Glendale Men Raptors - 78                    
Austin Blacks - 15                    
FINAL

Fullback DeWon Reed ran for three scores and Mike Graham made 9 of 12 conversions as the Glendale Raptors racked up 47 points in the first half in route to a 78 to 15 win against the Austin Blacks here today.

A year ago the Raptors upset Austin 39-17 in Austin to cement a place in the finals of the Division I Men’s National Club Championship played at Infinity Park.
On a cloudy day with rain forecast, the atmosphere begged for what was expected to be a smash-mouth affair. The only downpour came from the Raptor scoring, as they warmed up fast to tally 47 unanswered points. As the period ended the Blacks elected to attempt a penalty kick to prevent a first-half shutout. The halftime score was 47-3. Reed scored twice in the period and Graham was 6 of 7 on first half conversions.

Glendale Men Raptors - 22
Gentlemen of Aspen - 10
FINAL

Glendale Men Raptors plowed ahead in rugby play here today despite a spring mix of snow and rain to wallop the Gentlemen of Aspen by a score of 22 to 10.

The Lady Raptors game was canceled because the visiting Air Force Academy wasn’t able to travel here due to the weather conditions.   

The Men Raptors tried to keep ahead of both weather conditions and their opponent by accumulating a 16 to 5 halftime lead.

Despite the slushy playing conditions, Aspen tried to slip back into the game by scoring first in the treacherous second half on a penalty kick, bringing the sore to 19 to 10. With both sides hard hit by Sin Bin calls, the Raptors dug-in to keep Aspen snowed under. The Aspen power outage allowed the Raptors to chalk up points on two more scoring opportunities, leaving Aspen stranded.

Glendale is the first city in the country to adopt rugby as its official sport and the $40 million Infinity Park rugby pitch is the nation’s first Rugby specific stadium. The standard for growth of the sport in the U.S., Glendale’s Men’s and Women’s Raptors Rugby Football Club has hosted national and international rugby championships. Glendale’s Infinity Park will again be the site for the Men’s Club Rugby Championships, May 30-31.

For the first time ever, Glendale’s Infinity Park has been chosen to host six matches of the Churchill Cup competition on June 6, 10, 14. It is the first time the premier tournament has been staged solely in the United States.

(Muscatine) The Pearl City Bears scored early and often to defeat the visiting Glendale Raptors 64 – 32.  On a brilliant warm spring day, Pearl City jumped out to a 33 – 13 half time lead to power to the win.

The Bears jumped out to an early lead as the Raptors gave up three early tries due to some spotty tackling and an intercept try.   The Raptors score three times in the half, but each time the Bears responded in kind. 

Pearl City ran in ten tries on the day while the Raptors responded with five of their own during the entertaining match.

The Denver Highlanders defeated cross-town opponent, Glendale Raptors 16 – 12 on a windy cold snow speckled field.

The Highlanders played a strong 10 man rugby game, keeping the ball away from the explosive Raptor backs through the accurate boot of fly half Leif Gipson and the strong play of the forwards.  Gipson converted three penalty kicks and a converted try to the two tries by the Raptors.           

The Highlanders face Aspen next week in a crucial Northern Region league match while the Raptors travel to Pearl City for a cross regional contest.

The Glendale Raptors defeated the Austin Blacks 59 – 11 on a wet and muddy pitch at Burr Field in Austin.  Despite the slippery conditions Glendale managed to run in 9 tries from 9 different players after jumping out to a 33 – 6 halftime lead.

Austin opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the match when Glendale was penalized for offside in the midfield.  Further Glendale ill discipline allowed the referee to march off another ten meters for backchat, placing the ball within range of the accurate Austin kicker.   Continued play was back and forth as neither team could establish itself in the slippery conditions.  At the thirteen-minute mark, Glendale drove a lineout, scoring on a cleanly taken first phase move by center Mike Graham.  Graham converted his own try to put the Raptors up 7 – 3.