Men’s Rugby dominates Buff State, LeMoyne to clinch conference championship
Last fall, the Men’s Rugby Team played an undefeated regular season and traveled to Boston for the regional championships, where their run came to an unfortunate end after a loss to Holy Cross University. This year, the Warthogs have been hard at work to ensure that that doesn’t happen again—and they’re off to a great start. On Saturday, Oct. 15, the Hogs confirmed their second undefeated regular season in a row after a victory over Niagara University by forfeit. This season, however, came with a few newly added obstacles before the Hogs can get back to Boston. After the regular season, the Warthogs had to compete in conference playoffs before winning the conference, which means they would have to extend their undefeated streak by another two games against Buffalo State and LeMoyne College.
The first playoff game was on Sunday, Oct. 23, against Buffalo State. The Buffalo State team put up a much better fight than they did the last time they faced off with the Hogs—seniors Cameron Freedman, Dante Coccia, and Mike Mamone each scored tries, for a very close score of 17-7 after the first half.
In the second half, Mamone and junior Connor Coleman each scored tries, and Coccia kicked a conversion for a final score of 29-14. This victory allowed the Hogs to advance through the playoffs to the championship game against Le Moyne College, who defeated Ithaca College in their playoff game.
After this hard-fought victory, the Warthogs put in the work to make sure that their rematch against Le Moyne went a little better. The Hogs were in high spirits coming into the game, with junior Justin Jahrsdoerfer and junior Caleb Hart-Fungalei returning after a few weeks off play due to injuries. In the first half, senior Chris Pitre, Coccia, and rookie Joe Fico all scored tries, and Jahrsdoerfer made one kick for points and three conversions for a halftime score of 29-3. In the second half, Jahrsdoerfer scored one try and Coleman scored two. Coccia kicked a conversion and a kick for points, Jahrsdoerfer made a kick for points, for a final score of 52-22.
This victory over Le Moyne crowned the Warthogs the Lake Effect Conference Champions, their second conference title in a row. But the road to Boston isn’t paved yet for the Hogs—this weekend, the Hogs will have a play-in match at home against SUNY Plattsburgh. Plattsburgh is a team that the Hogs haven’t faced yet and will likely provide some tough competition. Last spring, Plattsburgh played 7s at the Division I level, and performed well; this fall, their 15s team went undefeated in their own conference. The winner of this game will move on to the Northeast Regional Championship in Boston, on Nov. 19-20. This will likely be the greatest competition that the Hogs have had this season, so you won’t want to miss the game this weekend. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 5, on the Letchworth Field.