Knoxville Rugby Football Club

The trophy stayed home.

Knoxville edged Greenville, S.C., 17-16 in the final of the Dogwood Tournament, held April 5 and 6, 1997.

Six teams competed in the two-pool tourney. In Bracket One, Knoxville stomped Johnson City 34-7 before the Possums shut out Findlay, Ohio, 22-0. In the second pool, Greenville romped Chattanooga 47-0 and beat Toledo 20-13.

Final

Ten minutes into the championship, with the pitch softened by a morning rain, Knoxville center Todd Little scored a try and lock Brian Niekerk converted for a 7-0 Knoxville lead.

Greenville flyhalf Rich Cobb booted two penalties to one by Niekerk to bring the halftime score to 10-6 in Knoxville’s favor.

The second half started with Knoxville prop Tyler Huskey bursting up the middle for a 25-meter try that Niekerk converted to put the Possums in front 17-6.

Cobb was knocked out of the game and wing Greg Blinston moved to flyhalf. He promptly slotted a penalty to bring the Griffins within eight points at 17-9.

A try by Greenville wing Lynn Moore, converted by Blinston, tightened the scoreline to 17-16. The Griffins pressured late on a scamper by scrumhalf Tom Liddle, but a Knoxville player alertly kicked the ball away when no support arrived for Liddle.

Knoxville                                         Greenville

Huskey (C)                1                       Little

Miller                         2                       Courtney

McArthur                    3                       J. Roberts

Cerne                          4                      Haywood

Niekerk                       5                       Speaks

Daugherty                    6                       Van Evera

Cunningham                7                       Lecroix

Powell                           8                      D. Roberts (C)

Hopson                         9                      Liddle

Broyles                          10                     Cobb*

Bennett                          11                     Moore

Little                              12                     Howland

Koroa                              13                     Clardy

Dorwin                            14                      Blinston

Braswell                           15                      Quirk

*replaced by Jackson

Ref: Craig Kartiganer

A “Rooster” got kicked in the head - and the Possums ended up dead.

Greenville, S.C., defended its Dogwood Tournament title in bizarre fashion, scoring on the last play of the game when a kicked ball bounced off the face of a Knoxville player into the try zone where Griffin No. 8 Dan Roberts fell on it for the easy game-winning try.

The tourney was held at Forks of the River Park April 13 and 14, 1996.

Prelims

In opening round play, Toledo, Ohio, struck first against Knoxville when former U.S. Eagle Rich Schurfeld slashed in from his fullback position to score a converted try.

The Possums rallied with tries by Frank Bennett and Jack Geibig, coupled with two penalty kicks and a conversion from fullback Kevin Blalock to pull away for an 18-7 win.

In its second match, Knoxville broke away from a 6-6 tie with Columbia, S.C., to run out to a 30-6 win. Doug Powell tallied a pair of tries and Blalock finished with half of the Possums’ points on a try, two penalties and a couple of conversions.

Greenville punished Chattanooga and then handled Findlay, Ohio, in a rematch of the 1995 Dogwood Tourney final to reach Sunday’s championship contest.

Final

Knoxville pressured early and were rewarded when flyhalf Marty Bradley nailed a penalty kick to put the Possums up 3-0. Greenville scrumhalf Butch Setzer followed with a penalty of his own to knot the scores at 3-3.

The Possums had a terrific opportunity to score a try when wing Pat Dorwin tossed a lineout to himself, dummied with trailing flanker Oscar Doster to slow the defense, then passed long to mid-field but a knock-on stymied the sure score.

Bradley then added a penalty but off the restart Geibig was whistled for shepherding and Setzer’s penalty made it 6-6 at the half.

Both teams threatened in the second stanza, but numerous Knoxville penalties nullified territorial gains.

Bradley and Setzer, whose angled conversion gave Greenville a 15-14 win over Findlay in the 1995 Dogwood Tourney, traded penalty kicks as it was 9-9 with just a minute left in the match.

A poor Greenville cross-kick went to Knoxville wing Mike Weldon, who set up a maul. The ball was spun to Bradley, whose clearing kick bounced backward off the face of retreating hooker Ryan “Rooster” Miller.

Roberts, Greenville’s captain, was behind the play but alertly knew there was no offside law to be broken and beat the cover to touch down the carom for the winning try. Setzer added the conversion and the Griffins repeated as Dogwood champions.

Greenville                                             Knoxville

J. Roberts                    1                           Huskey (C)

Beamann                      2                           Miller

Speaks                         3                            Sandman

Atkinson                      4                            Cerne

Sullivan                         5                           Booth

Van Evera                       6                           Daugherty
Phillips                           7                           Doster

D. Roberts (C)                 8                            Powell

Setzer                              9                          Broyles

Gerezol                           10                         Bradley

Bratys                              11                         Weldon

Howland                          12                         Niekerk

Clardy                               13                        Bennett

Moore                               14                        Dorwin

Cobb                                  15                       Blalock

Ref: Rich Boone, C-2, Mid-South

The Possums beat up some future teammates as Knoxville handled the University of Tennessee 26-8 in the championship of the fifth annual Dogwood Tournament.

The event was held April 16 and 17, 1994 at John Tarleton Park.

In pool play, the Possums stopped Greenville, S.C., 12-5 and Johnson City 31-10. UT was upset in overtime 10-7 by Chattanooga before rebounding to defeat Findlay, Ohio, 25-0 to advance to the championship on Sunday.

Final

Seven minutes into the match, Knoxville center Tom Wilon slotted a 35-meter penalty to give the Possums a 3-0 lead. UT hooker Jason Kallivakos answered with a 30-meter shot to make it 3-3.

With 17 minutes gone, Wilson hit a second penalty (6-3), and shortly thereafter was instrumental in the game’s opening try.

As Knoxville pressured the Tennessee tryline, Wilson drew two defenders and opened up a spot that flyhalf Pat Dorwin dived through, the try giving Knoxville an 11-3 halftime lead.

The Possums contined the pressure in the second stanza and it paid off when No. 8 Brian Niekerk scooped up a loose ball and fed center Steve Cunningham on the burst for the try, 16-3.

Moments later, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Niekerk collected a poor clearing kick and rambled in for the try. Wilson’s conversion made it 23-3.

The next 20 minutes were a scoreless stalemate until UT wing Chris Dulin called for a weakside feed off a scrum and went in for a try. With eight minutes remaining, Wilson closed out the scoring with a penalty and the match ended 26-8 in Knoxville’s favor.

Knoxvillle                                     UT

Sandman (C)          1                     Pledger

Miller                      2                   Kallivakos

Salansky                 3                   Huskey (C)

Christopher             4                   French

Roads                       5                  Lawson

Klaehn                     6                    Jones

Powell                      7                    Dixon

Niekerk                    8                   Brown

Muniz                       9                   Brant

Dorwin                     10                 Gower

Bennett                     11                Sweeten

Cunningham              12               Olson

Wilson                       13                Carter

Altoonian                   14               Dulin

Blalock                        15               Clardy

Ref: Tim Wright

Notes

The versatile Niekerk would lineup at eightman, inside center and lock during his career at Dogwood tournaments. Steve Cunningham was also comfortable at a number of positions - hooker, flanker, scrumhalf, center and wing.

Blalock was named 1994 Dogwood MVP - thanks to his strong defense at flyhalf when he and Dorwin would switch positions when the Possums defended. Dorwin was primarily a wing and fullback, but also saw Dogwood time at scrumhalf and flyhalf.

UT fullback Don Clardy would later play for Knoxville and Greenville in Dogwood tournaments.

Years later, John Tarleton Park became home to the currrent high school league, spearheaded by longtime Knoxville flyhalf Marty Bradley, who was out of town for the 1994 Dogwood tourney.