While Penn State students donned shorts and took to the quad for some warm weather activities this weekend, the Penn State men's rugby team was in Wyoming battling six inches of snow.

They were fighting for the right to go to the Final Four, and nothing, not even a blizzard, was going to stop them.

They arrived in Wyoming to a store front sign reading, "Penn State Ruggers -Welcome to 7200 feet," kindly reminding the Ruggers that breathing was not going to come easy to them in these games.

Game time arrived, and over 1000 people came. Unfortunately for Penn State, they were there to support Wyoming. The antagonistic crowd was unsuccessful, however, in taking Penn State off its game.

"I think it worked positively for us," senior Sam Brindley said. "It was a hot dog crowd. The best crowd we ever played in front of."

Luckily, the weather was not so bad for the first game of the weekend. The field was wet, but in pretty good condition.

Penn State was prevailing in lineouts and scrums and took care of Leif Gibson, one of the best kickers in the country. Gibson is also the fly half who the Ruggers worried might pose a problem for them. He missed several key kicks in the game, however, which was undeniably the key to Penn State's win.

Wyoming led at halftime by a score of 7-0. The Ruggers started out fast in the second half, though, and Matt Wyatt scored with John McGeachy being successful on the conversion. John Grace set McGeachy up for five points a little while later. Then, McGeachy added two more points on the conversion to give the Ruggers the 14 points they needed for the win.

Wyoming had a chance to move ahead in the score several times, but failed on three penalty kicks in the last nine minutes, with one missing the uprights just as the whistle ended the game. The final score was 14-12.

"Wyoming is an excellent, excellent team," Penn State head coach Terry Ryland said. "And I have to give credit also to Chris Staples. He came in for Brian Sherman who had an injured knee. He (Staples) made three or four try saving tackles for us."

The next morning the Ruggers awoke to a snow covered ground. Cancelling the game was not an option, however, as Penn State and Central Washington State would be playing for the rights to go to the Final Four. The snow was shoveled off the field and the teams began to play.

As the matched started, the snow began to get heavier.

"There must have been six inches that fell between the end of the first and the end of the game in a howling blizzard," Penn State assistant coach Fraser Grigor said. "The ground staff spent the entire game with shovels. It was the worst conditions I have ever seen."

The weather was more of a disadvantage to the Ruggers than to Central Washington State.

"The weather conditions suited their strengths and style of play much more than ours," Grigor said. "They like to play it tight. They have skilled players who like to burst down the middle. Our preference is to get the ball quickly out through the backline to the wingers, to utilize our speed and open spaces. Under these conditions it was impossible."

The weather made it almost out of the question for the backs to handle the ball.

"We couldn't really feel our hands because it was so cold," Brindley said. "Our forwards played a really strong game. The only way you can win in that weather is to keep it in tight with the forwards."

With the game underway, Central Washington started off the scoring, but Wyatt retaliated and the Ruggers made the score 7-5 at the half. Central Washington scored first in the second half as well, but Grace put five on the board for Penn State to make the score 12-12. McGeachy made the conversion to give the Ruggers a 14-12 win.

"It felt good," Brindley said. "14-12, 14-12, two close games. We weren't going to leave Wyoming without winning. Our captain Kevin Reilly wasn't going to let that happen."

The team did get to leave Wyoming with the two wins they came for, but they didn't leave on time. As the second game ended, they were informed that all roads out of Laramie, Wyo., were closed. Ten hours later they boarded a plane for home, with smiles all around. Smiles that either came from two important wins or just from finally thawing out.

The Ruggers will be going to the Final Four in Virginia, in two weeks, to take on Army, a team they feel they can beat.

"I was very pleased with the way our forward pack dominated Wyoming on Saturday," Grigor said. "It gives me great confidence going into the Army game. We are hoping to have a large contingent of alumni for what has been a great weekend for Penn State rugby with both the men and women qualifying for the Final Four. We are looking to see alumni down in Virginia for the Final Four."