2008 Woodie Awards
Carps tear up the field
Jake Laxen
Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: Sports
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"It has been a really good atmosphere all weekend," SCSU rugby player Brad Chard said. "There have been a lot of die hard rugby fans and players here."
The 22nd annual All-Saints Tournament featured various teams that all came together for a weekend full of hard hits, bone-crunching action and intense physical scrums for the ball.
SCSU took second place, falling to Minnesota 21-6 in the championship game.
The weather proved to have a positive impact in the large turnout and overall feeling of the weekend.
Senior men's, college men's and women's and high school divisions faced off against each other in what is considered to be the biggest tournament in the upper Midwest.
"This is definitely the biggest tournament in the Minnesota area," SCSU rugby president Travis Peterson said.
A total of 45 teams participated in the event.
The senior men's team winner was the Minnesota Metropolis.
The Metropolis team features a variety of players from throughout Minnesota who try out for the team annually.
En route to their victory, they had to defeat the local men's senior team, the St. Cloud Bottom Feeders, who finished third in their division.
SCSU's own collegiate men's team, the Fighting Carp, made it to the championship game versus the University of Minnesota Sunday, allowing their stingy defense to carry them.
"Our defense has really been playing at a high level in this tournament," Chard said.
The Fighting Carp came into the tournament on a roll in the spring section of the season and high hopes for the tournament.
"They really have been playing well, and All-Saints really means a lot to these guys, and they have been working hard," Fighting Carp head coach Arnold Champagne said.
For the collegiate rugby athletes there are two different seasons: one in the fall portion that features a wide amount of head-to-head match-ups with other colleges, and the current spring portion which features games against collegiate and senior men's division teams and contains a wide number of tournaments.
With all of the success and the event being played on home turf, the Fighting Carp came in with optimism.
"This is our tournament," Gutknecht said. "Our hopes are really high and we know we can take it all.",
In their opening round action versus Bemidji State, SCSU routed them to a 36-0 score.
"We were working pretty hard all week, and it carried over nicely into the opening part of the tournament," SCSU rugby player Scott Gebbie said.
The offense was in a comfortable groove all game.
"We really move as one on offense. It is really an attribute to our team and how much time we spend together," SCSU rugby player Tim Snyder said.
The team then moved on to face a difficult challenger in Gustavus University.
This time, the offense sputtered to get in gear, keeping the game close until the Fighting Carp broke through with a 7-0 victory.
The offensive struggles carried over into Sunday's championship qualifier, where another defensive shutout led to a 14-0 victory over UW-River Falls.
"We have had to be scrappy, even though we have been playing in our zone for about 75 percent of the time, we have had to rely on a few individual plays to score," Chard said.
The team also had to overcome significant injuries to the top players of the field.
"We really got plagued with injuries," Gebbie said.
The team lost key components to their game, which put their fate in the tournament in question.
"We lost three of our top guys in that game," Snyder said. "But we have had guys step in, and we are comfortable with having any of our guys in there, and they showed why."
The event was free to the public and more than 1,000 people attended the event.
"Rugby is getting some steam, and it showed this weekend," Snyder said.
In between their action on the field, the Fighting Carp teammates helped direct the tournament as staff members for the event.
The Minnesota Rugby Union ran the event, as they operate many weekend tournaments for all divisions in Minnesota. They also provide youth and coaching clinics throughout the year.