Penn State backed up its close win over Notre Dame College last week with a nifty little shutout of Mary Washington.

It was a hard-nosed effort by UMW, a team that has just joined the Rugby East. But the Mothers were on defense way too much and Penn State’s work in the breakdown mean Mary Washington’s attacking movements weren’t easily sustained.

Attack, slog into the Penn State half, lose the ball, repeat. Penn State’s 22 meter line was breached only twice.

Meanwhile Penn State was methodical. Flyhalf Connor Dellapina started the scoring early with a 6th-minute penalty goal, and he also converted hooker Tom Capriotti’s try nine minutes before halftime.

That made it 10-0, and then Capriotti’s younger brother, Jesse, raced in on the wing just before the break. That kind of sealed it at 15-0.

Ian Kilcullen’s try deep into the second half was the only scoring in the final 40 minutes (with Dellapina’s conversion), and while Penn State might be displeased with missing out on a four-try bonus point, they will have to be happy with their defense.

(David Hughes contributed photos and also information to this report)

Looking good also is St. Bonaventure. Bonnies defeated Notre Dame College 32-12. SBU scored early only to have NDC reply to make it a 7-5 ballgame midway through the first half.

But St. Bonaventure slowly started to take control. Still, NDC managed t score late and it was 25-12 with SBU putting in at a scrum deep inside the Bonnies 22. From there, somehow St. Bonaventure blasted out of its own end and scored to seal the game 32-12.

That was quite possible a two-point swing play, as NDC could have scored with some defensive pressure and taken a close-loss bonus point. SBU, instead, got the bonus point for the fourth try.

So all to play for as teams have at least three games left in conference play.

October 5 sees 2-0 Penn State against 1-0 St. Bonaventure, and that's a big one for both teams. Kutztown, which lost a non-conference game to Navy on the final play of the game, still has Penn State and Bonnies on the schedule. Army can still make a run, as this conference rarely sees its champion go undefeated.