Royal Irish surged in the second half to come back and beat St. Edward 28-26 in the opening game for the perennial national title contenders.

In their first game without longtime Head Coach Scott Peterson, who stepped down to concentrate on his family after last season, Royal Irish is under the capable hands of experienced coach David Snyder. But this was still the opening game for the Royal Irish team, while St. Edward had a three-game warmup last week.

Certainly St. Ed's has a little more in sync in the opening minutes and led 19-7 into the second half. But penalties started to catch up to St. Edward, and Royal Irish clawed back. In the second half, Royal Irish had scored two tries to one from St. Edward to make it 26-21 for the Ohio team with time frittering away.

A ten-minute slog between the two teams ended when fullback Mac Schrage ran in his second try of the day, and that tied it 26-26 with almost no time left. Captain and center Wyatt Schrader hit the conversion, and Royal Irish had the win.

"This is the youngest group we've had in the ten years I've been with the program," said Snyder. "Our inexperience showed as we made all the typical errors—turning over our own set piece and giving away possession instead of keeping ball in hand." 

Momentum shifted in the second half after Schrader powered over. The twin locks Sam and Elias Neier started to make an impact, and Sam got involved in a movement that ended with him scoring to make it 26-21.

The game was played at Fortess Obetz in Oebtz, Ohio, and was an excellent early-season showing for both teams.

"It was a great display of heart," said Snyder. "But it reveals all the work we have ahead of us."