Fri, Feb 17, 2017
CHARLOTTE– The Providence Panthers Rugby Football Club suffered their first loss of the season to the Hough Huskies 14-15 this past Friday.
“We just made too many stupid mistakes and weren’t able to capitalize on our opportunities. We had possession of the ball for at least 80 percent of the game and that still wasn’t enough to pull out the win”, said Inside Center Luke Dugdale. “Whenever you have a young team you’re gonna get a good amount of penalties, but tonight was just ridiculous. We should have beaten that team by 20 points. We just really need to stay disciplined and stop being lazy. I have no doubt we’ll turn it around by next week and finish out the year strong.”
In all, two Panthers posted tries on the day. Corey Matthews and Mayowa Ogunmola each scored once with Hunter Meacham and Jack Whitney booting a conversion kick each.
Providence started out scoring quickly on a pick-and-go by Corey Matthews with Jack Whitney easily making the conversion kick. The Huskies responded quickly with a fast score on the outside, but missed the conversion. Providence then came out in attack mode and played the rest of the half in Hough territory, but failed to score, having 3 tries called back for penalties. The Panthers also missed a crucial penalty kick. Even with all the adversity they faced, Providence went into halftime with a 7-5 lead.
The second half was a hard fought defensive battle between both sides. Both defenses played very strong with neither team able to have any breakthroughs. Then off four consecutive penalties, Hough drove down to score once again, making it 10-5. Providence came back with a long score from a 40 meter run from Mayowa Ogunmola. Hunter Meacham originally missed the conversion, but was able to re-kick because of an unsportsmanlike call against Hough and made it on his second attempt. Providence had taken back the lead 14-10. But with little subs Providence tired out towards the end of the game and their defense got sloppy. Hough scored again, and with little time left Providence was not able to come back.
Providence Rugby will be back in action on Feb. 24th to take on the East Mecklenburg Eagles at home.