Liberty Opens With Wins for AIC, Dartmouth, and Brown
Liberty Opens With Wins for AIC, Dartmouth, and Brown
Opening weekend in the Liberty D1 conference saw one postponement and some muted celebrations as it's early in the year.
Harvard at Iona was postponed. No news yet on a makeup date.
AIC vs Siena
American International beat Siena 27-15 to open the Jamison Bonti era with a win. Bonti is the new DOR for the YellowJackets and said that while it’s good to start with a win, there’s more his team can give.
“It’s a good result but an imperfect performance,” Bonti told GRR. “We probably left another three tries on the table.”
the key, said Bonti, is to nail down the skills required to succeed.
“I really think we need to clean things up,” he said. “I’ve got a very skills-focussed approach and when you focus on skills there’s a snowball effect. You might not be sharp Week 1, but as you go you can get a lot sharper.”
Scrumhalf Mateo Castro was outstanding on the day. He was dialed in, high energy, and communicated well to run an attack that recorded a key conference win.
Dartmouth vs Fordham
Dartmouth defeated Fordham in emphatic fashion 68-7.
This is an experienced Dartmouth side and they showed it.
“The Dartmouth boys played well,” said Head Coach Kyle Sumsion. “We had some great moments, but we also have lots to improve on as well.”
Brown vs Fairfield
The defending NCR D1 champion Brown team won 24-3 over a solid Fairfield outfit.
This is a young Fairfield team that started several freshmen, including prop Luke Boals, both locks, locks Cassius Grimes and Enda Mullen, flyhalf Tadhg O'Neill, wing Louie Sdao, and Archer Fenton at fullback
Fairfield Head Coach Austin Ryan saw his side hold a very effective Brown side to just 24. Captain Eamonn O'Reilly led from the front with ruck clearouts and kick chases. Fenton was strong under the high ball and countered well and he and O’Neill managed territory effectively. Shane Baffa was a terror chasing kicks.
All of that work made it tough on Brown and Head Coach David LaFlamme said he didn’t have “overly warm and fuzzy” feelings about how his team played.
“We should have put in a better performance,” LaFlamme said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a few times. Can’t knock a win and a bonus point early-on, so we’ll take it and move on. We’ll review the video and hopefully fix a few areas where we underperformed.
""Credit to Fairfield for giving us a good contest, their program continues to develop as one of our strongest opponents in the Liberty Conference, and their lively supporters always make things tough on the away team."
Tito Edjua scored nine points with a try and two conversions. Asa Rosenmeier and Leo Clayburgh both got over the line also. But the key seuence was likely Matt Schwab's eightman pick after a dominant scrum midway through the first half, followed closely by Edjua's tally to establish a 10-0 lead after a scoreless first 20.
