Rugby Northeast is already looking to be very tight all the way through, as Norwich rebounded from a somewhat surprising loss last week to win, and UMass Lowell puts it hand up.

The Men’s DII league this week saw UMass Lowell hold off Middlebury 22-12 in a game that was probably even closer than the score indicates.

Middlebury’s forward played well and controlled the tempo of the game, while Lowell struggled to get the ball back.

But Lowell did manage to score tries from captain Craig Crissley to take a 10-0 lead in the first half. Middlebury responded, but Crossley scored his third to make it 17-7 with 20 to go.

A yellow card for a dump tackle and then another for a late hit put Lowell down to 13 players for about five minutes. Middlebury scored and put Lowell under more pressure before sub prop Antonio Suer chugged through the defensive line and rambled 40 meters to score under the posts.

That sealed it for Lowell, but they have work to do.

Meanwhile, Norwich founds its offensive rhythm with a 67-10 defeat of Providence. It was Homecoming, and in fact this Homecoming was also 200th anniversary of Norwich University’s founding. 

So the Cadets were fired up, and came out strong. Senior Nathan Rolling scored four tries, while McKinley Nagel and Michael Del Priore both scored two.

Jeffrey Minicucci scored 17 points on seven conversions and a penalty goal. Providence, which start so well against NEC last week, was just not in the game.

So after two weeks, Norwich is 1-1, while Bentley and UMass Lowell are both 1-0. Providence is also 1-1.