Everything seems to have tightened up in Rugby Indiana and Wednesday night's result between Pendleton and Royal Irish just reinforced that notion.
After beating Bishop Dwenger by a single point, Royal Irish achieved the same feat Wednesday.
Pendleton is coming along with a young squad, and a late comeback from them fell just short.
"We are maturing," said Pendleton Head Coach Curt Trout. "Our defensive connect is getting better. We are polishing set piece."
Royal Irish took an early lead through a penalty goal and added a try for a lead of 8-0 at halftime. Two more tries made it 18-0 in the second half before Pendleton kicked a penalty goal and scored two converted tries to make it 18-17. Royal Irish held on from there.
Despite controlling much of the field position in the first half, Royal Irish did have trouble converting that into tries.
"Kudos to them," said Royal Irish Head Coach David Snyder. "We left at least three scores off the board after some great phases. We were playing like we were preserving a lead and that went bad quick."
