Our D3 side, Troop, took Philadelphia rugby on the road this past weekend and traveled to Happy Valley to take on the Barbarians. After a somewhat slow start that saw the teams tied 10-10 a third of the way through the match Troop was eventually able to build a 34-15 lead before a try in the 78th minute made it a 34-22 final in favor of Schuylkill River.

Fullback Louis Baeza drew first blood in this match by scoring a try in the 12th minute that was converted by scrum half Ryan Tower. Tower made a penalty kick sandwiched between two unconverted tries for Happy Valley to make the scoreline 10-10 before Dave Gross continued his recent run of strong play with a try. Happy Valley was able to answer back quickly to cut the lead to 17-15 in River’s favor and the next 40 minutes were dominated by Schuylkill thanks to tries from Bobby Collins, and Alex Ruiz as well as great kicking from Ryan Tower who totaled 14 points on the day. Happy Valley earned a bonus point with a try in the 78th minute to make it a 34-22 scoreline.

The first individual that the Captains and Staff wanted to mention when asked about the match was Chuck Nucci. Chuck’s son Vito is a first year player on the team who has been playing well in the prop position and Chuck not only made the drive from South Jersey for this match but also ran water onto the field for the guys and kept stats so thank you Chuck!

Strong on-field performances were had by Bobby Collins who was named man of the match, as well as Vito Nucci, Kevin Allison, Ryan Tower, and Louis Baeza. Our biggest strength on the day was great work in the line outs and solid phase play.

Scorers:
Tries: Louis Baeza (1), Bobby Collins (1), Dave Gross (1), Alex Ruiz (1)
Cons: Tower (4)
Pens: Tower (2)

The exiles return to action this weekend with an away match vs the Washington Irish on October 12. Troop returns to action with a home match against Blackthorn on October 19.

Troop Season Stats:
Tries: Dave Gross (2), Ryan McHugh (2), Vito Nucci (2), Jabari Johnson (2), Alex Ruiz (2), Kevin Allison (1), Louis Baeza (1), Bobby Collins (1), Jeff Hall (1), Bryan McCorkle (1), Colin Sullivan (1), John “Cat Stevens” Vizzachero (1)
Cons: Ryan Tower (11)
Pens: Ryan Tower (3)

Exiles Season Stats:
Tries: Cesar DaFonseca (5), Jack Ramirez (4), Ben Janssen (2), Louis Baeza (1), Ryan Blythe (1), Rich Casey (1), Brian Keown (1), Joe Midwig (1), Vito Nucci (1), Brad Volm (1),
Cons: Brian Keown (8) Alex Ruiz (2)
Pens: Brian Keown (2)