Photographs by Jessica Vretenar

Top: UW-P ruggers leap for the ball during line-out against Northwestern. Bottom: Pioneer ruggers push past the Wildcats.

An undefeated fall season, with state titles, were the highest honors the UW-Platteville men’s rugby team will see this season.

UW-P hosted the Midwest Rugby Playoffs First Round games Oct. 31-Nov. 1.

UW-P pounded past 23rd ranked Northwestern 48-18 on Oct. 31, securing the deciding match on Nov. 1 against UW-Whitewater.

The Warhawks pulled ahead in a narrow 25-22 victory to move on in the next round of playoffs.

“Losing by three points against UW-W was one of the hardest things the ruggers have to overcome, but we will,” Santino Zizzo, senior forward captain said.

Zizzo said the team focused on spreading the ball across the field to get good movement through the lines. This strategy gave UW-P the edge in the victory over Northwestern.

“Going into Saturday [Oct. 31] everyone was obviously excited,” Ben Trilling, senior back captain, said. “It was another day of rugby but on a much higher stage.”

The day two defeat was an evenly-matched game against the Warhawks.

The Pioneer ruggers were first to score with two quick trys in the opening of the game.

“We got up quick on them by two scores and it looked like we were going to be able to run our game on them,” Trilling said.

The Warhawks stepped up the offense and picked up a few trys, capitalizing on the Pioneers’ defensive breakdowns.

UW-W pulled out the win with a quick three points before the final whistle blew. The Warhawks move on to the Midwest Final Four.

The ruggers end their season with a state title and first round Midwest playoff appearance.

“It meant a lot to us, it puts UW-P on the map across the Midwest,” Zizzo said. “It gives us a good name not only for the school but for the rugby team.”

“Whenever a team gets the chance to play in a playoff game it is an awesome atmosphere,” Trilling said. We got to play UW-W which is a great team every year. It was a game we knew we had to play our best in.”

With the season over, the ruggers will take a break before practicing twice a week after winter break.

“Hosting playoffs was one of the coolest things that could have happened to Platteville,” Trilling said. “We proved to them [Rugby Union] that we deserved to be in the tournament.”