Arkansas State Will Advance to Round of Sixteen

In their first year as a member of division one, ASU will advance to the round of sixteen by beating the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 75-0. ASU scored early and often, running in eleven tries on the afternoon.

On a beautiful day for rugby Curtis Huckaby opened the scoring with a penalty kick one minute into the game. He then put Dannie Swanepoel into space and Swanepoel scored in the corner two minutes later. Darrin Oliver was next with a pretty run of 40 meters. Huckaby conversion. Next Huckaby scored a try followed by a drop kick. A Blake White score, Huckaby conversion, and a try late in the half by Roland Evans brought the score to 35-0 at half.

Matt Guest opened the scoring in the second half followed by Huckaby, Clint Whittler, Evans, Whittler and Roan Farr. David Caswell took over the kicking chores and was 5 of 7 in conversions. Defense was again the name of the game. North Carolina had many good phases but couldn't crack the ASU goal line. North Carolina played very hard and will be a team to fear next year at their place.

Once again the 14 hour bus trip to Jonesboro that North Carolina had to endure must have figured into the defeat. Andrew Richards, North Carolina's coach, has a fine young bunch of players and they seem just a short time away from making a run at the title.

Arkansas State has four weeks to prepare for the University of Tennessee in a game that will not only determine the South championship but will be crucial in the seeding in the round of 16. "We have been fortunate regarding injuries. We'll give the team a few days off to mend and then we will prepare for Tennessee. We will be peaking fitness wise by the end of the month and look forward to a great match against the highly favored Volunteers of Tennessee. Challenging ourselves against the best team in the south with the best coaching staff arguable anywhere in the nation will be a real challenge for us but one we look forward to."