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Rio Grande sophomore Josh Howgate tries to pull away from a pair of would-be University of Tennessee tacklers during Saturday afternoon's 31-31 tie with the Volunteers at Red Valley Pitch.
Rio Grande sophomore Josh Howgate tries to pull away from a pair of would-be University of Tennessee tacklers during Saturday afternoon's 31-31 tie with the Volunteers at Red Valley Pitch.
Posted: Sep 14, 2024

Rio coughs up lead, rallies to tie Volunteers

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Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande raced out to a quick start and then rallied after coughing up its early advantage to forge a 31-all tie with the University of Tennessee, Saturday afternoon, in non-conference men's rugby action at Red Valley Pitch.
     The RedStorm, who were making their home debut under first-year head coach Brad Sandig, finished the day at 1-0-1 with the deadlock.
     The visiting Volunteers, who posted a 20-point win over Rio last season in Knoxville, moved to 0-3-1 with the draw.
     Rio Grande bolted to a 19-0 lead just over 26 minutes into the contest, but the Vols rallied to knot the score by halftime and added a pair of scores early in the second stanza for a 31-19 advantage.
     The RedStorm rallied to score twice in the final 18 minutes to tie the game again before narrowly missing on what would have been a game-winning kick with no time showing on the clock.
     Rio Grande got the scoring underway just five minutes into the match, scoring on a penalty try to make it 7-0.
     Junior Zack Thomas (Grove City, OH) capped off a long advance to the try zone with 28:30 left in the half to make it 12-0, while a try by junior Will Spencer (Hemel Hempstead, England) and subsequent conversion kick by sophomore Thibault Carrere (Dax, Landes, France) pushed the cushion to 19-0 with just under 14 minutes remaining.
     Tennessee started its comeback just over two minutes later when Andrew Celeste found paydirt to slice the deficit to 19-5.
     Celeste scored again for the Vols with 6:40 left before the break and Spencer Daves' conversion closed the gap to 19-12.
     Tennessee came all the way back with just over a minute to play before halftime when Colyer Blackwell crossed for a try and Davis added the conversion to make it 19-19 at the intermission.
     The Volunteers then moved in front a little less than five minutes into the second stanza thanks to a try by Maximos Ponce and a conversion from Daves, while stretching their new-found lead to 31-19 after a try by Nate Rawls with 30:30 left to play.
     That's how things stayed until Rio senior Ethan Pannell (Boise, ID) raced into the right corner of the try zone with 17:52 remaining to get the RedStorm back within 31-24.
     The hosts then notched the equalizer with just over four minutes left to play when junior Aaron Eddy (Beaumont, CA) bulled his way across the line for a try and Carrere tacked on the conversion to knot the score at 31-31.
     Rio Grande regained possession of the ball in the waning seconds after a Tennessee penalty, but Carrere's attempt to boot a game-winning score with no time remaining was just off the mark.
     The RedStorm are scheduled to return to action next Sunday when they host Marian (Ind.) University for a 1 p.m. kickoff.