It’s been a year of college teams moving up a division and testing their mettle - some have done well, while others have struggled, and certainly in the former category would be New England College, as the defending National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) champions defeated #28 UMass 18-8 Saturday in ECRC conerence action.

UMass had not lost in conference play until Saturday, but came up against an NEC squad boosted by a large home grows. 

“We knew they had a potent offense that we needed to shut down, and the boys really rose to the challenge,” said NEC Head Coach Jeremy Treece. “It didn’t hurt that not many people gave us a chance to win this game in the national rugby media, which really fueled the defensive fire for this team.”  

Ky Young, Brady Ryan, Ryan Gurrola and Brett Heigl led the charge in the forwards on defense, while Isaiah Lopez, Caleb House and Jay Muniz came up big on defense in the backline.

UMass scored first with a penalty kick to take a 3-0 lead. NEC answered back with a kick of their own and then, after NEC won a scrum against the head, James Tayson chipped the ball over the top of the UMass defense and Isaiah Lopez picked it up and ran it in for the first score to make it 10-3. NEC would make another penalty kick - Matthew Novitzkas had kicked the first one and the conversion, and Ian Luciano kicked the second - to the end the half 13-3. UMass came out with a fire in the second half and scored a try to make it 13-8. 

“After they scored that try we really dug in and began to tackle better,” said Treece. NEC added a game-sealing try from freshman wing Caleb House - who was named player of the game - to finish it off 18-8.

Freshman lock Brady Ryan had a storming game for NEC and freshman fullback Malik Wilbon impressed, as well, while senior flanker Ky Young stole ball in the breakdown and No. 8 Zach Hall was a force in the lineouts.

Luciano continues to showcase the skills at scrumhalf, while Brady Ryan does the unsung work up front.

So now NEC looks ahead to their hosting of #16 Boston College this Sunday. It will be a huge game for both as NEC is trying to chase an AIC team they’ve already lost to, and BC is trying to stay unbeaten.

But NEC’s early loss to AIC, 24-7 on September 11, turned out not to be indication that NEC hadn’t arrived. Rather, while AIC has gone on to steamroll other ECRC opponents, a 24-7 seems to be a pretty good result.

BC, meanwhile, has NEC and UMass over the next two weekends, and then on November 11 the Eagles visit the Yellowjackets at AIC.