The Rugby East once again is the competitive gift that keeps on giving as we get exciting and interesting results, and always a few surprises.
Queens vs Mount Saint Mary's
Of course we pumped MSM up a bit and they lost but really this was a battle until Queens started to pull away. For Queens this was their first conference game after some warmups tilts vs SCRC sides South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Queens has made some changes. Last year Head Coach Frank McKinney ran both the attack and the defense. This year he has retained full responsibility of the defense but Associate Head Coach Tyree Reed has taken on the attack. It's a good combination and the players have responded. But overall McKinney was very happy with the defensive side of things. JC Curry leads from the front and has been outstanding.
Chester Stanyon scored three tries for Queens, and while freshman Zach Coulson had to leave early with an ankle issue, he was solid at flyhalf and made good decisions.
"What's really good is that we have a bench of players who could start on other teams. They're a try bomb squad like Suth Africa has, that raises the intensity," said McKinney.
Seth Vallance was an excellent example of that.
You're Up and You're Down
Kutztown beat Walsh last week and had to feel good about that. But this week they matched up with Mary Washington, and UMW came away with the 38-19 victory.
Sebastian Schefferman was outstanding for the Mothers, Handling his playmake duties well Schefferman also logged 18 points on four penalty goals and three conversions.
Head Coach Charbel Medlej said iy was Chefferman's boot that kept his side in the game in the first half, which did not go UMW's way.
With tries from Callum Emmans, Harrison Flower, Kit Waddington, and Tian Pretorius, UMW started to take control in the second half.
"It was just a great team win," said Medlej. "Everyone played well and we played much better defense in the second half, folding around the ruck and not giving many overloads and not committing penalties."
They limited Kutztown to just one try in the second half. Also key for UMW was their front row off the bench, which handled the scrums well.
