2015 Spring Season Starting Soon
The 2015 spring season will be starting up soon. There are a few changes this spring to take note of. First of all, due to bad weather in the fall, two match have been rescheduled to the spring. The Bucks will now be playing St. Cloud March 28 in Waverly instead of traveling to Omaha. The November match at Cedar Rapids will now be played April 25 in Cedar Rapids. This was previously a bye week. The other major change this spring is that the spring season is now a continuation of the fall league schedule, so the only non-league spring match will be the All Iowa Tournament.
After playing 8 matches into the schedule this past fall, the Bucks have a commanding lead of the Division III Iowa/Minnesota leauge at 39 points. Iowa City is the next team at 33 points. League standings can be found here.
Finally, spring workouts have started at nights in the UNI Dome. If you're interested in playing send us an email at bremerbucks@gmail.com. Also, whether you're a new player or a veteran who's looking to hit the pitch again this spring, YOU MUST GET CIPP'd BY MARCH!!! Do so here.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the pitch again this spring!
2014 League Schedule Underway
The 2014 league schedule is underway. This year Bremer County has dropped down to the Division 3 level, and will again be competing primarily against other Iowa teams. This marks the first time that the Bucks have played in a Divsion 3 league schedule since 2008 when they qualified for nationals, but were unable to compete due to scheduling conflicts. After seeing a lot of success in Division 2, including a couple times nearly qualifying for nationals, the Bucks made the decision to drop back down due to shorter numbers and the huge travel burden of being the only Iowa team competing in Divsion 2.
This year's schedule is a little different than past years. First of all it's longer. USA Rugby has extended the regular season to a minimum of 12 games, therefore the league schedule will span both the fall and the spring. Second, the Midwest has introduced "Super Sites" which will play host to 2-3 games in an afternoon. These matches have been marked below. The Bucks already have the first game and first win in the bag with a huge win over Cedar Rapids, 35-3.
Buck's Schedule Fall 2014/Spring 2015
| August 30 Cedar Rapids * | WIN : 35-3 |
| September 6 @ Clinton | WIN : 17-14 |
| September 13 Burnsville @ Decorah * | WIN : 88-0 |
| September 20 Off | |
| September 27 @Burnsville Blizzard * | WIN : 26-0 |
| October 4 Clinton | WIN : 46-15 |
| October 11 @Iowa City * | WIN : 60-12 |
| October 18 St Cloud @ Iowa Falls * | WIN : 57-12 |
| October 25 Des Moines | WIN : Forfeit |
| March 28 St Cloud | |
| April 11 @ Des Moines | |
| April 18 Iowa City @ Cedar Rapids * | |
| April 25 @Cedar Rapids | |
| May 2-3 All Iowa ** | |
| May 16 MW Playoffs | |
| * Super-site match | |
| ** Non-league Friendly |
Bucks Preparing for Spring Season
The spring season is almost underway for the Bucks. Bucks Night will be held March 23 at the Pour House in Waverly. For those unfamiliar with Bucks Night, it's our annual fund-raiser/spring kickoff event. We get together, discuss the upcoming spring season and auction off a bunch of cool rugby merchandise. Players are expected to show up at 7. If you're a current player, bring 2 items to be auctioned. If you're a new player thinking about playing, it's a great oppportunity to come out and meet the team and learn about what playing for the Bucks means. The auction will start around 8, so bring all your friends. It's seriously a great time. Link to Facebook event
If you're at all thinking about playing, you NEED TO GET CIPP'd before you can play! Do so here: USA Rugby Online Registration
This spring should be among the most exciting seasons the Bucks have ever seen. We have a number of home matches, including an April 13 showdown against Pittsburgh for the right to continue on in the Midwest Playoffs. A victory April 13 will mean advancing to the Midwest Final Four in Chicago April 27/28. Winning in Chicago would allow Bremer to go on and play in Nationals in Virginia Beach May 18. However, first thing's first, and we need to start with a big win against Pittsburgh at home.
Bucks Finish 2nd in the West
The Bucks just wrapped up their fall campaign in successful fashion this past weekend, finishing second in the Western Division of the Midwest. Very decisive victories over Des Moines (73-12) and the Westside Condors (99-5) allowed Bremer County to host the opening rounds of the Midwest Playoffs November 3 and 4.
Bremer faced Wisconsin RFC in their first playoff match with the overall West #1 seed on the line. After Bremer nearly beat them last fall, Winconsin went on to advance to the national championship match, and nearly took home a national title. The Bucks gave up an early try, but came back and dominated the rest of the first half and went into halftime with a commanding 16 point lead. The second half was a different story. An early yellow card forced the Bucks to play a man down, and they were unable to get the ball out of their own territory for much of the half. Wisconsin scored 3 unanswered tries to go up by 1 point. Bremer started to gain back momentum at the end of the match, but it wasn't enough and they fell 24-25.
Saturday's defeat meant that Bremer had to play on Sunday against the Eastside Banshees for the #2 seed and home field advantage in the spring crossover match. The Banshees beat the Bucks in a close match at the Midwest Final Four to qualify for nationals in the spring. Bremer beat the Banshees 40-22 earlier this fall, but the Banshees added a number of players since that match to improve their lineup. The two teams proved to be very evenly matched. Each side side put in a try in the first half, and the score was even at 5-5 going into halftime. The second half was more back-and-forth. Each side put up another try to go to 10-10. The Banshees were able to go up 13-10 with about 15 minutes remaining. With a mere 5 minutes left in the match, Cody Pierce was able to break a long run and offload to rookie Jake Eades for the try. A clutch kick by Joe Randall put the Bucks up 17-13. After a very intense 5 minutes of rugby, Bremer held off the Banshees to avenge their playoff loss in the spring.
With their victory this weekend, the Bucks were able to secure home field advantage for their spring crossover match. The Bucks will host Pittsburgh sometime in April with a Midwest Final Four appearance on the line. Keep an eye on this page for updates on that match. Full playoff results can be found here. The Bucks would like to extend a sincere thanks to all of the people that made the tournament this past weekend a success, on and off the field.
Congratulations on a great fall season Bucks! Now let's keep it going this spring. Fear the Deer!
Bucks Off to Strong Start
The Bucks are approaching the tail end of the regular league schedule, and they've had a successful season so far with a 5-1 record after 6 games. Bremer started the season with a win at Cedar Rapids. They followed that up with 2 home victories against St. Paul and the Eastside Banshees. The Bucks are playing with a number of new faces this fall, but the new players have done a great job of catching on, finding their roles, and contributing significantly.
For the Bucks' fourth game, they traveled to Minneapolis to take on Metropolis. This Metropolis squad had gained a number of players that Bremer played against in the Midwest Final Four matchup against the Eastside Banshees in the spring. Unfortunately, Bremer did not play up to their normal standards and gave up a number of big plays and suffered their first and only loss of the season so far.
The following week the Bucks went to Des Moines. Bremer was missing many of their normal starters for that match. Although Bremer was playing tough, penalties cost the Bucks multiple tries, and they went into halftime with a slight deficit. However, Bremer pulled it together in the second half to come away with a vicotry with bonus points.
This past weekend Bremer made the long trek to Chicago to take on the Westside Condors. The Bucks pulled away early and it was never close, with a final score of 79-5 in favor of the Bucks.
Two regular season matches remain, both at home against Des Moines and the Condors. The Bucks are currently in a very tight race with Metropolis and the Banshees for first place of the Western League Group 1. Following these final 2 home matches and an off week, the Bucks will have the Western Conference portion of the Midwest playoffs, and they continue playing tough they should be sitting well for the playoffs.
Schedule and Practice
The Midwest DII fall schedule has been released and the Bucks' schedule is listed below. Also, as mentioned below, all players that want to play this fall will need to follow the link below and get CIPP'd with the team. Practice has also started. Practice is being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the pitch in Waverly. If you're at all interested in playing, come on out! No prior rugby experience is necessary.
Buck's Schedule Fall 2012
| Sat. August 25 @ Cedar Rapdids | |
| Sat. September 1 vs. St Paul | |
| Sat. September 8 vs. Eastside Banshees | |
| Sat. September 15 @ Metropolis | |
| Sat. September 22 @ Des Moines | |
| Sat. September 29 off | |
| Sat. October 6 @ Westside Condors | |
| Sat. October 13 vs. Des Moines | |
| Sat. October 20 vs. Westside Condors | |
| Sat. October 27 off | |
| Nov 3 & 4: Playoffs |