GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – No. 15 Notre Dame College men's rugby got back to their winning ways this past weekend after losing to a very strong No. 5 ranked Army team the previous weekend. On October 27, NDC beat No. 16 Davenport University 34-19 at Davenport University.

The Falcons played much better, as a team, and were able to come back from a 19-10 deficit in the second half.

"We tackled much better this weekend and we were more patient in our attack" said head coach Jason Fox.  "We executed much better than we did against Army, and it showed." 

"Davenport has some big wins under their belt versus teams like Ohio State, and University of Notre Dame, so this win was very big for us," Fox exclaimed.

Cullen Barelka opened the game with an unconverted try and Christian Olsen followed up with one of his own to make it 10-0 Falcons.

Davenport countered with a converted try to close the lead to 10-7 at the half, partly due to NDC playing with only 13 players due to 2 yellow cards.

Davenport opened the second half with two tries and one conversion to take a 19-10 lead early into the second half. But the Falcons would find their way back on top with tries by Andrew Guerra and Zack Forro and a conversion by John Bradfield for a 22-19 lead. 

With the lead, the Falcons really ramped up their defense.  And the offense started to click with Bradfield giving a nice pass to break Matt Smith free for a large gain and a nice off-load to Corey Davis for a try.  Bradfield would convert for a 29-19 Falcon lead. 

Olsen would finish off the scoring with a great individual effort try from long range to end the game at 34-19.

NDC looks to stay on the winning track this weekend as they battle Rugby East rival St. Bonaventure University, on Saturday, at 1 p.m. The game will be senior day for the Falcons as we honor those that have dedicated the last 4-5 years to make Notre Dame rugby one of the best programs in the country.