On May 12th, the Severn River Rugby Club took part in the Triebel Cup against the Frederick Rugby Club. Tobin Triebel, a First Sgt. flight paramedic with the Maryland State Police and member of the Frederick rugby club, was struck and killed by a truck while jogging along a local road in November of 2008. From the tragedy, the challenge emerged to honor Triebel and remind ruggers of their deep connection to each other, no matter their home club. This year's Cup was no different with former players dusting off their boots to show their respect and current players experiencing the camaraderie that comes with entire clubs coming together. 

This year, Frederick hosted the day and provided a beautiful pitch for the events. The cup is awarded to the club with the highest cumulative score on the day. Severn River Women started off the day strong with a 71-15 victory. After playing the national anthem and a moment to remember Triebel, the men fought hard through the first half until they fell to the strong depth and chemistry of the Frederick side, 70-36. In the end, Severn River was not able to provide a full B-side for the final match of the day, so Frederick emerged victorious and took home the cup.   Details of the men's and women's matches are below.

Women's Re-Cap:

 With the lucky draw of playing  a little earlier and missing the brunt of the afternoon heat, the Honey Badgers were poised to put a strong finish on their spring season. After narrowly missing regional playoffs , the women took the pitch with something to prove. From the get go, Aly Jost and Katie Marshall were in sync in the backline. A quick score by Jost after an offload from Marshall gave Severn River the first score of the match. Frederick responded quickly a few minutes later by exploiting some defensive weaknesses that Severn corrected as the match continued. Over the next 25 minutes, the honey badgers dominated the field of play. Taylor Tracey (Ferd) recovered a dodgy line-out throw to add another 5 to the board. Scrappy added two scores before the half and Bridgett McDonnell (London) added two as well, including her first as a Honey Badger. One of her scores was assisted by another heads-up play by Ferd who recovered the ball when it popped out of the scrum and connected with London for a pass that sent her to the try-zone. 

By the second-half, Severn River was in their groove, but Frederick wasn't going down without a fight. They added two more scores to their total and forced the Honey Badgers to play even harder. Lauren Hensley, a Salisbury Alumni and welcome addition to the backline, had a strong connection with forward veteran Kate Todorovich (Todo) throughout the day. Their strong communication and fancy offloads set-up Todo for a weak side try to start the scoring in the second half. After that, the scoring was all Severn River.  Aly "Twinkletoes" Jost added another try to her belt while dodging Frederick's defense and leaving a few sore ankles in her wake. Sammi Bottorf and Hannah "Scrappy" Whiteley each added to the tally and earning Scrappy her hat trick on the day. With excellent slow ball control in the forwards by Todo, Lenni, and Mikey as well as beautiful offloading from the backs, Severn River proved how much they have grown as a team this season. New props Kerry Lammers and Jess Murray dominated in the scrums and helped win multiple defensive contests. The combination of new talent and veteran composure left the Honey Badgers with a renewed vigor that will fuel this team into the fall season. 

Final score: 71-15

Tries: A. Jost (2), T. Tracey (1), H. Whiteley (4), B. McDonnell (2), K. Todorovich (1), S. Bottorf (1), M. Williams (1), C. Bryan (1)

Conversions: R. Trouwborst (3 out of 12), M. Williams (0 out of 1)

Men's Re-Cap:

In the scorching heat, the Severn River Men’s team sought vengeance against Frederick, for the defeat that knocked them out of playoff contention in the fall.  After a back and forth first five minutes, Severn looked like they may take their revenge as they broke the deadlock on a well-executed lineout from ten meters out; setting up a maul and driving Frederick back all the way to  the try line before Aldo “don’t have a cow Man” Batubara dove in for the first try of the match.   From there, Severn River took control of the game, dominating possession with excellent rucking from Steven Nery and Dustin Taylor.  As Severn River pushed Frederick on the back foot with crash balls, Erik “Punchy” Dronberger was able to spring Niko through a hole. After being tripped up by the opposing winger, he let off a nice offload to Aldo to score his second on the day.   

Thumping runs from Steve Nery, Richard Maldonado, Nick Strachko, and Dustin Taylor, helped Punchy shift through a hole in the Frederick defense, nothing left to do but dance past the fullback to finish the forty meter try for Severn River’s third of the match.  Continuing their early dominance, Punchy got involved once again in the fourth try, breaking the line to set up Richard to finish for five more points.    This put Severn River up 24-0 after 20 minutes of play, it looked all but over for Frederick, but the heat, and over confidence seemed to play a toll on Severn River, as they dropped their guard and ended up going into halftime down 33-24.  

   Severn River came out of the second half in a fit of rage.  Aldo got the scoring started with another long run to cap off his hat trick, bringing Severn River back within a try of Frederick.  However, it wasn’t meant to be as missed tackles, fitness, and lack of chemistry saw the Severn River Men go on to lose the match 70-36, with Aldo knotting in another try to finish with four on the day and receiving man of the match honors.   It can be said that the score line did not reflect the competitive nature of the match. Severn River were the dominate side throughout the match, but not being able to match Frederick’s depth proved to be their Achilles heel.  Severn River finished the spring season 4-3 and begin their 7s season at the Landshark 7s tournament in Severn.

Tries: A. Batubara (4), E. Dronberger (1), R. Maldonado (1)

Conversions: E. Dronberger (3 out of 6)