The Mill Creek Rugby Club played its inaugural game on Sunday, September 21.
The 21-member squad opened the season against the 2008 Georgia high school champions, Walton High School of Marietta.
Holding an aggressive Walton scoreless in the first ten minutes, the Hawks fought hard, but the Walton team was eventually able to score on three quick tries.
In the second half, the Hawks began to gel.
Sawyer Dalton advanced the ball into contact with a fine move on the right before passing to Jansen Arcenaux. Arceneaux was tackled short of the line, but Dalton and Patrick Mead were able to join the maul and push Arcenaux over for the first Mill Creek score. James Webb added the conversion.
Mill Creek remained under sustained pressure with Luke O’Donovan also getting close to a score before being denied by the excellent Walton defense.
Walton added two late scores as fatigue began to set in for the Hawks.
“For a team with 19 players who have never played before, this was pretty good,” said Mill Creek Coach Chris Vlok. “There is some talent here, and we can work with them on developing rugby sense.”
Out of 21 total players, team captains Patrick Mead and Jansen Arceneaux are the only Mill Creek players with any prior rugby experience.
Mill Creek’s next game is on October 4 against Starr’s Mill.
