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Wildcat contingent leads Red Raiders to nationals
BY DeAnn Daley Holcomb, Special to the Star Courier
Plano Senior football players from the 2008-09 season along with other former Wildcats are taking the Texas Tech rugby team to the National Rugby Championships for the first time in Red Raiders history this weekend.
Wildcat alumni Jordan Talley, Jared Baird, Jerdal “Biggie” Whitake, Nelson Aguilar and Marc De Charmoy, now Texas Tech students, helped steer the team to a 10-0 season in the Texas Rugby League. The five will now play in the national finals, which begin Saturday in Florida.
“It was an incredible experience,” Talley said, “and having the opportunity to start my first year, and for our team to go 10-0 this season, it has been unbelievable.”
“It was awesome,” he said, “because we put in a lot of work throughout the season and it was awesome to dominate.”
Red Raiders head coach Michael Brdecka said the team this year is much more disciplined than in previous seasons.
“It is a great turn around this season to go 10-0,” he said, “because last year we ended up going 0-5 in our cup matches.”
The Plano graduates played in the pivotal Western Division Championship game on March 28 when Texas Tech defeated the University of Northern Colorado. The Bears were heavily favored after having dominated the Western Division for the past decade.
“It was incredible,” Talley said, “because they were ranked No. 2 and we were ranked eighth. To come out and win was awesome.”
Baird concurred.
“It was awesome because we put in so much work coming in as underdogs,” he said. “And when you win a game against a high-caliber team like that, there is nothing sweeter.”
Although the Red Raiders lost in Western Division 2 Finals to Missouri Union champions Saint Louis University, Tech’s earlier win against Northern Colorado qualified the team for the 2010 National Rugby Tournament.
“This year’s match was much like the last time we played them,” Brdecka said, “extremely hard fought and physical with each team having the chance to win the match at any second. But our guys never gave up and went nose to nose with them and deservingly got the victory.”
Talley thinks what he learned as a Plano football player has helped him succeed in collegiate rugby.
“I believe our conditioning and hard hitting is what helped us get this far and gave us the advantage,” he said. “Because when the other teams became tired, we were able to step up and that’s what helped us win.”
The Red Raiders traveled to Sanford, Fla. on Thursday and will compete in the first round of nationals Saturday against Temple University. If Texas Tech is victorious, it will next face the winner of the Appalachian State-Western Oregon game.
“We set the goal of making it to the Western Championships,” Brdecka said, “and our guys put in countless hours of work to put themselves in the position they are currently in.
“We are determined.”
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