A wild weekend in the Rugby East Conference was capped off by a dramatic 31-26 home victory for Notre Dame College over Army on Sunday.

Penn State once again put up big numbers on the scoreboard, beating St. Bonaventure 61-23 on Saturday on the road. The Nittany Lions continue to receive major contributions from their youngsters, and this time it was former Gonzaga High School (DC) speedster Labi Koi-Larbi who got Penn State in front after an early Bonnies penalty.

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St. Bonaventure replied with another penalty, but after that, PSU picked up the pace with tries from No. 8 Rob Irimescu, freshman wing Brian Stella, and fullback Xavier Fangmeyer. The Bonnies replied with a try from Chris Starkweather to make it 26-11. But Penn State came right back when captain and flanker Malcolm May stole a ball off the lineout and careened over to make it 31-11 at halftime.

The Nittany Lions' Tom Capriotti, Oren Patel-Champion, Mike Jennings (another freshman), and Stella all touched down in the second half. Brendan McCabe took over the kicking duties from Jimmy Ronan (who had slotted four conversions) and added two penalties and two conversions.

Kutztown had some trouble with Buffalo in its 48-17 win in the Nickel City. 

"UB is much improved," Golden Bears head coach Gregg Jones said. And so it seemed as Kutztown clinged to a 24-17 lead at halftime. "We once again stabilized ourselves on both sides of the ball in the second half. But Buffalo also had several possessions inside our 22 and couldn't capitalize."

The Golden Bears' Dmontae Noble scored three tries, and freshman Ryan Noble came on as a sub and scored twice in the second half. Wing Brandon Boon, prop Joe Kaufman, and wing Tyler Valocin all scored tries, while Jackson Clark was solid at flyhalf, directing the game nicely and kicking effectively for territory.

Those were the big scores, but the big result came Sunday as Notre Dame College scored two tries in the final 10 minutes to defeat Army in Euclid, Ohio. Army started off about as well as you could. After NDC's kickoff didn't go 10 meters, the Black Knights attacked around the outside, earned a penalty, kicked for the corner, and mauled the lineout ball over for a try within three minutes.

The Falcons replied, working off a scrum they sent the ball wide to RoNeill Reynolds, and the big wing did the rest. Midway through the first half, Notre Dame College attacked off a lineout at midfield and sent flanker Cian Grendon through a hold. He lofted a pass to Tarik James for the try and a 12-5 Notre Dame College lead.

But most of the second half was about Army, as the Black Knights dominated possession and punished NDC penalties. One such penalty led to another lineout, maul, and try. Then a long kick was muffed by NDC and from that scrum Army got a lineout, maul, and try. Army then went through the backs and put together its best open-field work of the day. Jon Kim converted all three of those scores, and it was 26-12 for the Black Knights.

But Notre Dame College wasn't done. Smooth hands out to Marcus Tupuola put the All-American in at the corner to make it 26-17.

Then, with time winding down, a long period of Notre Dame College pressure forced Army into a penalty. Falcons scrumhalf Corey Graham quick-tapped and scampered over, and with the conversion it was 26-24.

Army was now down to 14 men thanks to a yellow card but still managed to get down to the Notre Dame College tryline. There, however, a staunch goalline defense by the Falcons eventually forced a turnover and a penalty against Army. NDC cleared and worked its way into the Army 22. With time almost up, the Black Knights took a scrum, ran an eightman pick, and had Kim set back deep to kick the ball away and probably end the game. But the pass never made it to him -- the ball bounced around wildly (as rugby balls are known to do) and racing in was Corben Williams. He grabbed the ball to score the game-winning try for Notre Dame College just as Kim was trying to soccer kick it out.

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It was a wild finish in a game that started and ended on key execution errors. The Army players will be kicking themselves for letting a winning position fall away, but they relied too much on Notre Dame College penalties to give them scoring chances. The Falcons can score quickly, if they don't commit penalties, and rebounded nicely from a tough loss against Penn State last week.
 
This was NDC's final home game of the season. The Falcons' next seven games are on the road.

Army remains atop the Rugby East thanks to bonus points for four tries and for a close loss, but now the Black Knights have a loss on their record. Meanwhile Kutztown and Penn State are undefeated at 2-0. Notre Dame College improves to 1-1. PSU and Kutztown meet up next week. Army has the week off. NDC is at Buffalo.
 

Full Rugby East Games And Standings Here.