September 22, 2007

Dennis picked me up at my apartment early afternoon. When we stopped to gas-up his truck, it slipped my mind to get water. Dennis was hungry, so we headed down to Cosetta’s. He had a slice of pepperoni and a water, where I had a slice of sausage and a diet coke. After a quick stop to get a case of the champaign of beer (the lite version), we arrived at the Eagan pitch just before two o’clock. Several Pigs and coach Zweber were already there watching the Rochester/Ban-she match, as so were the Mayhem. I talked with some guy who once wore red shoes, but now wears blue . . . I forget his name. I congratulated the Inspector on the birth of his first granddaughter. At the conclusion of that match, the Pigs’ players started warming-up and I went to shoot the breeze with Brad, the ref. The players continued to warm-up, so Ike and I made a quick trip for another case of champaign (this time the non-lite type in the funky new orange cans). As the kick-off approached, it became apparent that there was no water to drink. Grant gave me the keys to his Honda and I went to Holiday. By the time I got back, the Pigs were already up 19-0. Being I missed three tries, I ditched the idea of writing a formal match report. Ironically, Animal also went to get water.

I do know tries were scored by Colby, Andy, Grant, Hightower, Cros, Kit, Zeth, and of course Dennis (at the age of 46 . . . setting a Pigs record for oldest player to score a try in a league match). Colby, Zach, and Leprechaun added conversions. I’m sure I missed few tries. Roger asked me the score; I told him I lost track at 70. Among others attending the match were Skillet, Billy Bridgeman, Naber, Lau and Latchkey Tommy, and Big Gay Dan Corley. The Final ended up being Jazz Pigs 112, Mayhem 0.

Both teams sat around the pitch and socialized for a while before heading down to Joe and Stan’s (with bouncer Jason Kemp) where the socialization continued. Men of the Match awards were awarded to Hightower and Anthony, as well as Nate of the Mayhem. Festivities continued until about ten when some went to Gastoff’s and others re-congregated at Ponch and Abby’s for beer and brats, dip that Andy called de-lish, and ginger snaps. Joining us was Peaches and his bride. The party went on for a few more hours. Dennis and I left, stopped at White Castle, and went home. For the third week in a row, it was a total team effort.

Line Up:
1. Chris Johnson (Anthony Stenberg), 2. Cory Becker (Kato Gunness), 3. Twinkie Exner (T-Bone Midboe), 4. Hightower Backman (captain), 5. Fishbowl Fredrickson, 6. Kramer Hanson, 7. Cros Martin, 8. Snuggles Swanson, 9. Zach Fjelsted (Ponch Rombalski), 10. Scott Colby, 11. Buca Lundberg (Leprechaun King), 12. Bald Nate Riedel (Jake Gronemeyer), 13. Zeth Spreadbury, 14. Andy Schartz, 15. HG Metro Dietrich (Uncle Denny Edwards).

September 15, 2007

With only one league play victory over the St. Cloud Bottom Feeders in the last four attempts, the St. Paul Jazz Pigs headed into Saturday’s rugby match eager for a change. After easily handling St. Cloud in the spring at All-Saints, St Paul was looking for better success in the autumn. And with the new Big Ass Brown Jug up for grabs, the stakes were even higher.

Spending the morning of the All-Minnesota tournament observing and recruiting college players (and doling out koozies), the Pigs experienced a renewed sense of vitality approaching the 1:00 kick-off.

The early going was tough for the Pigs. St. Cloud took almost complete control, despite missing a penalty attempt. Using a cross between their traditional method of “creative rucking” and a new spreading the field method, the Feeders gained both possession and ground. In a blink, the St. Cloud fullback intercepted an errant Pigs pass and broke through for a 50 meter try between the posts and a 7-0 lead. A successful penalty goal for St Cloud then made it 10-0 shortly thereafter. All the pre-match vitality the Pigs attained from recruiting and doling out koozies was passing fast. A sloppy pop kick caught the Pigs off guard and St. Cloud chased to touch it down. The lead became 15-0 and St. Cloud controlled. But the power of the Big Ass Brown Jug was just starting to bite the Pigs. Finally in the 38th minute, Ponch quick-tapped a Feeder penalty from 20 meters out and ran it to the goal line. T-Bone picked the ball out of the ruck and powered over the line as the Pigs scored their first try. The half ended with St. Paul trailing only 15-5.

Koozie and Jug power started favoring the Pigs. Just three minutes into the second half, the Pigs moved deep. Fly-half Scott Colby broke two tackles on a 25 meter run for a try and the conversion cut the St. Cloud lead to 3. Four minutes later, St. Paul took the lead for good. A 22 meter drop was blocked by fly-half Colby who ran it down to 3 meters (great support!). A couple phases later, Twinkie dove over for the Pigs’ third try and a 19-15 lead. In the 59th minute, the Pigs’ pack stole a 5 meter scrum. A phase later, Jason Naber reached out to touch the ball down, converting his own try (Jason Naber was 4 for 5 on conversion attempts). The Feeders were sin-binned in the 66th minute. Taking advantage of the man-up situation, Ponch again quick tapped a penalty running the ball down to the goal-line. This time Chris Ries reached across for the try. St Paul’s lead was now 33-15. St. Cloud added two tries in the final four minutes, but the Pigs held out for a 33-27 victory. For the second week in a row, all tries were scored by different Pigs players and it was another complete team effort.

Line Up:
1. Ben “Kramer” Hanson (Chris Johnson), 2. Alan “Cros” Martin, 3. Troy “T-Bone” Midboe (Joe “Twinkie” Exner), 4. Chris Ries (Mark “Fishbowl” Fredrickson), 5. Jason Naber, 6. Ryan “Hightower” Backman, 7. Chris “Kit” Swanson, 8. Josh Van Gelder (captain), 9. Jason “Ponch” Rombalski, 10. Scott Colby, 11. Andy Schwartz, 12. Mike “Buca” Lundberg, 13. Seth “Zeth” Spreadbury (Aaron Hyman), 14. Zach Fjelstad (Tony Stenburg), 15. Grant “HGSM” Dietrich

Scoring:
Tries: Midboe, Colby, Exner, Naber, Ries
Consversions: Naber (4)

B-Side
St. Paul & friends vs. St Cloud & friends
12-19

Many Pigs and others (including, all the way from Detroit Michigan, Joe Wetschka) combined for a B-side match against a team of Feeders and others. Despite a valiant comeback effort by the Bombers, the St Cloud and friends side prevailed by a try, 19-12. Special thanks to all the college players who joined us for this match on Saturday.

September 8, 2007

A sunny late summer afternoon in southeast Minnesota provided the perfect backdrop for the past Saturday’s rugby match. The hosting Rochester Rogues kicked-off to the St. Paul Jazz Pigs, opening the 2007 Minnesota Division III autumn season. St. Paul, coming off a 2006 season which featured a first round playoff exit, took early control driving deep into Rogue territory. Both sides used strength to contest early rucks resulting in several quick possession changes. Finally gaining ground, the Pigs stole a Rochester line-out. Three phases later, winger Diego Bonita blasted through from ten meters for the first try. A Scott Colby drop-kick conversion made it 7-0 for the visitors. The second Pig try came in the 16th minute when scrummy Jason “Ponch” Rombalski ripped a ball out to fly-half Colby who pitched it back inside to a ramming Chris Ries, making it 12-0. Rochester stormed right back. A mandatory Dingo try in the 24th minute made it 12-7, and it seemed as the tide might start turning. Possession see-sawed up and down the pitch for nearly ten minutes before Pig fullback Neil Pietila broke through passing to a juggling Grant Dietrich, who passed back to Neil crossing the goal line. With Neil converting his own try, the score became 19-7. Right before the intermission, St. Paul forced Rochester to kick from inside their 22. A retreating Mike “Buca” Lundberg returned the kick, passing the ball to Danny Kieffer, finding captain Josh Van Gelder inside to touch it down. Neil’s conversion made it 26-7 to end the first half.

Rolling in the second half, winger Andy Schwartz stole a ball out of a Rochester ruck. With a couple of phases, fly-half Colby popped a kick and Grant sprinted touching it down between the pipes (Neil added the conversion). In the 51st minute, Seth Spreadbury intercepted a errant Rochester pass. With two phases, Colby crashed to the try-zone in making it 38-7. With the scoring not finished, Grant sprinted down deep into the Rogue end. Quick ball gave Mark “Fishbowl” Frederickson a try off the back of a ruck (kick converted). Rochester scored a second mandatory Dingo try, and the score was 45-14. The blemish does not hurt the Pigs who stole one final scrum. Ryan “Hightower” Backman gathered the ball, passing it to rookie Andy Schwartz for his Zulu. Danny added a final try in the 80th minute making the final 57-14. In all, nine different Pigs scored tries in a good team effort.

Line Up:
1.Chris Johnson (Joe Huberty, Cory Becker), 2. Alan Martin, 3. Joe Exner (Ben Hanson), 4. Chris Ries, 5. Mark Frederickson, 6. Nicholas Bannon (Ryan Backman), 7. Chris Swanson (Danny Keiffer), 8. Josh Van Gelder (captain), 9. Jason Rombalski, 10. Scott Colby, 11. Andy Schwartz, 12. Mike Lundberg (Nate Riedel), 13. Seth Spreadbury, 14. Diego Bonita (Grant Dietrich), 15. Neil Pietila

Scoring:
Tries: Bonita, Ries, Pietila, Van Gelder, Dietrich, Colby, Frederickson, Schwartz, Kieffer
Consversions: Colby, Pietila (4), Van Gelder

B-Side
St. Paul vs. Winona State
?? 19-33

In the B-side match the Pigs took on a tough Winona State team and lost by 3 tries to 5 – further info and try scorer listings to come. Maybe.

August 11, 2007

The Saint Paul Pigs Summer Touring Side was back in action at the Stuart Daily Memorial 10’s Rugby Tournament hosted by the Wisconsin Rugby Club in Madison this weekend. After a long morning drive, the Pigs were unable to shake off the rust and were defeated by a young and quick UW-Madison side. After a quick 20 minute rest, the Pigs faced the Madison Minotaurs. Our game plan came together quickly, and the Pigs soundly defeated the Minotaurs by the score of 42-0. The final match of the afternoon pitted the Pigs against the WRC VOMITs. The Pigs played tough against these wily veterans, but a few defensive lapses found the Pigs defeated by the eventual tournament finalists. Despite our 1-2 record, we played well and a good time was had by all. Thanks to the WRC for a well-run tournament!

Roster…
Current Pigs: Fish, Bachelor Party Rob, Coach Zweber, Animal, Hightower, Stout Nate
New Pigs: Roelof, Will Kusch, Tracy Peterson
Piglets: Kyle from NDSU, Gilligan from UWRF, Will from the U of M, Tony from Mankato State, and the Fatone Brothers: Nick and Andy
Weekend Pig: Matt from Rockford
Pig Alumni: Ryan “Cha-Chi” Driessen, Ron “The Dude” Musselman
Conspicuously Absent: Ponch

July 14, 2007

The Pigs make huge strides in their 7’s play at the Des Moines Toys for Tots tournament. With only the second 7’s tournament of the year entered, the Pigs made a great showing – vastly improving on their open field play. The team went 3-1 on the day and made it into the playoff round. Grant led the way with 8 tries on the day. Zac, Hightower and new a new Piggy, Nick, added to our point totals. Twinkie added to the cause with a razzle dazzle try of his own. We had some big support play from Rob, Animal and Eric and got a big spark by bringing in Aaron in for our 2nd halves. Rob and Animal kicked up the night life with their “Best Bachelorette Party Competition”

May 19, 2007

On an unseasonably hot Saturday, the Pigs took on a visiting Faribault Boksprings side in Eagan, and came through with a 40-0 victory to end the spring season on a high. We scored 3 tries in each half – ?, Chris and Nate in the first half, followed by Johann, Ponch, and the other Nate in the 2nd half. Billy kicked 5 of 6 conversions to round out the scoring. (apologies for the lack of detail – if anyone else remembers more, let us know and we’ll add it in)

May 12, 2007

On this Saturday St Paul took on old rivals the Eastside Banshees with an early 10:30 start time. This did not deter the Pigs, however, as we got off to a quick start and had a majority of the possession. Unfortunately, however, the possession advantage was not capitalized upon, and the Pigs were only able to take a 3-0 lead, through a Scott Colby penalty, into the half. In the second half, the Banshees started to gain the advantage, and ended up scoring 3 tries – offset by a Pigs try on a great solo effort by Grant Dietrich who countered from a kick, kicked back, tracked down the ball and outran the Banshee defense to score.

So a good effort ended in a 21-10 loss, but showed lots of promising signs as we build toward our league season in the fall. Following the match, the Pigs Old Boys took on the Banshess, but also came out on the losing end. This was followed, however, by a wonderful Pig Roast with food, bevarage and fun for all, and some good fundraising for the club.

April 28, 2007

The Pigs travelled to St. Cloud to join in the annual All-Saints tournament. With a scheduled first match against the St. Cloud Bottom Feeders, the Pigs were geared up and ready to go. The Pigs came out strong in the first half, with Bill Bridgeman scoring an early try. The Feeders kept the match close in the first half, though the Pigs led throughout. In the second half, the Pigs tightened up play and controlled the ball, increasing their lead to final score of:
Pigs 32, Bottom Feeders 13
(Tries: Bill Bridgeman, Twinkie, Twinkie, Seth Spreadbury, Grant Dietrich, Zach Bauer; Conversions: B. Bridgeman (1))

In a show of gentlemanly sportsmanship, the Bottom Feeders awarded the Pigs with the “Big Ass Brown Jug” traveling trophy, a new tradition.

In the second match the Pigs faced off against Metropolis B, a rematch from the previous week. While the Jazz Pigs were able to keep ball control and spend much of the game in the Metropolis half of the field, Metro managed to squeeze through the Pigs defensive line and capitalize with several tries. The Pigs kept the game competitive to the end, but were unable to slip in enough points for the win.

Off the field, the Pigs made strong recruiting efforts. Pigs players and coaches visited college matches, awarded Pigs t-shirts to collegiate “Men of the Match”, and talked with college players about our upcoming summer schedule. If you’re interested in joining the Pigs during our summer play, contact Ryan Backman at back0102@umn.edu.

April 14, 2007

The Pigs traveled up I-94 to Fargo on a sunny spring day to take on NDSU and MSU Moorhead, and came back with 2 victories. In the first match Saint Paul got off to a quick start through an early Grant Dietrich try and never looked back. 2 more Dietrich tries followed, along with scores by Ben Hanson and Josh Van Gelder, vs. a single try for NDSU. Special credit to Lau Kahonen who took over place kicking duties for the day.

Scoring:
Tries: Dietrich 3, Hanson, Van Gelder
Cons.: Kahonen (3 for 5)

April 9, 2007

In the second match against Moorhead, the same 3 players were at it again, with Dietrich, Hanson and Van Gelder each registering a try. Also notable was the hard running of centers Seth Spreadbury and Jim Mlenek, and the tough pack play led by Danny Kiefer and new Pig Chris Reis.

Scoring vs MSU Moorhead:
Tries: Dietrich, Hanson, Van Gelder
Cons.: Kahonen (1 for 3)