Salisbury University scored in the waning minutes to overtake longtime rivals Towson and win the Potomac Men’s DII College Conference championship game 24-22 Saturday.

In a tense, physical encounter the teams traded scores throughout the day. Salisbury scored through prop Tyler Savoye. Matt Elsasser’s conversion made it 7-0. Towson replied with a try from Brian Shield, breaking through the Salisbury backline defense, but Elsasser’s penalty extended the Salisbury lead and the Sharks entered halftime up 10-5.

In the second half Towson came roaring back. Vinny Minso’s try tied the game 10-10, but Salisbury replied with a try on an eight man pick from Scott Wheeler. Elsasser made the conversion and Salisbury led 17-10.

Towson once again responded, with Bradley Rockstroh scoring just minutes after Wheeler’s effort. Then, with less than ten minutes to go, a Towson movement put Scott Dreibelbis in at the corner. Towson led for the first time, 22-17.

“It looked like we might start hanging our heads,” said Salisbury captain and flyhalf John Capobianco. “But the veteran leaders of this team wouldn’t let that happen. We knew we’d come back from being down before and we could do it again.”

With only a few minutes to go Salisbrur mounted one more attack. Capobianco saw a gap and sliced through for the game-tying try. Blake Carroll slotted the extras to put the Sharks up.

“Salisbury is known for our aggressiveness and we are usually more aggressive than the teams we play,” said Capobianco. “And if we’re not, we lose. The earlier game against Towson, when we lost, was a wakeup call for us. We needed to be more aggressive, and we also needed to work on our chemistry as a team. I was learning to play flyhalf and we all needed more time to mesh together.”

The final lived up to expectations.

“It was a slobberknocker,” said Capibianco. “But I felt calm the entire day. I knew we’d prepared well. The rivalry is a really heated one, but with our veterans like Joel Henry, Nick Rodriguez, and Mike Mullens, we stayed together.”

Salisbury wins the Potomac, but Towson isn’t out of it as they get to play Cardinals runners up VMI for a chance to play the Great Lakes champions in the Round of 16.

Capobianco said Towson deserves to be there.

“Depending on how the brackets fall, I would not be surprised if we play them again,” said the Salisbury flyhalf. They have a lot of intensity, and are built correctly. They are a really good team.”

And so, apparently, is Salisbury.