Houston, Texas - The Bowling Green Men's Rugby Team (10-3, 5-1 MAC, 3-0 Nationals) have reached the NCR National Championship Final. The Falcons will face off against the 2025 SCRC Champions Tennessee (11-0 Overall, 3-0 SCRC East, 2-0 Nationals). The title deciding match will be played on Saturday, December 14th at 2pm (3 pm EST) at the SaberCat Stadium in Houston Texas.

"It's fun to join a team and be a part of them making a national championship in your first year as a coach and to be able to return to that spot to try to get redemption in the second year with the team is really exciting," said Assistant Coach Austin Morris. "Every team that we have been playing this year, I've been wanting to play them with the mindset that we need to be playing the type of rugby that beats these teams who we've been playing in the playoffs. The type of rugby that is going to beat Virginia Tech and Louisville, the type of rugby that will compete with Clemson, Kentucky, and now Tennessee."

BGSU has fought their way back to the Houston for a return trip to the National Championship Final for the second time in a row following their 2024 appearance. Unlike last year, the Falcons entered the tournament in the Play-in rounds. Then Bowling Green faced off against Liberty  runners-up Babson in Niagara, NY for the Play-in match of the NCR National Tournament. Bowling Green emerged victorious in a 55-3 win on the road to earn the right to face Virginia Tech in Butler, PA. Once in Butler, BG's offense exploded was able to overpower Virginia Tech with a 71-24 quarterfinal victory. Bowling Green then faced their MAC rivals Louisville in the semifinal round back in Butler, PA. In the freezing cold and after ending 21 all in regular time, Bowling Green pulled through. The third time was the charm and BG secured a 26-21 sudden death overtime victory with a try from Harvey Harris. Bowling Green now returns to Houston Texas, ready to stake their claim for the 2025 NCR National Championship. BG is set to face this years SCRC Champions, Tennessee, in 2025 NCR D1-AA National Championship. Bowling Green will once again need to step up to the pressure, this time with a majority of the squad having National Final experience. The Falcons have returned many of their missing pieces from last years final. The Falcons will need to play smart rugby and stick together in order to find their way to the top of the NCR D1-AA Tournament.

"There are a couple guys on this team who were here for the 2021 National Championship loss vs Tennessee. There are so many storylines on this team. There is a lot of stuff on and off the field we have persisted through this season alone. There are guys on this team that have lost two National Championships," said Club President Kosta Anderson. "I've been on the first BG team to lose the Mac after 40 years. I've laughed and cried with this group of guys. This being such a talented and battle tested team is going to serve us well. I have laughed and cried with this group of lads. At the end of the day it is another 80 minutes that I get to play with my best friends."

Last Time on the Field

They say that the third time is the charm and for Bowling Green that statement holds true. BG has faced Louisville for the third time this season and finally got the job done when it mattered the most. Bowling Green fought for a 26-21 victory over the Cardinals after ending regular time 21 all and four minutes of sudden death overtime. During the match the majority of Bowling Green's success came through their powerful scrum. Bowling Green dominated the scrums the entire match and gave them the majority of possession. The Cardinals managed to punch one in early into the game for a 7-0 lead. However, the combination of a penalty kick from Joey Apel and a Try from Grad Student and Lock Zach Szepiela got BG to the lead 8-7 going into the half. 8-Man Evan Holderer punched one in following the second half kickoff and Apel converted his second penalty kick of the game to see BG explore to a 16-7 lead. A blocked kick got Louisville back into the game to make it 16-14. BG pulled away with a try of a lineup to make it 21-14 going into the dying minutes of the game. Louisville capitalized off a late game error during the dying seconds of the game to score their try and conversion to bring it to 21 all and push the game to overtime. 

    In overtime, Louisville kicked off. Bowling Green recovered the ball and then set a sky-ball back for the Cardinals to put them under pressure. Bowling Green's complete effort throughout the game final paid its dividends. A poach from Club President and 6th year Kosta Anderson gave BG posses once again. Bowling Green snowballing quick successes and a breakaway from Center Owen Slimmer got BG within the five. Then the pack got back to work, a few pick and goes later and Flanker sub Harvey Harris got the major pick and go, falling over the line to give the Falcons the sudden death overtime victory and end the game 26-21. 

Milestone Markers

• This is the fifth appearance for BG in the National Championship since 2016: Loss to NDC in 2016, Win over St. Joseph in 2018, Loss to Tennessee in 2021, and Loss to Kentucky in 2024

• BG won the National Championship in 2018 under Head Coach Tony Mazzarella. 

• BG finished Runners-up in the 2021 National Championship in a 31-36 loss to Tennessee

• BG finished Runners-up in 2024 National Championship in a 57-14 loss to Kentucky

About University of Tennessee:

This season, Tennessee finished 10-0  Overall, winning the SCRC Conference Tournament. The Volks began their preseason 2-0 with wins over Queens (64-0) and Ohio State (48-17). The Volks began their regular season with a 62-0 victory over SCRC West Georgia followed by a 81-12 non-conference win over App State. In the SCRC East, Tennessee went 3-0 after beating South Carolina 33-13, Clemson 31-17, and Alabama 33-10. Tennessee finished the regular season scoring 240 points, 97 points in the SCRC East, and only conceding 52 points overall, 40 in the SCRC East. Tennessee qualified for the SCRC Tournament after finishing first in the SCRC D1-AA East division with three wins from three. In the SCRC Tournament, Tennessee was crowned champions after beating LSU 48-38 in the semifinal and Kentucky 39-22 in the final. In the postseason, Tennessee defeated Sam Houston (5-4 Overall) 20-0 in the NCR National Championship Quarterfinal. The Volks then beat Texas A&M (8-2 Overall) 35-10 in the Semifinals in Butler, PA. 

Bowling Green vs. Kentucky

Houston, TX | SaberCats Stadium

Saturday, December 13th | @ 12 p.m. Local (1 p.m. EST)

Up Next

Bowling Green will have so much earned down time over Winter Break

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