Rocky Gorge Rugby

The origins of Rocky Gorge began in 1986. After playing in college, Tom Owens tried to play with Baltimore but found it not worth the drive into the city. Owens discussed the idea of creating their own team with Dan Dawes and began to play with some local friends. Owens and Tom Bleichner attended the Cherry Blossom Tournament in 1986 and started to recruit for a new team. The original squad was about 18 members strong and adopted the team name of "Rocky Gorge" because they played near the Rocky Gorge Reservoir Dam in Laurel, MD. Some of the original members of the club were Doug Illig, Carl and Ted Geppert, Larry Genovere, Matt Jerman, Steve Scepura, Ronnie Schwab, Brian Schwab, Tony Arminger, Greg Lockwood, Mark Owens, and Tom Gregoire.

Gorge's original jerseys were supposed to be black and silver. At the time, everyone wore long sleeve Maxmore jerseys, and the only two places to get them were Matt Godek and Leatherballs (now defunct). Leatherballs had a team set of forest green jerseys that they sold the team cheap, so Gorge started off wearing solid forest green jerseys.

Rocky Gorge officially was founded in 1986. To gain legitimacy and enter an organized union, Gorge petitioned to become an associate member of the Potomac Rugby Union (PRU). The initial attempt was denied, and the club was informed it would take two years to gain membership. Owens began scheduling matches with other clubs with the goal of improving its play. The team gradually began to get better, but the PRU blackballed the team for not following its guidelines and waiting for membership. Owens and Bleichner cleared up the issues with the PRU and were accepted into the union in less than the two-year waiting period as a Division II club.[1]

Gorge's first coach was Terry Kernan, a Frostburg graduate that knew how to run a club. Kernan eventually turned the reigns over to Chris Lee, another Frostburg alum, who had a positive impact on the club. That impact turned into wins, and Gorge won the PRU in 1991. At Nationals, Gorge lost to the Fairfield Yankees. After the 1993 season, a number of players retired. With players retiring or stepping away for various reasons, Gorge needed to grow to compete with the other clubs in the union and a merger with another local team was explored.

Discussions of the merger with another club began in 1994. Columbia RFC, founded in 1986 by Rob Innella, was a DIII club in the PRU. Following a Slug 7s tournament, Gorge leadership saw that the core of players was older and recruitment was slow. Both clubs saw that they were competing over the same resources in the same area. Rocky Gorge had a good rapport with Columbia and Owens, and Columbia's Jim Hulbert talked about a merger at the Slug 7s. While talking outside the Triple 9s Bar and Billiards, the initial deal was struck between the two clubs. The merger took place to build a stronger team with a stronger foundation. The first combined Gorge-Columbia side played in Mason-Dixon's Halloween Tournament in the fall of 1994.

The points of the merger were that the new club would retain the name of "Rocky Gorge," although an alternate name of Savage Rugby was entertained. In addition, Columbia's outstanding debts to the PRU were resolved as result of the merger. The main members of the merger team were Rocky Gorge's Owens, Dave Eisenberg, Mark Matusek, Jeff Pace, Vincent Michalski and Bleichner and Columbia's Hulbert, Jim "Jabba" Morton, Mike Masood, and Tom Henry. Columbia's annual 7s tournament started in 1990, the Slug 7s was adopted as part of the merger to go along with the annual Gorge Cup 15s college tournament. Slug meant "Salisbury Losers, UMBC Goons".

The first merger team was:

The first president post-merger was Tom "Plank" Bleichner and Mark Butler was the first player-coach of the team.

Post-merger, the new squad played in DII and promptly won the PRU in 1995. For the next season, Gorge was placed in the DII-South Division of the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) as part of the PRU.

In the period from 1996 to the late 2000s, Rocky Gorge was a team brimming with untapped potential but ultimately couldn't put it all together. Aside from two-years from 2002-2004, where the team qualified for postseason play, Gorge suffered multiple losing seasons. For much of the 2000s, Gorge was known to be a social club with the motto "win or lose, we still booze."

Chris Lee returned to coach the team from 1996 to 1998. In 1996, Gorge also held its first Gorge Cup 15s tournament. Meant to be a college 15s event that also showcased the Gorge 15s side in a league match. Four games were played in the inaugural tournament. Frostburg played Salisbury, the Frostburg Old Boys squared off against the Salisbury Old Boys, and motley crew of Gorge players clashed with UMBC. The tournament is still played to this day.

Additionally, another significant tradition was adopted by the club in 1996. On the way to Savannah, Ga., for the St. Patrick's Day tournament, Vince Michalski played "Dancing Queen" by ABBA non-stop for four hours until the CD was broken. He then had another copy on a continuous loop and played it until they arrived at their destination. From that moment on, "Dancing Queen" is the unlikely team song, dig it.

Former USA Eagle Clarence Culpepper took over coaching duties in 1999. Deploying a forward-oriented, smash-mouth, always recycling style of "machine rugby", Culpepper turned a losing record club into a playoff bound squad in 2003. Players from local colleges such as Frostburg, Salisbury, St. Mary's, and UMBC joined the team during that time and in the 2002-2003 season, Gorge had a 4-4 record advancing to the MARFU Quarterfinals against Raleigh, but lost 34-8.

Building on the success from the season before, Gorge took its first international tour to England. The team played New Milton in Bornmouth resulting in a loss, Avon in Bath which was another loss, and finally beat Cheltenham in Cheltenham to close out the trip. Once back in the States, Gorge had its best season since 1995 under new coach Bo Newsome. It placed third in the regular season with a 5-2-1 record and edged the Washington Irish in the MARFU Quarterfinals, 31-22. In the semifinals, Gorge got blown out by Norfolk, 42-5.

In 2004-2005, following a mass retirement by many players, Culpepper returned as head coach, but the results didn't show on the field. Culpepper stayed on for the next season, but play didn't improve. For all the negative on the pitch, Gorge knew how to have fun off the pitch.

In June 2005, Gorge threw its first themed picnic at Justin Tagg's farm. The 2005 edition was Pirates featuring a ship ready to sail. The picnics continued for the next four years that included 2006's Post Apocalyptic Road Warrior bash with Bartertown, 2007's Wrestling Extravaganza with entry music and a fully functioning squared circle, 2008's Cowboys and Indians Pow-Wow, and 2010's Rednecks and Hillbillies Drink-Up with a pig-wrassling competition.

Some of the many prominent players during the 1996-2005 era were:

Big changes started in 2006 when Chuck Moore became the sixth head coach of Rocky Gorge. Sensing that the team needed a new look to differentiate itself other local squads, the club colors were changed from green to royal blue, black, white. Gorge still struggled on the field in the 2006-2007 season, but the main positive was the recruitment of the first wave of Salisbury graduates.

Four recently graduated players from Salisbury, Matty Shover, Sean Kelley, Ashton Thomas, and Tyler Wickline, were welcomed to Gorge. After having a perceived bad reputation in the PRU from college, many Salisbury graduates were not welcomed into men's club with open arms. The Salisbury Four found a home in Gorge because of a similar culture and a desire to have fun.

The 2007-2008 season was marked by highs and lows. Gorge went on its second international tour to Ireland playing Saint Mary's in Limerick, practicing in horrible conditions in Cork, and finishing up against Malahide in Dublin. The product during the regular season wasn't much better as club leadership had serious discussions of dropping down to DIII or even dissolving. Numbers were a major problem as the club barely had enough players for a starting side and struggled for the B side game.

In response, the recruitment machine began to build. Pete "3-Pete" Ressler, who had been on Gorge since 2003, brought in Kevin Nork who played at St. Mary's. The Salisbury train kept rolling with Erik Woodworth and former Rocky Gorge U-19 player Matt Burns. Gorge also tapped the UMBC pipeline to get Kevin Grooman and Ray Ahmed.

In 2009, Gorge took its third International tour to Argentina. During the ten day, 25-man tour, the club played Central Naval in Buenos Aires and Bigua in Mar de Plata. Following tour, Gorge had a team meeting with head coach Chuck Moore and president Trace Hall to concentrate on getting better as a club. Goals and plans were set in motion with a national championship in mind. The players and coaches wanted to change culture of the club from a social side to a serious, competitive side to attract quality players.

The 2010-2011 featured a massive recruitment class, especially from the collegiate National Championship squad from Salisbury. The likes of Andrew Kendall, Derek Chell, Matt Carroll, Dustin Meehan, Rob Pashkevich, Michael Cheese, Kris Townsel, Josh Cherriman, Matt Crowder, CJ Dyson, and Jonathan Biermann came from Salisbury.

After noticing that the team didn't have warmup shirts and were getting ready for games in different colors, Justin Tagg bought blue shirts with "Find a Way" on them after a motto from Frostburg football. "Find a Way" became a mantra for the club and helped unify and focus the team with players from competing schools and clubs.

With new players added to the roster, Gorge went from last to undefeated 5-0 in conference play. In the MARFU Playoffs, it beat Wilmington (29-10) in the quarterfinals, outscored Jersey Shore (54-23) in semifinals, and lost to Doylestown (31-24) in finals.

Although Gorge lost in the MARFU Championship, it still qualified for the National Quarterfinals in Manassas, Va. Matching up against the Chicago Blaze, Gorge led at halftime up 6-5 off two penalty kicks. In the second half, Chicago kicked a PK to gain the 8-6 advantage. With about 10 minutes left, the Blaze tried to clear the ball deep in its zone with a box kick, but was charged down by Josh Cherriman. Pete Ressler scooped up the ball and scored, but the try was called back after a very late offsides call. Chicago took advantage of its opportunity scoring off a long run by its outside center to lead 15-6. With about two minutes remaining, Gorge moved the ball wide and Jon Biermann hit Ressler back on the inside for the converted try. Time unfortunately ran out on Gorge's hopes of advancing to the National Semifinals as it lost 15-13. It was a rough entry for Gorge's first time to Nationals, but it gave everyone confidence that Gorge could get to that level and hang with the best in the country.

After the match, the club gathered again to address concerns and what needed to improve upon to win a national championship. Fitness needed to be improved off the field and a style/pattern/plan on the field needed to be implemented. Chuck Moore and the team president, Trace Hall, organized better funding to attract players (matching warmup shirts, team jackets). Ashton Thomas and Mark Cyphers were brought on as assistant coaches.

The prominent players of 2005-2011 were:

With recruitment of more newly graduated collegiate players in the summer of 2011, many of the new recruits still weren't sold on Gorge as a contender. Ashton Thomas organized a Salisbury only meeting and laid down an ultimatum, "You guys are with us or against us," Ashton Thomas said. "We're not going to wait around any more. We are going to move on with or without you. You have adopt the Rocky Gorge way, this is the way we are going to do it, and we are moving forward this way. Josh Brown always looked at that as the turning point of Rocky Gorge as a whole. After that we took off, the people who bought in stayed, whoever didn't left. We took off and the rest of the season did the way it did in 2012."

The player haul of 2012 included Josh Brown, Bryan Perez, Will Miller, Josh Stallings, and Mark Cyphers, Gorge rode an undefeated 5-0 record in Division II-South of the MARFU to the conference playoffs. In the quarterfinals, Gorge beat Brandywine, 58-24, and then bested Severn River, 39-22, in the semifinals. In the conference championship, Gorge finished off Wilmington, 29-24,[2] to move on to Nationals.

At the National Regional Playoffs at Founders Field in Pittsburgh, Pa., Gorge dispatched the Eastside Banshees (Midwest #2), 48-12, in the Round of 16[3] On Sunday, Gorge played a tough Montauk Sharks club in the quarterfinals. Trailing 17-5 at the half, Gorge scored 22 unanswered points in the second half to win 27-17.[4]

After raising over $25,000 to send the team to Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado for the championship weekend, Gorge faced Pacific Champion, Santa Rosa Rugby Club, on Saturday in the National Semifinals. In a match that lasted almost four hours because of weather delays, Gorge emerged as the 25-17 victor.

On Sunday in the stadium at Infinity Park, Gorge met the Wisconsin Rugby Club to decide the DII National Championship. After trailing for most of the first half, Rocky George fought back and closed the gap to 17-12 at halftime behind a pick and go try from Bryan Perez and an Andrew Kendall score set up by the strong running of Jon Biermann.

With the momentum coming out of the half, Dustin Meehan grabbed the lead for Gorge with a try in the 44th minute and a subsequent conversion by Kendall. Wisconsin answered with a penalty to retake the lead at 20-19, but Gorge came right back with another forwards try by Will "A Strong Specimen of a Man" Miller in the 50th minute.

Another Wisconsin penalty narrowed the score to 24-23, however, Gorge continued to pound with their forwards and backs. A Josh Brown try in the 65th minute extended the lead to 31-23. Kendall tacked on two more penalties in the final 15 minutes to close out the match and bring the trophy home to Maryland. Gorge triumphed 37-26 to win its first National title and Kendall was named MVP for his efforts.[5]

The members of the 2012 National Championship team are:

After a disappointing end to the 2012-2013 season in the National Quarterfinals, Gorge refocused its efforts for another championship run in 2014. With the core of its 2012 squad intact, key additions in place, and under the leadership of new coach and former U.S. Eagle Will Brewington, Gorge raced to an 8-0 record in Mid-Atlantic DII South[6] piling up 413 points and only 71 points against. In addition to its DII club, the 2013-2014 was the first season of its DIII side where Gorge went 6-8 in its inaugural season.[7]

In the conference playoffs, Gorge destroyed the Lancaster Roses, 76-7,[8] and followed it up with a 46-29 second half thrashing of Doylestown Rugby Club in the semifinals.[9] On Sunday in the conference final, Gorge clawed back from a 14-point deficit at halftime to exact revenge on its rival Wilmington to win, 34-24. Wilmington held a 24-10 lead at the intermission after capitalizing a Gorge's mistakes. Gorge refocused at halftime paying attention to ball retention and finishing what it started. Behind tries from Nick Sylor, Nick DiMichele, Matt Carroll, and a clutch intercept by Ben Snyder, Gorge scored 24 unanswered points to achieve victory and move onto Nationals.[10]

Advancing to Nationals for the fourth straight year, Gorge's quarterfinal matchup was a rematch of the 2012 championship against Wisconsin. In a defensive battle under horrible field and weather conditions, Gorge and Wisconsin traded blows in a closely contested affair. Nick DiMichele and Dustin Meehan scored for Gorge and Pete Ressler chipped in both conversions for a 14-point lead. Four minutes away from the shutout, Wisconsin made able to score a try off a charged down kick to cut the lead to 14-7. The Gorge defense clamped down and finished the game with a victory.[11]

In the National Semifinal against New Haven Old Black RFC on Sunday, Gorge barely survived in an intense match full of momentum swings and tense moments. Gorge played great rugby for 60 minutes of the match building a 34-14 lead. The Old Black stormed back in the final 20 minutes as their backs burned up the defense. New Haven cut the advantage to one point at 34-33 with no time remaining and only the final conversion to be attempted. Fortunately for Gorge, the kick from the sideline sailed wide booking its ticket to the National Championship in Madison, Wisconsin.[12]

Returning the main event for the second time in three years, Gorge faced a formidable foe in the West's Tempe Old Devils. The Arizona club was an undefeated outfit from the Pacific South known for its potent and lethal offense. The DII National Championship at Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wisconsin featured a clash in styles that culminated in an exciting 80 minutes of rugby.

As the game progressed, Rocky Gorge's stout defense and fundamental, ball-control offense stifled its opponent's attack as Tempe struggled to deploy its offense. Gorge shut out Tempe in the first half as Pete Ressler converted on a penalty, Josh Brown scored off a designed lineout play, and Jay Benedetti took an intercept try 40 meters for the 15-0 lead at the half.

Tempe looked to have righted the ship scoring in the 45th minute to cut the advantage to ten points, but Gorge's gritty and consistent defense continued to keep the Old Devils at bay. Two tries by scrumhalf Nick Sylor extended the lead to 27-5 and the defense closed out the match. Captain and eightman Josh Brown earned the MVP for his leadership and strong running from the back of the scrum.[13]

The members of the 2014 National Championship team are:

After winning the DII Mid-Atlantic, Gorge was offered a promotion to Division I for the 2014-2015 season. The club leadership declined and focused on its upcoming DII schedule. Gorge once again ripped through its opponents mounting an 8-0 regular season record. In addition to its divisional adversaries, Gorge also beat DI's Raleigh and the Potomac Exiles and tied the ARP's Boston RFC. The higher quality competition prepared Gorge for the conference playoffs as it ran past Media, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, and Wilmington on its way to its third Mid-Atlantic Championship in four years. The DIII side improved from its first year finishing the season at 4-4.

In the National Quarterfinals in Charlotte, NC, Gorge was matched up against the South Champion, the Atlanta Old White. AOW jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Gorge answered back with two Josh Brown tries to tie it up. Unfortunately for Gorge, scrumhalf Nick Sylor was injured shortly after and Coach Brewington had to go to his bench early. The Old White surged ahead once more to lead 21-14 at the half.

Gorge tightened up its game plan and dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half. With tries from Josh Cherriman, Matt Carroll, and Will Miller, Gorge regained the lead at 29-21. Atlanta rallied in the final 15 minutes to score the final two tries of the match and Gorge lost, 35-29.[14]

At the end of the season, Gorge was promoted to Division I. Nick DiMichele took over the head coaching duties and significant additions such as US Eagle Ben Cima, Matias Cima, Brady Smith, Trevor Tanifum, Mike Tillman, Scotty Wheeler, and John Capobianco were welcomed to the club. Before the 2015-2016 regular season began, Gorge tested its might fulfilling its home and away match against Boston. In the early season primer, Gorge beat the Massachusetts squad, 22-17, on the road. Ready for its first DI romp and sporting new black and blue jerseys, Gorge enjoyed immediate success in DI shutting out three of its first four opponents. The wins continued to rack up and completed an undefeated 14-0 record, which included a 36-33 victory over the visiting ARP side, New York Athletic Club RFC.[15]

In the DI Mid-Atlantic Playoffs, Gorge smacked Baltimore-Chesapeake in the semifinals, 66-7, to advance to the final against the Norfolk Blues. Using its superior speed and skill of its backline, Gorge outplayed the Blues en route to a 48-22 victory in its first year in DI. Trevor Tanifum, Scotty Wheeler, Nick Sylor, Brady Smith, Nick Kuhl, and Matias Cima (2) each scored in the match. Flyhalf Ben Cima led all scorers with 13 points with five conversions and a drop goal.[16] With the win, Gorge advanced to the National Quarterfinals against Old Blue of New York.

For the DIII side, 2015-2016 was a breakout season. RGIII finished the regular season with an 8-1-1 record. In conference playoffs, Gorge dispatched Virginia Beach and the Washington Renegades to the way to the finals. Against Reading in the DIII MAC Championship, William Lomax, Aki Raymond (2), Matthew Phillips, and Bill Bush scored tries and Chris Bleiler had two conversions and a penalty for the 32-24 win.[17] After the match, the determination of which team advanced to Nationals was disputed due to an eligibility issue. In the end, the USA Rugby Grievance Committee ruled in favor of Rocky Gorge allowing it to represent the Mid-Atlantic at Nationals.[18]

The DIII Mid-Atlantic Champions were:

At Founders Field in Pittsburgh, the DIII side played and was clearly outmatched by the eventual DIII National Champion, the Fairfield Yankees. The opposition dominated from the opening whistle and ended the DIII season by the score of 39-12.

Playing on the beaten muddy field later in the day, Gorge DI played Old Blue with a ticket to the National Semifinals at stake. In a tough, hard fought test, Gorge matched Old Blue stride for stride and only trailed by three points with seven minutes remaining. Gorge was unable to complete the comeback in the final moments of the game as Old Blue won, 27-19. In the losing effort, Will Miller scored his team's lone try and Ben Cima kicked four penalties and a conversion.[19]

In 2016-2017, Rocky Gorge repeated as the DI Mid-Atlantic Champions for the second year in a row towering over Norfolk, 52-31. In the National Quarterfinals in Pittsburgh, Pa., Gorge's season came to an end at the hands of the Chicago Lions, the Midwest Champion, 32-24.

After winning DIII last season, Gorge's second side was promoted to DII. In its first year of elevated competition, RGII finished fourth in the DII-South with a 4-6 record.

Coming off its second Mid-Atlantic Conference DI title, Gorge went into the 2017-2018 season in search of its third conference championship. Unfortunately, Gorge was stopped short by rival, the Norfolk Blues. Gorge beat Norfolk in week seven and went into the regular season finale against the Blues undefeated. On the road, Gorge led at the half but Norfolk scored four tries in the second half to win 39-35. Gorge easily beat Pittsburgh in the MAC Semifinals setting up a rematch with Norfolk in the final. In the rain, Gorge led late 21-15, but the Blues scored twice in the final ten minutes to win 29-21.

Gorge's second side played in Division I-B against other DI clubs' B-sides and other DII clubs. The team went 7-2 in the regular season, but fell to Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, 57-14, in the MAC quarterfinals.

Following the disappointing 2017-2018 season, Rocky Gorge made a change at the top installing Andrew "Copperpot" Chesterfield as club president and named a board to the team. Additionally, during the club banquet in November, Chuck Moore and Tom Henry donned the blue jackets as new members of the Rocky Gorge Hall of Fame.

Gorge was placed in the DI North division along with Schuylkill River, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore-Chesapeake. They will play each divisional opponent twice and play each team from the South division once.

Refocused with a return to Nationals at the forefront of its mind, Gorge DI swept through the Mid-Atlantic competition to an undefeated 10-0 record. In the conference playoffs, the team dispatched Potomac and NOVA to book its trip back to Nationals. Awaiting them in Raleigh were the Life Running Eagles. In a hard fought test, Life outmatched Gorge on the way to a 69-26 defeat.

Gorge's second side dropped down to DIII and flourished. During the regular season, the squad won every game they played in. That being said, RGD3 had to unfortunately forfeit two of their games. Even with the forfeits, the team made it to the Central division final versus the Washington Irish. It took 100 minutes of rugby to complete but RGD3 triumphed for the 38-35 victory. Two weeks later in the Capital Championship, Gorge beat the Virginia Beach Falcons, 25-12, to earn its spot in the MAC Final. Against the Northeast Philadelphia Irish in the mud and rain, the opposing enforced its will by bigger, more physical outfit punishing Gorge with their forwards then using the kicking game to pin Gorge deep. The Irish swarmed Gorge's back three and Gorge was unable to use its speed on the counterattack. The RGD3 2018-2019 season ended by a score of 41-7.

After dropping its first game on the road against Schuylkill River, DI finished the fall with six straight victories to lead the north division. D3 followed up its Capital Championship with four consecutive wins to open the fall. RGD3 fell against division leaders, the Washington Irish and Severn River, to complete 2019 in third place at 5-2.

As the year flipped to 2020, the spring and entire season ended abruptly. USA Rugby shut down club rugby due to the COVID-19 virus and all games and team activities were cancelled. Gorge will rise again hopefully in the fall.

Following the sudden end of the 2019-2020 Season rugby began in the spring of 2021. Spring held only friendly matches between clubs in order to rebuild and return to play. Gorge began to rally in the fall of 2021, bringing both new and old faces to hopefully reach the playoffs once more.

Post Covid Players were: