ATLANTIC NORTH
Men's
At Travers Island in New York, NYAC hosted Mystic River for their final home game of the fall. In a match full of players that you will see in the MLR in the spring, Mystic stalked the Winged Foot for the entire game keeping the score within striking distance. It wasn’t until the 72nd minute where Christian Adams scored his second try for the 26-25 game-winner. Mystic ends its fall next week at home against Old Blue while NYAC is on the road versus 404 and Old Blue in the next two weeks.
Saturday marked the end of the regular season in the DII New England. South Shore completed their undefeated season with an easy contest against a winless Worcester side, 67-0. Rory Barratt, the president of South Shore, was proud of his team’s accomplishment and attributed it to the last few years of hard work. “To paraphrase our coach, ‘you win championships with your defensive line and your depth of your squad’… Our goal is not just to win, but to not let people score points against us… We’ve been trying to build a club that is a bit more than just about the rugby, we are trying to build confident, competent people.”
With the win, South Shore secured the #1 seed in the spring playoffs and the Boston Irish Wolfhounds nabbed the second spot defeating Hartford, 51-29. Newport's 41-21 win over Boston has them flip-flop in the standings putting Newport at the #4 seed and Boston on the outside. #1 South Shore will host #4 Newport and #3 Mystic Barbarians is at #2 Boston Irish Wolfhounds in the spring.
Over in the Empire DII, the playoff picture was sorted out as White Plains, Buffalo, Fairfield, and New York advanced to the first round of the postseason. With a dominating 103-26 win over the Montclair Norsemen, White Plains took the #1 seed. In Buffalo, the Buffalo Rugby Club and the Fairfield Yankees threw down with the winner getting the #2 seed. Buffalo started fast and led 21-0 at the half, but a minute after the break, Buffalo was reduced to 14 men on a red card. Fairfield took advantage to score three tries in the period but Buffalo played tenacious defense and hung on for the 24-17 victory. After Long Island’s loss to New Haven, NYRC needed a win versus Union County to grab the last berth. Union battled mightily but NYRC took the match 34-21 to earn the #4 seed. Next weekend, #4 NYRC travels to #1 White Plains and #3 Fairfield and #2 Buffalo will rematch in Upstate New York. The winners advance to the Empire final on November 9th.
In DIII playoffs, NERFU entered its semifinal round while Empire started in the quarters. The top two teams in New England won out on Saturday as the Boston Maccabi beat Albany, 39-12, and Amoskeag outlasted Charles River, 54-40. The Maccabi will host Amoskeag on Saturday for the DIII NERFU championship.
The first week of the Empire DIII playoffs saw all of the road warriors topple the higher seeds. #8 Lansdowne didn’t let the travel bother their mission and knocked off the undefeated #1 Rochester, 37-22, and Old Blue scored the last try to outlast Danbury, 38-36, in the #7 versus #2 contest. #4 Greenwich doubled up #3 Bayonne, 51-19, and following a technical delay with the lights, #6 Morris eliminated #5 Brooklyn, 40-27. This coming weekend’s semifinal matchups are Old Blue at Morris and Lansdowne at Greenwich.
In DIV, Cape Cod capped off an up-and-down fall season with a dominant 94-5 victory over Black River. The Monadnock Wolfpack finished undefeated with a convincing 29-3 win over Upper Valley, who had previously been unbeaten as well. Playoffs for the top four clubs (Monadnock, Upper Valley, Freedom, and the Boston Ironsides) will be in the spring to determine who advances to play against Empire's DIV representatives.
As for the Empire, the last weekend of the DIV regular season had Rockaway and North Jersey remain undefeated, but it wasn’t easy. North Jersey nipped Old Maroon, 18-17, and Rockaway faced its toughest match of the year getting by Queens, 26-13. The matchups for the semifinals find #3 Rochester Aardvarks at #2 North Jersey and a rematch between #4 Queens at #1 Rockaway.
Women's
The Empire GU contested its penultimate round of the regular season and two upsets marked the weekend. New Haven bested Monmouth 52-7, and saw Gabby Dixon and Kearney Worthington score three tries apiece in the victory, and Long Island beat Uticuse 36-19 for its first win of the season. Two shutouts occurred on the other side of the league. Flanker Emma Ferraro scored three tries to pace Morris in a 54-0 win over Danbury, and the Village Lions scored seven tries from seven players in its 37-0 win over Union.
New England has ended its regular season and used the gap week for crossover matches between Division II and Division III teams. These matches do not affect the playoffs, however, it’s noteworthy that DIII South Shore defeated DII Charles River 41-17.
EAST
Women's
Raleigh and the D.C. Furies finished within six points of each other, an outcome that afforded the latter its first standings points of the season. The Venom banked the 24-18 win after tries from Kelly Mackenzie, Shawn Gatewood (2), Lolita Galdones and two conversions from Chelsea Garber. The Furies scored through Arielle Reid, Gloria Cho and Sam Moorhead, who also added a penalty.
NOVA improved to 3-0 with a 55-0 win over Boston, now 2-2. The home side scored the majority of its points in the first half before working its bench, and saw wing Emily Fulbrook lead the way with three tries. Ariel Johnson added two scores, while Stephanie Barros, Avery Rain and Michelle Schneider also dotted down. Scrumhalf Bri Kim kicked 10 points in conversions.
Nov. 2 will be the league’s final round of the fall before resurfacing in March 2020.
FRONTIER
Men's
In the fifth weekend of action in DII Mid-America, the Wichita Barbarians walloped Oklahoma City, 81-0. Seven players scored a total of 13 tries with Francois Engelbrecht dotting down four and Seth Hale scoring three. In only other test, Kansas City beat the Arkansas Gryphons, 36-10.
Sunday Morning took its undefeated record on the road against the Kansas City Blues and the St. Louis club came back from a 10-0 hole to win 36-18. The St. Louis Royal Ramblers kept pace in DIII with a 33-16 away victory versus the Hornets.
The Rocky Mountain Men’s Premiership concluded its fall season with a blowout and a nail-biter. Haggis Rugby finished on a three-game winning streak with a 104-14 bludgeoning of the Denver Misfits in Park City, Utah and Boulder upset the Denver Barbos, 22-21, on a 72nd minute try from Austin Lloyd and conversion from Colin Johnson.
In the last weekend of the Eastern Rockies Cup, the Denver Highlanders throttled the Northern Colorado Flamingos, 61-7, and the Queen City Rams chopped the Laramie Lumberjacks, 48-26. With the season complete, the Eastern Rockies Cup trophy will find a new home in two weeks as the Denver Misfits and Denver Barbarians will meet at Infinity Park South in Glendale, CO.
The Rocky Mountain Men’s Challenge League (DIV) completed its fall with a pair of intriguing results. First, the Denver Barbarians remained undefeated after a 54-15 win over Boulder and then Colorado Springs Grizzlies traveled to Denver and defeated Highlanders, 43-20.
Women's
St. Louis and the Kansas City Jazz were undefeated heading into last weekend’s match, and the Sabres emerged with a 34-21 victory to keep that perfect record intact. St. Louis charged to a 19-0 halftime lead with tries from Amy Spafford, Grace Hovde and Anna Albrecht (who also kicked the conversions). The Jazz surged after the break with three tries in the third quarter, broken up by a second score from Hovde and Albrecht conversion (26-21 St. Louis). Outside center Dominesha Newton then scored in minute 61 to give St. Louis a 31-21 lead, and there the scoreboard held until Hovde added a game-ending penalty kick.
“The win is nice, but it's not as important as the game itself,” St. Louis coach Amy Holtsclaw noted. “We've made some changes structurally, which may have played to our advantage, but playing the Jazz is the strong competition necessary to show us where improvements are still needed.”
MID-ATLANTIC
Men's
The Potomac Exiles bounced back from their defeat last week to outlast Schuylkill River, 40-35, in Philadelphia, PA. The home team gave it its all, but it was a total team effort by the Exiles in the end. NOVA is right behind Potomac in the DI Mid-Atlantic South after it collected its third victory following a forfeit by the Pittsburgh Harlequins. In the final match of the weekend, Baltimore-Chesapeake improved to 4-3 with a 34-24 comeback win on the road against the Norfolk Blues. Trailing 19-10 just after the half, BC outscored the Blues four tries to one to close out the match.
It was the cross-divisional week in DII as the EPRU clashed with Capital. Doylestown continued to assert its dominance over the division with a 63-19 victory over Virginia and James River remain atop the South beating South Jersey, 59-33. In the Six-Pack Previewed match between Phoenixville White Horse and the Richmond Lions, the teams played to a 32-32 stalemate. Phoenixville took the lead late after a pair of Brian Calaman penalties, but Sebastian Landy’s try in the 70th gave the Lions the draw.
The marquee match in DIII was the showdown of the undefeated between Media and Reading. Media took an early lead on an Andrew Butkus try, but Reading charged back with two tries and two penalties to lead 20-8 at the half. Taking advantage of a yellow card, Media clawed back into the game and applied pressure once its opponent was back to full strength. An intercept try in the 77th minute gave Media the 27-23 but Reading was not done. With little time left, Reading refocused its efforts ending with Tom Sauppee crossing the whitewash for the game-clinching try. The defense held in the last minute and Reading won 30-27.
“Our guys just didn’t quit,” Reading head coach Kerry Griffith said. “We worked hard on their strengths… I’ve seen them play before and we lost to them last year. I told the guys that the scrummaging and tackling would be big and key in this game. We moved the ball and the forwards and backs worked well together.”
In other action around DIII, the Northeast Philadelphia Irish, Lehigh Valley, Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, and the Hibernians won in the North; Frederick and West Potomac were victorious in the Central; and Rappahannock, Virginia Beach, and Rocktown nabbed wins in the South.
Lastly, all of the road teams won in DIV as Prince William County, the Washington Renegades, and North Bay prevailed on Saturday.
Women's
Five of six active DII teams earned standings points last weekend, as big scores came out of the three matches. Phoenixville and Harrisburg were tied at 12 through minute 30, and then the Harlots’ Michelle Kirk (2), Melissa Pattison and Lindsay Graves scored in quick succession for a 33-12 lead with Lauren Shissler’s conversions. White Horse didn’t back down in the second half, but Harrisburg kept its lead intact, 52-36 the final.
Doylestown is the first to 5-0 and did it with a 54-26 win over Northeast Philadelphia. After an early deficit courtesy of Hannah Bratzler and Sarah Kofoed, the Dragons rallied with six-straight tries from Lilianne Riley, Cait Rycek (2), Madeline Groninger (2) and Jaime Malarchik. Katharine Walston added 17 points on a try and six conversions.
Brandywine got its first win of the season in a big way, downing Chesapeake 95-7. Lots of Riot players scored, and outside center Jenna Ponto led with five tries.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Playing at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., the Seattle Saracens west 2-1 on the day in the British Columbia Rugby Union. Against the Vancouver Rowing Club, the Saracens’ Men’s Premier side won 29-19 while the reserve club put on a clinic for a 71-12 triumph. As for the Women’s Premier, they fell 29-15 to the British Columbian select side.
Men's
The lone DII match was between ORSU and the Eastside Tsunami. The game featured five lead changes and a well-fought battle between two fierce clubs. Despite a red card at the end of the first half, the Tsunami opened up a 26-15 lead before ORSU came back in the last minutes for the 34-31 win. ORSU flanker Benji Hannam earned the game ball with an outstanding performance being a nuisance at the breakdown and scoring the game-winner in the 75th minute.
Down in DIII, the Budd Bay Buffaloes pulled their record to 2-2 with a 68-0 blanking of the Eastside Axemen and the Bend Roughriders and the Clark County Chiefs improved to 3-1 with wins over the Boise United and ORSU.
MIDWEST
Men's
With one weekend left on the DI schedule, the race to the Midwest Premiership championship is neck and neck. Detroit and the Chicago Lions each earned bonus-point victories and the Lions lead the Tradesmen by one standing point in the East division. Both teams are on the road on Saturday and the East crown may come down to the final bonus points. In the West, Kansas City’s 71-29 dismantling of Milwaukee secured the Blues’ place in the final on November 9th.
The first round of the DII playoffs kicked off on Saturday. The top seeds in the quarterfinals emerged victorious as the Pittsburgh Forge defeated Lincoln Park 27-17, Wisconsin beat the Eastside Banshees 40-24, the Green Bay Celtics doubled Milwaukee 38-19, and the Cleveland Crusaders edged the Chicago Blaze 21-12.
The conference championships are Saturday where Green Bay is at Wisconsin in the West and Pittsburgh will host Cleveland in the East. The Forge advanced to the next round through strong scrummaging and excellent defensive play and now plays a familiar opponent in the championship. “To beat the Crusaders, we will have to limit errors, especially penalties inside our half of the field as they have a deadly kicker,” club president Bill Marnell said. “To win, we will need to maintain possession in our set pieces and, of course, be opportunistic inside their 22.”
With the Fox Valley, Akron, Bremer County, and Oconomowoc securing DIII postseason bids last week, the last four spots were up for grabs on this past weekend. In a rematch of two weeks ago, the St. Paul Jazz Pigs capitalized on St. Cloud’s mistakes for the 24-0 shutout and Minnesota bid in the playoffs. Needing a win to complete its perfect season, Queen City captured the South bid with a 31-10 win against White River. Lastly in the North final, Grand Rapids dominated the first half versus Fort Wayne and fought off a comeback attempt to win 22-12. The wildcard entry in the East is the 7-1 Columbus Castaways out of the South.
Earning the #1 seeds in the East and West, Akron and Oconomowoc will host the conference semifinal and finals this weekend. The eastern matchups are #1 Akron versus #4 Columbus and #2 Queen City against #3 Grand Rapids, while in the west, #1 Oconomowoc takes on #4 St. Paul and #2 Bremer County plays #3 Fox Valley. The winners advance to Sunday’s conference championship.
Women's
Focus centered on the Division II East playoffs, which pit the top-two teams from both the Gold and Green pools against each other. The closest match occurred in Upstate New York, where Buffalo hosted Columbus in a 19-17 victory.
“Columbus played tough for 80 minutes. They are very tactical in their strategy, calling scrums on penalties and kicking for touch, playing to their strengths. Their scrum was tough and they gave us fits in the lineout,” Buffalo head coach Jerry Hann lauded the Squirrels. “They were very good at their own breakdown, arriving at speed and securing well. Defensively we found very few gaps to exploit.”
Hann praised Buffalo’s response, matching in the scrum and adjusting its lineout to form a better attacking platform. The defense came through with some key turnovers, and the kicking game helped break Columbus’ defense. That’s how Buffalo’s first two tries from Emily Stefanski and Katryna McKenna evolved.
Columbus tied the game at 12 with 15 minutes to go and then took a 17-12 lead at minute 70.
“It's wasn't until late with fresh legs that we were able to get into our game plan producing the winning try,” Hann recalled Hallie Booth’s score. “Our captain, Jenna Hutzler, has been kicking well all season and her conversions were the difference.”
Hutzler slotted the game-winning conversion, and the team held on for the 19-17 win.
“This is my third year with the club and I've always felt that their resolve, when backed up against the wall, is bar none,” Hann enthused. “What I learned was that our rookies have that same resolve! Lock Ashley Nice made huge tackles and put us on the front foot every time she handled the ball. Our finishing wing, Hallie Booth, scored the winning try and is our try leader on the season.”
Buffalo will now play Cincinnati, which defeated Pittsburgh Forge 27-3 in the East semifinals, for the East title. The victor will then play the West champion for the Midwest title and berth to DII nationals.
There were two forfeits and two shutouts in the DII West last weekend. Milwaukee Scylla beat the Chicago Sirens 48-0 and the Minneapolis Menagerie topped County Will Morrigans 36-0. Palmer College leads the standings at 6-0 at the end of the regular season, followed by Scylla (5-1), Twin Cities (4-2) and Chicago Sirens (2-3-1).
Division I has concluded its regular season, and the top-two teams – Chicago Lions and Metropolis – ended with victories. The Lions beat Detroit 33-10, and only fullback Rachel Grecky scored twice for the Chicago side. The Valkyries and Chicago were tied at 7-7 until the 65th minute, when Hannah Kirkman snapped the stalemate with a try. Stephanie Alliev, who scored the team’s first try, dotted down shortly afterward, and Abigail Smith ended the day with back-to-back scores in the 29-7 win. The Chicago Lions and Metropolis Valkyries will now contest the DI Midwest championship on Nov. 9.
SOUTH
Men's
At home at Lupo Family Field in Marietta, Ga., Old Blue of New York made the long trip south to play Life. The American Rugby Premiership match started with the clubs exchanging tries before the Running Eagles ripped off 25 straight points. Old Blue added a try in the last ten minutes but Life’s Dean Hottum hammered in the final nail in the 74th minute for the 37-14 victory. Life finishes its season with a rematch against 404 Rugby Atlanta on November 9th.
In the DII Carolinas, Southern Pines earned its second win of the season with a 52-10 defeat of Raleigh. Southern Pines was dominant all game and survived a double yellow card early in the match with minimal damage. Pines have next weekend off before taking on Charlotte in two weeks.
Games in DIII saw Chattanooga crush Memphis 72-5, Huntsville clip Nashville 17-15, and Charlotte beat Camp Lejeune 36-5. The last game of the day was a potential Carolinas championship preview between Cape Fear and Triad. In a match of momentum swings, Triad jumped out to an initial 19-0 lead before Fear’s forwards took over for the 31-19 halftime lead. Fear came out swinging after the break and held onto a late rally for the final score of 45-33.
Women's
Camp Lejeune got its first win of the Carolinas-Georgia GU season, downing Columbia 36-25 and getting a big performance out of prop Chyna Hamm, who scored tries and kicked conversions. Savannah improved to 4-0 with its 64-15 win over Augusta. Of the eight try-scorers, Danielle Deshaies and Riketa Granville doubled up in the try zone, and Allison Kurtz kicked seven conversions.
In the True South, soggy weather and strong defenses marked the Nashville vs. Memphis match, producing a low-scoring game that was decided on a game-ending penalty kick. The Flamingoes took a 7-0 lead at minute 15 when Kelly Cockroft crossed for a try and Alex Beckett converted. Nashville answered in minute 23 with an Ireland Duncan try and Olivia Byrd conversion. And there the scoreline sat.
Memphis was in scoring position as the clock wore down, but then the game halted for approximately 30 minutes as Nashville tended to an injured player.
“Coming back into those final six minutes, shaken up from our friend's injury, trying to hold our defense while physically that close to Memphis scoring – that was mentally tough,” Nashville president Abi Jenkins recalled. “But it was like a fire was lit under all of us.”
Nashville held defensively, forced and won a scrum, and then kicked the ball downfield. Nashville later recovered the ball, kicked again, and drew a penalty at Memphis’ 22 meter. Bryd lined it up and kicked the penalty for 10-7 win.
“In those six minutes we turned a penalty against us on our five to a centered penalty for us on their 22,” Jenkins noted. "It was a very emotional end to an emotional game, but I honestly don't think I've ever been more proud of my team.”
