The Rocky Gorge Rugby Football Club is a USA Rugby club men's Division I rugby union team based in Columbia, Maryland, United States. Gorge plays in the Mid-Atlantic Conference in the Capital Geographical Union. Rocky Gorge is the 2012 and 2014 USA Club Rugby Division II National Champions and has won four Mid-Atlantic Division I Championships.
History
Foundation 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.
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 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.
Gorge's first coach was Terry Kernan, a Frostburg graduate. Kernan eventually turned the reigns over to Chris Lee, another Frostburg alum. 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.
Merger of Rocky Gorge and Columbia RFC 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. 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".
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.
Transition from social club to competitive club Aside from two years from 2002 to 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.
Another 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" was the team song.
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 Bournemouth 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.
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.
YearRecordPlaceSeason Notes1997–19981–67thDidn't Qualify for Postseason, Head Coach – Chris Lee1998–19992–57thDidn't Qualify for Postseason1999–20003–45thDidn't Qualify for Postseason, Head Coach – Clarence Culpepper2000–20013–23rdDidn't Qualify for Postseason, Head Coach – Clarence Culpepper2001–20022–1–13rdDidn't Qualify for Postseason, Head Coach – Clarence Culpepper 2002–20034–45thLost to Raleigh (34–8) in MARFU Quarterfinals, Head Coach – Clarence Culpepper2003–20045–2–13rdEngland International Tour (New Milton in Bornmouth Loss, Avon in Bath Loss, Cheltenham in Cheltenham Win), Beat Washington Irish (31–22) in MARFU Quarterfinals, Lost Norfolk (42–5) in MARFU Semifinals, Head Coach – Bo Newsome2004–20052–4–15thDidn't Qualify for Postseason, Head Coach – Clarence Culpepper, Mass retirement after the season2005–20061–56thDidn't Qualify for Postseason, Head Coach – Clarence Culpepper, June 2005 – Pirate Rugby Picnic
Find a Way 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.
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 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.
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 an 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 ran out on Gorge's hopes of advancing to the National Semifinals as it lost 15–13.
After the match, the club gathered again to address concerns and what needed to improve upon to win a national championship. 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.