Air Force Flies in West DIA Opener
The West DIA season got off to an interesting start as Air Force thumped a very good Utah team 66-26 Saturday in Colorado Springs.
The Zoomies were led by captain Ben Burmester, who was prominent in the scoring and caused the Utes fits on defense. The back row players, including Jason Kyles, Elliott Higgin, and Johnny Griffith were all outstanding, working the breakdowns and ensuring continuity of possession. Gregor Kerdikoshvili was also tough in open play and continued to provide Air Force with points from his goalkicking.
“We are starting to gel quickly,” said Head Coach Denny Meredith. “We have a lot of returners and I think we learned a lot from last year.”
It was basically a new coaching staff last year and the coaching group, led by Meredith but with former Eagle James Paterson, Zack Kennedy, and others is settling in, and it is beginning to show.
Rugby East Latest
West Point sits atop the Rugby East after the Black Knights shut out West Virginia for their second straight conference win.
Army ran out several debutants for this game, but it was veterans such as Jake Lachina, Luke Heun, Nathan Williams, Alec Smith, Adam Szott, and Jareth Long-Garrett who scored tries. Heun scored two. Sophomore and A-side debutant Rob Niscior also touched down, as did flyhalf Jon Kim, who added two conversions, while scrumhalf John Royston, in his first start of the season, kicked five plus a penalty goal.
Iona shut out Delaware 33-0 (more details here) to move to 1-1. Meanwhile, Wheeling Jesuit slammed St. Bonaventure 60-15 to move to 1-0.
Iona Shuts Out Delaware
Iona College rebounded from a frustrating loss to Army last week with an impressive 33-0 shutout of Delaware Saturday.
The Gaels' defense was, once again, a feature of their play, while offensively they ran in five tries for a bonus point. Scrumhalf Elliott Collins, loose forward John D'Allara, loose forward Mike Marino, forward Ben Romeo, and Mike Stanback all scored tries, with Santiago Mascolo converting four of the five tries.
Head Coach Bruce McLane said his team's tackling was improved from last week, and the team's spacing and speed were better, also, and that helped produce the shutout. On attack, "we we a little better, but we still played turnovers poorly. It was a good team effort."
McLane lamented his team's inability to get cleanly out of their own 22 against Army, and against Delaware, he said it still needed work.
Schatzman Hat Trick Keys BC Win
Boston College opened up their ECRC conference account with a 26-12 defeat of University of Connecticut in the Nutmeg State Saturday.
BC led early thanks to a try from Duncan Wood, but UConn replied with two penalty kicks to lead 6-5.
"We were kind of beating ourselves at that point," said BC center Danny Schatzman. "We had a lot of possession in the game but we missed some scoring opportunities because of knock-ons. We needed to cut out those penalties, too because they have a really good kicker."
BC replied, with Schatzman at the center of it all. The center went over to make it 10-6 and Wood's conversion put BC up by six. But UConn stayed within reach with another penalty and it was 12-9 at halftime.
Fordham Over Colgate
Fordham handed Colgate a relatively surprising 29-0 shutout defeat Friday evening in the Empire Conference.
Colgate had come into the game feeling pretty good after an opening week win over Brockport. But they couldn't get their offense going against a tough Fordham defense.
It took a while for anyone to get on the scoreboard but finally Fordham converted some pressure into three points with a penalty. The game remained 3-0 into halftime, and it wasn't until the 50th minute that Fordham was able to work over for a try. Colgate began to feel a little more anxious, and Fordham scored three tries in the final quarter to win the game and get a bonus points.
The Kings Point v Stony Brook game was canceled, leaving just the one game in the Empire on Friday. Fordham and Colgate now are both at 1-1.
Second Half Sees Notre Dame Past Cincinnati
The University of Notre Dame defeated the University of Cincinnati 41-12 Friday evening in South Bend, Ind.
Cincinnati actually scored first in this game and led deep into the first half. Austin Baker got the Bearcats on the scoreboard with a try, and he converted it as well for a 7-0 UC lead. Notre Dame replied with Bobby Hogan coming in support of Matt Strosser to go in at the corner. That made it 7-5 for Cincinnati, and then the Bearcats added to their lead when Baker chased down a nifty kick from Eric Lalley to score his second to make the score 12-5.
Notre Dame replied once more with Patrick McMahon powering over to make it 12-10 but it wasn’t until just before halftime that the Fighting Irish took the lead to make it 17-12 Notre Dame at the break - the forwards, led by McMahon and Luc Joseph got them going forward and Mack Vanek went over.
Men DII College Games Sept. 16-18
More conferences get started this week in Men's DII College action.
We have a closer look at the Great Lakes here, and also at the Rugby Northeast here. The Great Lakes looks to be pretty tight this year, but Grand Valley State could well retain the top spot. In the Rugby Northeast, it was a close three-team race in 2015, with Roger Williams at the top, only to fall to UMass-Lowell in the playoffs. Well, as we detailed, Lowell lost to Bentley last week, and so suddenly, in Week 2, Bentley v Roger Williams carries huge meaning.
Bentley, RWU Clash in Rugby Northeast
Bentley College goes into Week 2 of Rugby Northeast with a second-straight difficult game, but also with a shot of confidence.
The Falcons defeated UMass-Lowell 17-3 last week in a clash of two teams that finished the conference 6-2 last season. It was an excellent start to a team that is thinking conference title.
“It was good to escape with the win in a hard-fought game,” said Bentley Coach Brian Pendergast. Indeed it was tight - the game was scoreless for the first 30 minutes as both teams played good defense. Although, Pendergast said his team could have done better to finish.
“We'll need to clean up our penalties and work on expanding our offense,” he said. “We feel like we just missed on some outside plays.”
Men DI College Games Sept 16-18
It's a slow buildup in DI rugby conferences, but we've identified a few games to keep a special eye on.
Colgate at Fordham. It's early days in the Empire Conference, but this early game will tell us a lot. Fordham lost a close one to Syracuse last week, but look to be fairly tough customers. Colgate started well against Brockport and could be a conference contender - if they win this game.
Cincinnati at Notre Dame. This is a non-conference game, but one that will tell us a lot about whether the Fighting Irish, with a new coaching staff and new outlook, are truly improved. Cincinnati battles hard and were a little unlucky last year. A win could launch their chances in the MAC.
New-Look Great Lakes Kicks Off
The Great Lakes Men's DII Conference kicks off this weekend with a new look.
Some of the more southern teams have moved out - some in part because competing and traveling was tough, and others (Xavier of Cincinnati for example) because they couldn't find a good schedule. In the meantime, some stronger small colleges from the northern part of Michigan, such as Hope College and Calvin College, have joined. Bethel College did not join the Great Lakes, but there's a thought they might next year.
The addition of Bethel would have made the conference a group of seven teams, making for an automatic playoff spot. But it's likely the conference will get a play-in anyway, given that conference champs Grand Valley State did win a play-in over Northern Illinois last season.
Gamebreakers - Jon Petteruti
Despite Iona's loss to West Point last Friday, some Iona players showed themselves to be very handy, and perhaps the handiest was Jon Petteruti.
The Iona flanker and captain was a force, making big runs up the middle, helping set up Iona's lone try, and playing hard-nosed defense.
He epitomized the mantra Petteruti himself espoused on Friday - "play hard defense and hit low."
Gamebreakers - Corey Graham
A couple of years ago Corey Graham missed a season with Notre Dame College because of illness, but the slick-running flyhalf is all fine now, and making other teams pay.
Working the Falcon offense as first receiver, or dropping back to fullback where he can start counter-attacks, Graham is elusive, fast, and downright scary. The US Naval Academy found that out to their detriment on Saturday, as Notre Dame College, led by Graham, beat them 27-8.
Gamebreakers - Jihad Khabir
We use the term Gamebreaker to mean a rugby player who has made an impact, but it seems especially relevant when we talk about Jihad Khabir.
In a game that was very close between New England College and American International College, Khabir scored two brilliant tries to blow open the game and ensure a win for AIC.
Said NEC Coach Tal Bayer, who coached Khabir in high school, “it doesn’t even look as if he’s running that hard.”
And yet no one can catch him.
Cal Rugby Announces Incoming Freshmen
BERKELEY, Calif. (Cal Rugby Release) – Seventeen new student-athletes have joined the California Gold Bears rugby program for 2016-17. They are comprised of 16 freshmen and a transfer junior, with the majority of the new group hailing from Northern California, followed by two new additions from Southern California, one from Washington, D.C., two U.S. passport holders who were educated abroad and three new members of the team who come to Berkeley from the United Kingdom.
Bowling Green Downs Ohio State
Bowling Green defeated Ohio State in one of the longest continuously played rivalries in the Midwest, if not the United States; the series kicked off in 1968 when BG defeated OSU 5-3 in the Falcons' first ever match.
The Falcon ruggers beat Ohio State 26-16 this time around, marking BGSU's seventh straight victory over the Buckeyes.
Playing in St. Edward stadium in Lakewood, Ohio, and facing a stiff wind, the Falcons fell behind early and had to play catch-up against the Buckeyes in the first half. BG got tries from center Adam Regini and Cole Shaffer and a pair of conversions by fullback Mike Powell but trailed OSU 14-16 at the break. Buckeye scrumhalf Taylor Huff booted three penalty kicks and a conversion while center JoJo Eramo got OSU's only try.
