It was a sunny and 70-degree beautiful day of rugby this past Saturday when the 3-0 men of Severn River hosted the 3-0 Washington Irish. These two teams played in what felt like a playoff environment. The men fought hard but only one team could come out undefeated.

The Irish started the scoring off early with a long phased attack but Severn would eventually answer. After many line breaks and power running offense, Severn pressured the Irish to play defense within their own 22 for much of the match. However, the Irish sent plenty of kicks overhead to force a game of field position. Bend but don’t break defense by the Irish would only work for so long as Richard Maldonado cracked through the defense on a pick and go for the try. Severn had a tough time taking down the prop of the Irish as he broke a run and set up the next try for the backs. Soon after kickoff Severn would find their way into the Irish 22 once again in a game of field position. The field position was fueled by the commanding duo of scrumhalf Dan Wooddell and Flyhalf Erik “Punchy” Dronberger. The rest was left for the athleticism from Aldo Batubara, Lawrence McClain, and Quinn Freeman with several line breaks all day. A quick tap penalty by Dronberger tied the game 10-10 at half.

The Irish came out firing again in the second half with a few breakthrough runs and two tries on the wing plus a conversion making it 22-10. Severn had control over the line outs today and it paid off when Aldo Batubara scooped up a batted ball within 5 meters and touched it down to add to his tallying try total. A few high tackles later and several yards gained from mauls was Derek Swayze with a smashing run at speed for his first try of D3 rugby, making it 20-27 Irish with 5 minutes remaining. The crowd was roaring and the field was shaking as Severn retained position for the last minute of play. Eddie Boyer bullied the defense for a line break and dished it out to Maldonado for a 40 yard try in expired time.... However, beneath the clamor of the fans and the celebrations of the players was a controversial forward pass call, ending the match at 20-27 Irish.

Final score: Severn River 20 - Washington Irish 27

Tries: Rich Maldonaldo, Erik Dronberger, Aldo Batubara, Derek Swayze

Conversions: Erik Dronberger - 0/4

League Leader Notes

Points

(1st) Erik Dronberger – 56, (Tied 3rd) Eddie Boyer – 25, (Tied 3rd) Aldo Batubara – 25

Tries

(Tied 1st) Eddie Boyer – 5, Aldo Batubara – 5