CWU edges Oregon State

In a match that held season long implications on the line, Central Washington held off Oregon State 25-23 in a game in which the second half was filled with ebb and flows.

Twenty-three minutes into the contest, CWU put the first try down as junior fullback Michael Nelson drew two defenders and sent the ball out to junior wing Devin Snyder who put the last defender away and scored his first of four tries. Sophomore Aaron Lee was good on the conversion.

Snyder scored another in the corner off of the blind side of the forward pack just minutes later, putting CWU ahead 10-0.

The second half proved to be one of the more dramatic halves of rugby for CWU since the Red Rock tournament. The game was tied at the 43rd minute of the game as Oregon State scored off of a nifty move by the flyhalf darting under the Wildcats’ defense, dragging across the field before off-loading to the outside center, who would eventually return the favor, and dish to his teammate who put down the try, leaving the score 10-10.

At the 46th minute, CWU responded with a Snyder try as the dynamic wing moved inside off a breakdown on the 10-meter line, receiving a direct pass from sophomore scrumhalf Kurt Haisch, Lee made good on the conversion for a 17-10 scoreline.

At the 60th minute Oregon State got their final try, as an OSU forward dove over the top of a ruck to score after driving a lineout. The Beavers’ conversion was good and the scores were tied at 17-17.

The rest of the match became a showcase of both teams kicking to space in an attempt to find the others’ weakness. Effective counter attack options were showed by both teams from the kick. At the 64th minute Aaron Lee put CWU ahead 20-17 with a successful penalty goal. Oregon State responded soon after with a goal of their own to knot things again at 20-20.

The Beavers then took the lead for the first and last time in the match when they connected on another penalty goal for a 23-20 scoreline.

The last minutes of the game provided all the dramatic rugby that two teams challenging for the PNRFU title were expected to provide. At the 77th minute, Snyder exploded off the short side of the field and put in his fourth try of the day in the corner after cutting it back inside and through several would-be defenders to score the game-winning try.