SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- Notre Dame College started it's 2018 D1A and Rugby East season with an impressive 65-0 win over the University at Buffalo at home, on a wet Saturday afternoon.

After last season, NDC men's rugby graduated it's largest class in it's six year history as a program. However, the future looks bright with a very good class of incoming freshmen, to go along with some excellent returning players.

High school All-American Jack Bradfield replaced collegiate All-American Marcus Tupuola, who graduated last May, in the lineup. This move paid off as Bradfield would convert four tries in his collegiate debut. Also adding in the scoring total was Christian Olsen with two tries. Captain Andrew Guerra, James Scurlock, Evan Bradshaw, Tarik James, and Patrick O'Shea each had one try. 

"We are excited to have Jack (Bradfield) with us and he seems to be fitting in with the other players very well" said head coach Jason Fox. "We played some very good systematic structured offense at times but still need to work on some things as it is early in the season.

Great offensive lines by Calum Haddock, Guerra, Cullen Barelka, and Archie Paterson kept UB on their heals all day. 

"Calum had a big day running the ball and getting into open field," Fox mentioned. "We, for the most part, stuck to our defensive structure and tackled very well. We have been working on our defense for a majority of the pre-season and it showed this weekend. We still have to work on taking away space and making all of our tackles, however, we were happy with the work rate on defense and keeping structure, but that is something we will continue to work on throughout the year."

Cory Graham (USA Rugby men's National 7s All-Tournament team this past summer) and Zack Forro (Two-time All-Military team in the RugbyTown 7s) are back on the roster this season. Graham missed the opening game due to family commitments and Forro is healing from an injury from RugbyTown 7s. Forro also missed the entire season last fall due to due Ohio National Guard duties in recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after the hurricane last year.

The Falcons will travel to University Park, Pa.and battle Penn State University on September 15. The games will begin at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.