Rugby East Wrap - KU, Army 2-0Army moved to 2-0 in Rugby East and so did Kutztown as a big day in that conference’s season came to a close. In a game live-streamed by Goff Rugby Report, Iona held off a furious University at Buffalo cargo to win 31-8 and improve to 1-1. “The effort was all defense,” said Iona Head Coach Bruce McLane. “We’d win a lineout, and drop the ball. We’d win a scrum, and knock the ball on. So they had a lot of possession and we just needed to make tackles. More than anything else, that’s what we did.” Captain and lock John Cullen scored for Iona, and No. 8 Eva Staikos, center Michael Scarcella, flyhalf Andrew Cacinovic, and wing Brian Moyo also all touched down, as Iona moved to 1-1. Meanwhile Army held off a determined St. Bonavanture team.
Sooners Take Down BaylorOklahoma University beat Baylor handily Saturday 57-12 in Red River DIA conference play. The Sooners were led, as usual, by Michael Al-Jiboori, who scored three tries, and by Grant Clancy, who scored two. Thomas Chinellato kicked six conversions for 12 points, while Trevon Barnes, James Kidd, David Nixon, and Bryan Young also touched down. “The team we took to Waco was probably the greenest we have had all season,” said OU Head Coach Jason Horowitz. “However, the work in the preseason and camp certainly paid off for the guys today.
Air Force Keeps RunningThe US Air Force Academy made a big statement in the West DIA Conference Saturday with a decisive 66-24 defeat of Colorado State. With CSU having beaten Colorado handily, and thus eating a spot in the Goff Rugby Report rankings, Air Force’s victory is all the more impressive. AFA Head Coach Joe Muehlbauer thought so, too. “Sometimes you don’t play well and you get a big score, but this time I think the guys earned it - they played well,” he sad. “I think CSU is a good team and is on the upswing, but they had some injuries, and it was pretty hot today for Colorado Springs. Our speed and fitness came into play.” The Zoomies like to play with a lot of pace and endeavor and it worked for them this time around, as they punished CSU mistakes and finished the stronger.
Big Ten Latest - Week 2Week two of the Big Ten saw the opening game for Minnesota, and the Gophers held off Michigan State 26-17 to move to 1-0. Meanwhile, Wisconsin hammered Illinois 61-14 to move to 2-0. Iowa rebounded from a big loss to Wisconsin the week before to beat Purdue convincingly 64-0. And Indiana were also impressive winners, riding Jake Hidalgo’s four tries to beat Ohio State 50-22. Minnesota Head Coach Rob Holder said he was somewhat concerned with how his Gophers would start as they had not been able to convert pressure into points in their preseason games. “We started the game with the same problem, but we started to make adjustments,” said Holder. “We needed to be more patient. Impatience was leading to poor decisions.
Harvard v Dartmouth Highlights Ivy Weekend
It’s all very tight in the Ivy League after just a few games, but things could change after this weekend.
Princeton, who started their season with a victory over Columbia, have a chance to go 2-0 with a home win over 0-2 Penn. Meanwhile Brown, which leads the league because they have enough bonus points in their 1-1 record to be there, will visit 1-1 Yale. One of those teams will end up 2-1 and in a solid position in the eight-team league.
Columbia (1-1) can do the same if they beat 0-1 Cornell. And then there’s Dartmouth v. Harvard. This could well be the matchup of the top two teams in the competition. Dartmouth are expected to be without Madison Hughes, who is in the USA 7s team camp. But even without their captain the Big Green can score points, Wilson Chockley, Zack Fowler, and Dawit Workie all featuring heavily in the scoring lists so far.
ECU Looks for More in Wild Southern DII Conf
The Southern Rugby Conference has shown in just a couple of weeks that just about anybody can beat just about anybody on any given weekend.
Games have been close, and favored teams have been surprised repeatedly, and it could happen again this week.
East Carolina knows all about that as they survived a scare in their league opener earlier this month, edging Appalachian State 35-31.
Now they face Elon, a team that This might be the game of the fall in the Southern Rugby Conference as East Carolina takes on Elon University Saturday.
Elon started their season with a 21-0 defeat of UNC-Charlotte and then were edged 19-14 in a midweek game against UNC-Greensboro. UNCW and Furman have also recorded close wins, while Appalachian State rebounded to win handily over UNC-Charlotte.
Aircraft Carter Solutions PoW - Conor Schilling
In Davenport’s victory over highly-regarded Bowling Green last week, flanker Conor Schilling was a standout.
The 5-11, 205 West Ottawa, Mich. product, who also plays hooker, was a wrecking crew on defense, and covered the field shoring up the Panther defense all day.
In addition, he was a force on offense - not something he usually gets involved in, but the ball fell his way more.
“It was weird to get the ball that much,” said Schilling. “I spend most of my time in the rucks, but it was good to get a few runs.”
Schilling said that was all part of an improved approach by Davenport. Head Coach James Wood had urged his players to be more patient - working the phases over trying to score a try on one movement or one play. The athletes started to pick up on it, and Schilling said the offloads started to come.
Kings Point Making a PointThe US Merchant Marine Academy has some unfinished business, and judging by their start to the season, they are ready to take care of it right now. Last year, the USMMA at Kings Point rugby team started league play 4-1, but then the government shutdown forced them to forfeit three games in a row. They then lost two very close away games, and ended the season in the middle of the pack as a result. After that many of the top junior players left to spend six months at sea as part of their education. So a team that finished September with high hopes and a lot of confidence, ended the season wondering what might have been. Now those juniors are back from a semester on the waves and, said Head Coach Ali Nazir, haven’t missed a beat.
Men DI College Rankings #Week 3
We;re sorry to be so late with these updated rankings. Sometimes life intervenes.
Without too much comment, here they are. This is actually the toughest time of year to rank, because it's still early days in the fall, and some spring-centric teams haven't played at all. So a team loses a game, and they get dropped (Iona, Central Florida) because so many other teams are winning. It will work its way through.
Obivously Army moves up again after beating Penn State, and Davenport moves up after beating Bowling Green, and Wheeling Jesuit moves up after beating Iona.
Central Florida lost for the first time since May 2012 as they were dropped 20-12 by Florida International in the Florida Cup. That could be very meaningful, or maybe not. We drop UCF down but wait to see how they and FIU respond in the coming weeks.
WJU Victory Their Coming Out Party?Wheeling Jesuit’s 56-7 defeat of a strong Iona team Sunday may well have been part of a 2014 coming out party for the Cardinals. A varsity program that decided to start with youth from the ground up, WJU, did not start by winning all of their games, and while some might have wondered how a varsity team wasn’t steamrolling over club sides, the answer was clearly youth and a desire to recruit American kids, who needed to learn more about the school. And, as it turned out, each other. “We learned to trust each other,” said Head Coach Eric Jerpe. “I think it takes a while for players to understand that the other guy, sometimes a guy they don’t know all that well, will do their job. I kept telling the guys, just do your job, and your teammate will do his job, and the game will take of itself.
Aztecs Take CSU 7sSan Diego State defeated Sacramento State 28-12 in the final of the California State University 7s this past weekend in Sacramento. Led by the strong play of Kalei Konrad and with Austin Switzer, and Trev Christiansen making key contributions, the Aztecs were the class of a competitive field, and Head Coach Alex Lichtig was gratified with the performance. “It was a testament to the hard work the players have put in over the last few weeks,” said Lichtig. “Our 7s side has made some great improvements this year under our 7s specialist Ian Denham, who has given the players every opportunity to continually improve. It's a great achievement for the team to win a tournament.
ACRC Coaches Poll Week 3 - Army Rising
The latest ACRC Coaches Poll is out and there are a few changes.
With Texas A&M not committing to the ACRC post-season because they also play in the DIA Red River, they are not in this poll now. The MAC confirmed this past week their participation in the ACRC model and so their teams are back in the poll.
Bowling Green enters at #14. Kutztown remains #1 while Army, which edged Penn State this past weekend, jumps past the NIttany Lions to #2. WHeeling Jesuit, impressive winners over Iona, go from #15 to #9. Iona drops to #19. WIsconsin, Buffalo, Tennessee, West Chester, and Boston College all move into the Top 20. Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida, North Texas, NC State, and Middlebury drop out.
Rhode Island Wins Again
The University of Rhode Island men’s rugby team remain undefeated in New England Collegiate Rugby Conference play Saturday after a dominant 42-22 victory over University of New Hampshire in at Student Rec Field in Durham, NH.
UNI Making a Move in Northern Lights
University of Northern Iowa may be famous for being the school that launched the career of former Eagle Paul Emerick, but it's not as if they're done playing rugby after that.
UNI, playing in the Northern Lights Conference, which covers Minnesota and a couple of other states, won their second game in a row this weekend, beating North Dakota State 72-33.
"I think we found a spark," said coach Ryan Gray. "We had some new talent show up and we were able to get them some time. We had a really good off-season with players working hard, and we were really excited about how our B-side players, too."
Senior flanker Wes Maass has been an emotional leader for UNI this season. But others have contributed, such as John Schwarte at fullback and senior flyhalf Chris Aguero.
Tri-State Latest as Leaders EmergeVassar and RPI took wins in the Tri-State Men’s DII college conference Saturday, giving both a nice start to the season, while Fairfield continued their torrid run, and NJIT also kept winning. For Vassar, it was a good day as Eli Vargas scored four tries in a 74-0 shutout of Siena. Fairfield continued their dominance, winning 99-3 over Hofstra to take their three-game league points total to 233. New Jersey Institute of Technology might not quite have to same high-powered offense, but they are still 30-0. Manhattanville also won their opener.
