Photo: Bobby Gable
Arguably the most highly anticipated match of the weekend is the Davenport University vs. U.S. Naval Academy rematch, which occurs in the USA Rugby DI Fall College Championship quarterfinals this Saturday. The Midshipmen won the late-September meeting in convincing fashion, and that experience kindled a response that has shaped up the Panthers.
RELATED: Fall Championship Brackets (use tabs at bottom of doc to move between competitions)
Davenport head coach Greg Teliczan described a still-young squad that has been without its Eagle scrumhalf, Olivia Ortiz, for many games this fall. The Michigan native is in Chula Vista right now, representing the Eagles in the Can-Am series.
“It doesn’t help,” Teliczan said of Ortiz’s absence. “Why take our best players during playoffs? It’s frustrating for me but we’re all so happy for Olivia. How many kids – people – get this opportunity? You have to go for it. So, yes: Hands-down, no doubt, we support her and encourage her to play with the USA. The school, the ADs, everyone is so proud of her.”
Photo: Bobby Gable
Teliczan had started training Adara Benton as a back-up scrumhalf, but once it became clear that Ortiz was going to miss a lot of games, the former loose forward’s education at halfback was expedited.
“[Benton’s] been playing lights-out,” said Teliczan, who didn’t play Ortiz at scrumhalf much since she was going to be absent for the big games. “She’s a back row so she’s gritty. She doesn’t shy away from contact.”
The pack is also without sophomore Paige Grossi, who is still rehabbing a broken leg and leaves a void in that forward attack. But the junior class as a whole is really maturing and embracing their roles as leaders.
Photo: Bobby Gable
“Mariah Pruitt, Bethany Gable – they’re doing strong stuff for us right now,” Teliczan said. “And there’s one freshman who has been a surprise: Ashleigh DeWitt has been playing out of her mind right now. She’s come on strong and plays back row, six.”
Davenport played its busiest fall in some time – nine games without a weekend off. The team won its first two games and then played a star-studded Lindenwood University in a massive shutout, then Navy in a challenging away game.
“Navy was just fit. They beat us around the field,” Teliczan said. “We missed tackles and they took advantage of it and deserved that win. They outplayed us. The tackling was pathetic – arm-reaching tackles instead of breaking down and engaging the shoulder and wrapping. They ran us ragged and we got tired. … They were very disappointed [in the outcome] but when we got back home they started working their tail off.”
Photo: Bobby Gable
Those heavy losses forced the coaching staff to re-evaluate their intended game strategies as well.
“We’ve adjusted our game a lot since Lindenwood and Navy, completely changing things from what we were doing before,” Teliczan said. “You go into the season thinking you have one thing; you have a plan. Then you watch film or you see it live, and it’s: These kids aren’t quite the right athlete to perform the thing we’re asking, so let’s try something new to get the best out of this group.”
The incentive to improve and the change in strategy started to produce results in the Penn State game. Last year, Davenport lost only 25-14 and it was a fight to the final whistle. This year, the Grand Rapids team was eager to gauge its progress, and got another good game out of the Nittany Lions. Davenport lost a competitive 24-17 decision to the DI Elite program.
Photo: Bobby Gable
“The attitude and mindset changed,” Teliczan said of the game’s impact. “It was: We can compete with those guys. We’re not the team that played Lindenwood and Navy earlier.”
Davenport ended the regular season – which is really an independent season, since the Panthers do not compete in a conference – with a 6-3 record. The heightened interest in the eastern portion of the DI quarterfinals saw Davenport contest a play-in match against the second seed out of the Midwest, University of Northern Iowa. The Panthers didn’t have any game film or real info off which to base expectations, just the relatively close scores against top teams Minnesota and Winona State, which the Panthers have played in the past.
“We were trying to play two different styles and had it all worked out,” Teliczan said. “In the first half, we wanted to move the ball and wear them out, because we thought our fitness was pretty good. But their backs were better than I thought they’d be. They were very athletic and able to shut us down. So after 15 minutes, we realized we had to abandon that and go straight to the second-half style, and that helped a lot.”
Photo: Bobby Gable
Davenport couldn’t move the ball the way it wanted or build continuity, so it consolidated efforts around a more direct attack. That quick adjustment helped fuel an 89-26 win. On the same side of the eastern bracket, Navy beat Northeastern 46-0, setting up a rematch in Saturday’s fall quarterfinals.
“They’re excited. They’re not thinking: We got beat [the first time], so why did we even bother to come here? They’re ready for it and they’re playing really strong right now,” Teliczan said of the team’s mindset. “Even though you can never do it, we have to play a near-perfect game against Navy. Ball control and maintaining possession will be key to that game. We need to keep the ball away from them and pinned back as much as possible. We can’t miss a tackle and they have to be positive tackles. Since Navy is so fit, they’re so quick to the ruck, so if it’s a negative tackle, then we’ve lost the battle right there.”
Photo: Bobby Gable
Davenport is feeling good right now – partially because the training staff has kept the active student-athletes in working order, but more so because the team has embraced its learning moments and grown from them. There is talk of the fall final, and some of last year’s players wouldn’t mind a redemptive shot at Air Force, but it’s more about getting to that final stage than who’s waiting there for them.
“Again, just like last year, I’m really proud and impressed with this team. We’re still young and growing,” Teliczan concluded. “There’s always a couple of teams every year that come from nowhere, because they have juniors, seniors, grad students playing for 3, 4, 5 years together. They come on strong because they have the knowledge from playing more years but they’re also growing into young women so they’re bigger, stronger, faster. Like us a few years ago, when we had juniors, seniors and grad students, we were heads and shoulders above everyone else. Today, we’re still young and yet still competing, and they continue to impress me. We’ll play anyone, and it’s still game-on every day. I’m really proud of them whatever happens this year.”
Saturday’s winner will play the winner of UCONN vs. Pittsburgh on Sunday, and that victor will advance to the fall final against the western champ. That game will be played on Dec. 8 in Matthews, N.C.