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Empire Latest - Binghamton Eyes Final Stretch

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Empire Latest - Binghamton Eyes Final Stretch

Binghamton University can basically wrap up a top-two spot in the Empire Conference with a bonus-point win over Brockport Saturday, but that doesn't mean it's a done deal.

Head Coach Kevin Dublin knows it's going to be a difficult proposition.

"Brockport is one of our rivals and given how crazy this conference has been, you never know," said Dublin. "This conference is really competitive - I don't remember it ever being like this  - but what's also good is that the rugby is so much better."

Binghamton is led by Conor Horan, a skilled fullback who is the team's last line of defense and also a solid goalkicker, and senior prop Nick Coppola, who started his time at Binghmaton as a center, but got bigger. As a prop he's powerful over the ball and in tight, but also likes to run and make offloads in the open field.

"The great thing is that this is a really young team," said Dublin. "Most of these guys have experience, but they'll be back."

So it all comes down to the next couple of weeks. Binghamton plays Brockport and Syracuse, and Dublin said those games will possibly define their season. There are all sorts of scenarios that could result in, say, Colgate going from 6th to 1st, or 1st-place Syracuse dropping to 5th. Will everything be cleared up after this weekend? Don't count on it.

Meanwhile ... Fordham is now in 1st place after Friday night beating Stony Brook (score unconfirmed but we're going with 22-17 at the moment). The key for Fordham is they were knocking on the door late with the hopes of getting a 4th try, but failed, so they are in a four-way tie at present with 15 points in the standings. Stony Brook lost, but they have good bonus point numbers and aren't actually out of it yet ...

Fordham got a huge game from loosehead prop Phil Sweeney, who broke the Stony Brook line several times, and was a force in the scrums and on defense. His work allowed Fordham to get the ball wide, and that was the difference.

So on to the standings. Saturday sees Colgate at Kings Point and Binghamton at Brockport, and probably no definitive answers, yet.

 

Empire Conference W L T Pf Pa Pd BT BL Pts
Fordham 3 2 0 127 50 77 2 1 15
Binghamton 3 1 0 131 63 68 2 1 15
Syracuse 3 2 0 107 68 39 3 0 15
Brockport 3 2 0 109 147 -38 2 1 15
Stony Brook 2 3 0 90 95 -5 3 1 12
Colgate 2 2 0 113 117 -4 1 1 10
USMMA 0 4 0 33 170 -137 0 0 0