WAYNE, Neb. -- The Wayne State College Men's Rugby team returned to campus Monday morning without the Cohen Cup.

The Wildcats left for nationals on Dec. 7 and faced the Catholic University Cardinals in the semi-finals.

Wayne State defeated Catholic University by a score of 25-12 on Dec. 9.

The Wildcats then faced the California Poly Humboldt Jacks in the championship game Sunday afternoon.

The Jacks would win the game 20-15 in a tight-knit contest.

Wayne State head coach Darrin Barner told News Channel Nebraska his overall thoughts about the game.

"We played good," Barner said. "We played so good, it forced another team to play perfect. I'll tip my hat to Cal Poly out there. They are a very big team and once they got inside our 30, they did the ground-and-pound effect on us that we couldn't stop."

California Poly Humboldt led 15 to nothing at the half.

Wayne State managed to put 15 points up on the board in the second half while the Jacks only had one try.

Coach Barner addressed if there was anything the team could've done differently in the second half.

"What we probably could've done is get the ball wider, more often then what we did," Barner said. "You get caught up in the excitement and the emotions and the smashing and the bashing that goes on in the middle of the field, it starts to get into that knife fight in a phone booth situation out there. If we could've gotten the ball out a little wider more often, it would've helped. We gained a lot of yards on the outside, but it didn't pull us through at the end."

In the 51st minute, the Wildcats were awarded a red card, putting Wayne State down a man for the rest of the game.

Coach Barner talked about his thoughts on the play and how it affected the team.

"Was it a red card? No," Barner said. "The ball carrier cut into our guy, our guy had no time to react or defend himself. Very questionable, that's for sure. Not deserved of a red card at all."

The Wildcats will be participating in 7's rugby this upcoming spring.

Coach Barner said that in the coming weeks, he will be recruiting and scouting.

If a high school or Wayne State student is interested in trying out or being scouted, send an email to [email protected].