March 19 at Pearl City vs Pearl City
Final Score 20-7 Win

Rockford opened its spring season with a road trip to Muscatine and a back-to-back double-header yesterday.  We had twenty guys make the trip, four of which were brand new to the game of Rugby and three were new to this team.  I believe that the most impressive component of our 1-1 record from yesterday was how much playing time our four rookies got-- I can't remember a stretch of more than five or ten minutes that had less than three newbies on the field at the same time.

 Rockford opened its match against Pearl City with a try in the first 30 seconds by Walter Timoteo.  Pearl City fought back hard, threatening near the Ravens try line on several occasions, but a fast-paced set of pop-passes and quick-picks by an inspired pack saw the Ravens turn the tide with a Chris Yerk try later in the first half.  Also adding tries to the team's total were Elliot Hinojosa, who had several phenomenal runs to set the Ravens up with great positioning, and Dave Grinnell, who went on to do a magnificent job bloodying up an extremely annoying fly-half's face (it was well-executed-- no sin bin).  Finally, Aaron Cassioppi, the Raven's brilliant scrum-half, put on a kicking clinic yesterday, showing young ruggers everywhere exactly where the ball should not be kicked in order to gain points.  Great job, Ravens!   

March 19 at Pearl City vs Dubuque
Final Score 24-0 Loss

The Ravens' second match, ten minutes after the first, saw more great effort and even more rookie playing time.  In this match, played against the Nationals-bound Dubuque team, Rockford showed the depth of their conditioning by never being more tired than their fresh-legged opponents.  However, great conditioning gave way to unearned opportunities as Dubuque found a hard-fought 24-0 victory.
____________________

March 26 against Fox Valley
Final Score