Rugby East Down To Two For Top Spot

Rugby East Down To Two For Top Spot

Update of Rugby East with Army, Wheeling Jesuit, and Penn State winning.

Oct 22, 2017 by Alex Goff
Rugby East Down To Two For Top Spot

The race for the Rugby East title is down to two teams, as Army and Penn State both won Saturday to set up a final meeting between the pair that will decide the conference winner.

After thumping Buffalo 98-17, Penn State is 5-0 and can can win the conference even with a loss to Army (depending on the circumstances). It's been the same story all season for the Nittany Lions — sharing the wealth. On Saturday, PSU saw Thomas Del Pino, Brian Stella, Kevin Trotter, Tyler May, Zach Barnes, Jack McLean, and Mike Eife all get on the scoreboard in the first half.

Meanwhile, Army faced a tougher road in its 51-32 win over Kutztown after leading 35-5 at the break.

Jon Kim was strong with the boot, converting five of the Black Knights' tries and adding two penalties for 16 points. James Mbony, Jake Lachina, Raaqin Rispress, Mitchell Sanferson, and Jordan Jurosic all scored in the first half, and every try was converted by Kim. Jayden Demmy and Nathan Williams added second-half tries, as Army improved to 4-1.

Also in Rugby East, a Notre Dame College team battling a slew of injuries lost back-to-back games in a busy weekend, first to affiliate team Navy in a game that didn't count in the standings and then to Wheeling Jesuit. 

Navy held on to win 32-25 despite some snappy plays from NDC's all-everything fullback Marcus Tupuola. The Midshipmen wwere led by Connor McNerney at No. 8, who scored three tries, and scrumhalf sensation Gardy Lebon, who was quite the playmaker.

"I really appreciate Notre Dame College playing us when they have a league game this weekend," Navy head coach Gavin Hickie said.

On Sunday, the pace caught up with NDC as an improving Wheeling Jesuit team beat the Falcons 39-37 on a last-minute penalty goal from freshman Alex Holden. 

That result took NDC out of the running to be among the top two in the conference. The Falcons had beaten Army earlier this fall, but WJU has been playing better rugby, especially offensively, of late.


Rugby EastWLTPFPAPDBTBLPTS
Penn State5003301282025025
Army410251971545122
Wheeling Jesuit230203208-54113
Notre Dame College220164120443112
Kutztown220173139344012
St. Bonaventure230108224-1162010
Buffalo06066382-316000


So now the conference title comes down to next week. If Penn State wins or ties against Army, PSU wins the conference. If Penn State loses and gets a bonus point for four tries or a bonus point for a close loss and Army does not get a bonus point for four tries, PSU wins the conference. 

But Army can still win the conference by winning next week's game and either scoring four tries or denying Penn State a bonus point.

Kutztown and WJU will play for a chance at third place, while Notre Dame College and St. Bonaventure will also face off.