GRR: RPI
RPI garnered revenge for their earlier loss to Marist, beating the Foxes 33-29 in hte Liberty D2 final.
The victory booked a spot in the NCR D2 playoffs for the Engineers and cruelly left out a very good Marist team, as Liberty only gets the one seed.
After a year when the battle for the top of the Liberty was very close, RPI has made a huge step in the first two games of the season.
The Engineers beat rivals Albany 39-0 two weeks ago and then beat a tough SUNY Oswego side 68-5.
American collegiate rugby has split up into very specific tiers and because of that it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that all the potential high performance players are in the highest divisions.
But that’s certainly not the case; witness our latest example, Ray Santiago.
RPI laid down ... maybe not a marker, but a warning this past weekend in a close loss to Marist.
The Engineers fell short 12-10 to the Red Foxes, leaving Marist undefeated, but with the conference playoffs looming, RPI could shake things up.
Marist moved to 4-0 in the Liberty Conference Men's DII with a very difficult 12-10 win over RPI.
Marist went into the game ranked #7 by GRR and RPI was #36, but the Engineers battled hard and almost pulled it out.
"Credit to RPI, who played a physical brand of rugby," said Marist Head Coach James Kimberley.