Six D1A men's college teams were in action Saturday along with two other D1 programs as we saw some movement in the Mid-South and a bit of a surprise result in Washington state.

Red WolvesTake Their Chances

Arkansas State defeated Davenport 41-13 to improve to 1-2 in the Mid-South and the Red Wolves did in part thanks to some key positive moments.

Davenport played competitively and had their chances but some key mistakes, especially late in the first half, hurt them.

Up 8-0 ASU was nowhere near in control until a blocked kick set the Red Wolves up for a try and a 15-0 lead. Davenport’s restart was into touch on the full, leading to a scrum at the center of the field for ASU. The Red Wolves attacked from there and exploited a missed defensive assignment to race in for a second try in just a few minutes. In the space of five minutes the game went from 8-0 to 22-0.

Davenport replied with a penalty and then a well-taken try to make it 22-8, but those two tries really hurt.

Another relatively soft try extended ASU’s lead to 27-8. Davenport replied with a try and at 27-13 the game was very much in the balance.

But Arkansas State exploited some issues with kick receipt for Davenport, sending two wiper kicks out to the right side, and both times the Davenport defenders kind of ran into each other and that opened the door for a Red Wolves try.

That was the only Mid-South conference game this weekend.

Comeback 2nd Half For Life

Life University fell behind early to Queens University Charlotte, but hauled the Royals in during the second half. Tries from George Phelan, Donovan Law, and Sean Lenzsch staked Life to a 22-10 lead. Phelan added his second and Chase Schor-Haskin capped it off with no time left.

In the end, on senior recognition day, a combination of Life seniors and freshman brought them back.

"Firstly, hats off to the seniors," head coach Colton Cariaga. "It was their weekend and their leadership shone through, particularly in the second half effort. Also, fair play to Queens' program. They were ready to play and we knew they would be. As for us, we saw some good flashes of Life U Rugby in the latter part of the match, inspired by the likes of veterans George Phelan and Filippo Parasmo, but also impact substitutes Tyler Goosen and Donovan Law. These guys really gave us a much needed spark. Overall, there is plenty of room for growth and we look forward to a great week of prepartion this week coming."

Lindenwood Cruises

Lindenwood took on Iowa Central Community College and ran out to a 21-5 lead at halftime, and cruised to a 29-5 win. Lindenwood rested some regular starters but have shown themselves to be aggressive and clinical no matter who wears the jersey.

WIldcats Slam Wildcats

And then also in D1A action, Central Washington laid down something of a marker against a very good Arizona team. In a clash that has historically been close, Arizona just couldn’t close on their scoring chances, and Central Washington could.

Jack Wendling was once again very useful at center, scoring a try and testing the defense, while Ivan Pula continued his excellent form at prop. Both scored tries, as did Aiden Latter, Jake Szumski, Alex Mackenzie (who got two), and Mitchell Hirose. 

Arizona scored two in the second half and looked like they would started to straighten things out, but those final connections just didn’t quite happen. Final score 47-10 Central Washington.

"Good win today against a very talented, well-coached Arizona side," said CWU Head Coach Todd Thornley. "We were lucky at times they did not make us pay for some mistakes early in the game. We were out-muscled last week, so to see our boys respond and take them on at set-piece was pleasing. Slowly but surely we are getting rid of some COVID rust and are piecing together some good passages of rugby. I was immensely proud of the 10 underclassmen who slotted in and had great intent in nailing their individual roles.”

It was senior recognition day at CWU and Thornley pointed out that his Class of 2021 never lost at Tomlinson Stadium.