{"id":2446058,"date":"2019-07-06T21:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T03:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/gents-rally-to-beat-vail-stay-undefeated\/"},"modified":"2019-07-06T21:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T03:28:00","slug":"gents-rugby-rallies-to-beat-vail-rfc-on-late-penalty-kick-stays-undefeated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/gents-rugby-rallies-to-beat-vail-rfc-on-late-penalty-kick-stays-undefeated\/","title":{"rendered":"Gents rugby rallies to beat Vail RFC on late penalty kick, stays undefeated"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.8433734939759\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-309038-428\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club player James Kistner, at left, gives a holler as teammates celebrate behind him after they beat rival Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"14\">\n<p><strong>Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club player James Kistner, at left, gives a holler as teammates celebrate behind him after they beat rival Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1.jpg\" alt=\"Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club player James Kistner, at left, gives a holler as teammates celebrate behind him after they beat rival Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-4-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-4.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-4.jpg\" alt=\"The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-5-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-5.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/rugby-atd-070719-1-5.jpg\" alt=\"The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/gents-rally-to-beat-vail-stay-undefeated\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/gents-rally-to-beat-vail-stay-undefeated\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Down early and down again late, the Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club\u2019s perfect record looked in peril on Saturday against rival Vail. But a wild finish and a late penalty kick salvaged a dramatic 46-43 win for the Gents at Rio Grande Park in Aspen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cUnbelievable character for the whole game,\u201d first-year Aspen coach Ben Mitchell said. \u201cTo come from behind twice is a really good achievement, especially against a team like Vail. They have some really good players this summer and that\u2019s a great win for us to remain unbeaten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Vail was one of the best teams in the mountain league last summer and swept Aspen in both of their matches. Wanting a bit of revenge against their main rival on Saturday, the Gents certainly had to work for it versus a team they know well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe boys really dug it out,\u201d third-year Gent Risteard Mulcahy said. \u201cIt\u2019s always good before and after. We got a lot of friends. We even have a couple of guys who have played for Vail, and vice versa. But they are always the toughest game we play and it\u2019s nice to beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The match started slow for Aspen, which fell down by a couple of tries in the first 10 minutes. They rallied with a strong stretch after that and even had a slight lead at halftime. It was a lull in the second half that put the Gents in a pretty big hole as time was waning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt was a pretty shaky start, but we got back into the game,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cSecond half then was a bit up and down. We ended up three scores down with 10 minutes to play and we kept in the fight and ended up with three tries and knocked over the last penalty to win the game. It doesn\u2019t get better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The tide turned late in the second half with Aspen rallying for the 43-43 tie with only a few minutes remaining. Down to only seconds, the Gents opted for a long penalty kick, which Chris Campbell knocked home for the lead. Play only resumed momentarily before the referee blew the final whistle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cHe\u2019s a magic man. He\u2019s unreal. He\u2019s done it a few times for us this season,\u201d Mulcahy said of Campbell. \u201cToward the end, as soon as we got that one try, we got the wind under our sails and I think we just believed. Everyone kind of knew it was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Campbell was named man of the match for Aspen, much as he was in last week\u2019s blowout win over Breckenridge in their home opener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe definitely took our foot off the pedal a little bit,\u201d Mitchell said of the second-half lull. \u201cWe had a few chances to get more scores but we turned over the ball and they went down to the other end and scored. It\u2019s a game that can change very quickly and momentum can go up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With the win, Aspen improved to a perfect 5-0 on the summer season. Other wins have come over the Misfits, Glenwood Springs and Steamboat Springs. Next up, the Gents will head to Steamboat, which is hosting its 45th annual Cowpie Classic on Saturday. It remains one of the largest and most prestigious tournaments of the summer schedule, and is as known for its post-match toga party as it is for the rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are feeling great. I think we know as well we got more to come,\u201d Mulcahy said. \u201cGot a couple of guys who couldn\u2019t come out today. Got a couple of injuries we are dealing with, but we got Cowpie next week and I think we got a full head of steam. We got all the confidence in the world that we can win it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/gents-rally-to-beat-vail-stay-undefeated\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club player James Kistner, at left, gives a holler as teammates celebrate behind him after they beat rival Vail on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Rio Grande Park in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club hosts Vail on Saturday, July 6, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2446058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 22:57:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}