Earlier this season Middlebury College Head Coach John Phillips offered a very muted assessment of his team, warning that the Panthers were young, inexperienced, and up against it with AIC and Boston College in the ECRC.

Well AIC is still on the docket, but BC is not anymore, as Middlebury upset the Eagles 23-18 on Saturday.

On a rainy day and a muddy field both teams tried hard to play open rugby, and for the most part succeeded, but points were still at a premium, and handling errors still crept in.

Phillips said he was proud of how his squad front up against a big, physical Boston College team, and also how the team rebounded from a sobering early season loss to UMass.

“Most people had written us off,” Phillips told Goff Rugby Report. “We are a very young side, and we’re small, and we have struggled with injuries. For some reason, concussions have hit us. But the team sort of rallied around each other and took one game at a time.”

Jake Feury remains a key player for Middlebury and had, said Phillips, his best game every for the team this past weekend. Jackson Bock, the freshman from Colorado, has emerged as a player the forwards and backs can count on, and center Dylan Gorman was a big presence on offense and defense, while Laird Silsby joined Feury as player of the game.

One of the intriguing athletes on the team is Adam Markun. The former high school football standout was also a sprinter for the USA Junior Maccabiah team (the Maccabiah Games are basically the Jewish Olympics). Markun has taken to the Middlebury Rugby team with alacrity. Feury scored two tries this past weekend, and Markun added another.

“We’re getting there,” said the always-muted Phillips. “We have AIC ahead of us now and that’s going to be a big challenge for us. But we’re here, and that’s good.”

Here would be in contention. Middlebury is 4-1 and in second place with one game to go. AIC is 5-0 and favored in Sunday’s clash, but Middlebury is playing for something, which is better than maybe they expected a month ago.

Notes: Despite the disappointing loss Saturday, BC saw fullback Joey D’Antonio vault to 3rd in the ECRC in points, after he scored two tries and a penalty. Bryce Neff still leads the conference with 74 points, and Christian Adams still leads the conference in tries, with ten.