding performances for the Ravens throughout the day were noticed by all.  Young fullback Anthony played extremely well, with some strong runs and solid defensive effort.  Luke’s two try’s accompanied his strong tackling in the back line.  Dan Kunkle played well with the rest of the forwards who brought a strong defensive force for the Ravens on this day.
____________________

April 11, 2009 against Springfield Celts
Final Score 50-0

The second game of the season became a good practice game becuase Springfield Celts could only bring 7 guys which we would like to thank them for coming so far with short numbers.
Everybody had a fun day with lots of playing time. Matt Kerno and Curt White had there best games in a long time for Springfield.  Very solid effort by all the Ravens on both sides of the ball. Strong defense created turnovers and patient ball handling lead to an efficient offense.
Try's were scored by Luke Wagner (2), Dave Grinnell, Vlad Skoric, Matt Munson, Eric Szepietowski (also 5 of 8 conversions), Adam Truman and Brian Thor.
____________________

April 4, 2009 against Gentlemen of Dubuque
Final Score 10-27

We had our first game of 2009 against the Gentlemen of Dubuque in Freeport, IL and had 26 guys to play for the Ravens.
The game got under way and both sides were not making much ground on each other because of some good tackling. Then Dubuque gave up a penalty and Eric slotted it over for a 3 point lead for the ravens. Then it wasn't long before Dubuque went on the attack and the Ravens were called off sides and Dubuque kicked for a goal; 3-3. Then the Ravens started to miss a lot of tackles and Dubuque started to make breaks on the out side. Then Dubuque had some nice passing that opened up the Ravens defense and scored. That made it 10-3 Dubuque and then just before half time they got another penalty kick;13-3 Dubuque. We started the second half with good running putting Dubuque under pressure and our forwards started to look good .Then Ben stepped inside and fed the ball to VW Dave to score; 13-10. At the restart Dubuque started to run hard at our guys and the defense started to crumble the Ravens started to get tired. Then with a bit of frustration coming into the game we lost Eric again for a late hit. This put Dubuque in the driving seat now and they threw the ball around swiftly and scored; 20-10. Then in the last minutes of the game Dubuque broke free and scored a 60 yard try; 27-10 Dubuque final.