Life University survived a bit of a scare Saturday at Mount St. Mary's, with the Running Eagles scoring late to take home a 20-19 victory.
And yes it was a loss for MSM, but still a very good outing by The Mount and more notice that the Rugby East is closing up.
Mount St. Mary's opened the scoring and led 7-0 midway through the first half with fullback Bastian Brunello racing over and Evan Corbett converting. They held that lead into halftime. Life struggled to maintain continuity and MSM's defense was solid and that helped disrupt the Running Eagles' attack. MSM extended their lead to 12-0 early in the second half with freshman Xavier Lock powering over. Now Life started the comeback. A try from Logan Ballinger, converted from a tough angle by Bradley Crane, nudged Life closer, and then Crane broke through, kicked ahead, chased the ball down, and scored a try of his own. Crane's conversion put MSM ahead 14-12.
However, that didn't last long as The Mount responded immediately with a try and conversion. That made it 19-14, and as time wound down it looked like maybe that would be the final score.
But, of course, Life put everything into the closing minutes and finally Bautista Araujo made a break, sold a dummy, and was through. That tied the game at 19-19, and Crane's conversion won it 21-19.
Mount did have the ball in the final moments, but couldn't get that final score to win it.
"It was a tough day at the office, but we managed to outwork them in the second half to get the W," Life DOR Blake Bradford told Nick Pope. "We braved the elements with both a tough travel day and some wet and muddy conditions, but we put ourselves under pressure early on. I'm proud of the grit we showed in the second half to get the result."
"It was a great match," said Mount St. Mary's Jay Myles. "We put some defense on our shoulders this week and we fell a little bit short. Life has so many skilled players and their coaches do an amazing job. Our forwards really did a great job; we put a lot of work into our set piece and it showed."
