After 80 tough minutes, the Raiders emerged victorious over the Bobcats. The Southern Oregon University Raiders came to Central Oregon Community College campus on Feb. 27. to face the Bobcats rugby team in the first game of the 2016 season. Both teams fought hard, and when the game was over the final score was 32–10, in favor of the visiting Raiders.
Last year the Bobcats had a successful season and were looking to continue the strong play into this spring season. However, wins may be tough to come by with the Bobcats losing many key players, in addition to the fact that the roster has many new names this season. Only five players on the squad had played for COCC the previous year.
“Today was a good baptism for our new guys, it was a good learning experience,” Bobcat’s Head Coach Woody Bennett said, “[The Raiders have] been playing together for a while. They’re tough opponents. Today we just didn’t match up well with them.”
Even with the lopsided victory, Bobcat players’ optimism was high for improving on the skills necessary to get wins this season.
“We have a lot of new guys, so they were getting a feel for the game today, we just got outplayed physically and we need to work on tackling,” Bobcats scrum-half Kaliah Marks said.
Most recently, the Bobcats fell to the Oregon Institutes of Technology Owls 10-17 on Saturday, March 12. The Bobcats will face the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho on March 2.
Jose Alvarez | The Broadside
(Contact: [email protected])