Here's a look at some of the D1A, NCR D1, and D1AA games around the country.
Tennessee Plays Two
Thomas More defeated Tennessee 27-20 on Friday.
TMU Head Coach John Fox said he was able to get a couple of players back on the field after an injury layoff. Lorenzo Lelli was able to give 20 quality minutes, and
Flanker Bautista Saint Bonnet was a terror, scoring two tries and earning player of the game honors.
“We were missing some key players against Walsh and they were back with us this week,” said Fox.
Malibongwe Mkosi, a freshman out of Zimbabwe, has emerged not only as a talent but a lead. Flyhalf Francisco Cuscuna and scrumhalf Mohale Sekhwela are starting to become a force.
“We have the right leadership and the right combinations,” said Fox. “They owned how it went at Walsh and made improvements.”
Tennessee then turned around and played Rio Grande and turned in a 31-31 tie.
Liberty Conference
The D1 league produced four head-turning results. Dartmouth faced a strong Iona side and thumped them 69-5. This was a notice to the rest of the league that Dartmouth could be a major contender.
Brown slammed Syracuse 120-10. There’s not much more to say about that. Brown is very dangerous.
In two closer games, AIC got another late penalty goal from German Rossi to win a game. Last time it was a 6-5 scoreline. This time it was to break a 32-32 tie with Siena to win it 35-32.
Ivan Rossi and Demetrius Ta’ape scored two tries each to pace AIC to a 29-15 lead, only for Siena to come storming back to tie it up. Flyhalf Fredrich de Koker and Luca Holloway, Anthony Guarino, and Harry Ryder all contributing to the scoresheet.
But Rossi was the hero in the end, winning it at the death.
Fordham edged Harvard 17-10. It’s a young Fordham team and a Harvard program still working its way upward.
“It was a story of two different halves,” said Fordham Head Coach Taye Daniel-Ayibiowu. “Harvard capitalized off our mistakes.”
The Crimson took a 10-0 lead, but a rather stern halltime discussion among the Fordham players about returning to principles of play sparked a comeback.
Flyhalf Benja Thompson, fullback Gavin McNicholl, and center Gabriel Ste, a sophomore and two freshmen, led the comeback “plus our bench gave us a nice jolt of energy,” said Daniel-Ayibiowu.
Those reserves Alex Popper, Benicio Jara, Sebastian Occhino, and Sebastian Kleczkowski.
“Not the pretty victory, but a victory nonetheless,” said Daniel-Ayibiowu. The win, he added, will “give our young squad confidence against a tough Liberty schedule. We'll be ready for the challenge against Dartmouth in the coming weeks.”
In Liberty’s D1AA league also produced some interesting results, notably UMass beat Northeastern 15-0 with tries from center Rahul Patel and lock Liam Concannon. John McGoey added a conversion and a penalty. That’s a good showing for UMass.
Meanwhile, Yale looked quite impressive in beating Boston College 30-7.
