With a 42-28 defeat of Hobart Saturday, Buffalo State sits 4-1 and leads the Upstate New York Men’s DII Conference, West Division.

The Bengals can still be caught, but to do that, Niagara will have to beat 3-4 Geneseo this coming weekend, and then beat Buffalo State the week after that.

It’s a good rivalry between Buffalo State and Niagara. Buff State Head Coach Rob Jenkinson played for Niagara Coach Gene Adams when Jenikinson was a Bengals undergrad.

It should be a good contest, said Jenkinson, and the younger coach is hoping to show Adams what he has learned.

“My team has played pretty consistently this fall,” said Jenkinson. “We’ve had some hiccups here and there, but in typical BSC fashion we come out slow and gain momentum as the game progresses.  We added some experienced freshmen this fall that helped fill some holes in our forwards and our backs have remained largely unchanged from our team a year ago.”

One of those hiccups was against the formidable SUNY Cortland team, which is 8-0 in the East Division and has the stingiest defense in the league. Cortland beat Buffalo State 44-19 on September 28.

But since then the Bengals have not lost. Led by seniors Colin Deguehery and Christian Feickert at the halfback hinge they have unleashed a potent offense, with Feickert leading the team in tries and Dequehery above 75% in kicks at goal.

The defensive front is led by Robert Vinal and Kevin Rosier, but has required a team effort. Also requiring a team effort, said Jenkinson, is continuity between season.

“After the loss to NU in the semis last year my sole goal was to return to the playoffs,” said Jenkinson. “I find that Upsate New York teams have a hard time putting solid back-to-back seasons together. College rugby has an up-down cycle that can be hard to break, but we are trying.”

The playoffs are a lock for the Bengals now, but staying #1 is crucial. Cortland looks very tough and while East #2 SUNY Oswego is pretty good, too, they might well be the lesser of two evils.

Playoffs in Upstate NY begin November 15.