SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College men's rugby played their last fall game of the year on Saturday, November 16, against Navy. After a very close, back-and-forth contest, Navy scored on a penalty kick to win, 29-27.

Going into the game, Notre Dame was ranked 12th and Navy was No. 5, in the D1A College Rugby rankings. This game, once again, was a tough, physical contest.

"Every game this year was a smashmouth type of game, which we love to play," the NDC coaching staff said.

There were scores from both teams in the first 10 minutes of the game. The first try came from NDC senior Sam Klimkowski after a great offload from senior Christian Olsen. Navy was able to score not long after to take a 7-5 lead. Later in the first half, Archie Paterson slotted a penalty kick to give the Falcons the lead, 8-7. But, Navy was able to score two impressive trys before the half and went into the locker room leading by a score of 19-8.

In the second half, Olsen was able to pick off a Navy pass and easily trotted in for a try. This was a huge try to get the Falcons back in the game, as they trailed, 19-15. Not long from that try, NDC was able to score again. Thanks to a great scrum from the forwards, 8-man Mark Mutuku had a nice pick and pass to scrum half Patrick O'Shea, who was able to score and give the Falcons the lead, 20-19.

After being on attack on the NDC side for a few phases, Navy punched in another try and retook the lead. But, the Falcons were not done. With 15 minutes left, captain Andrew Guerra broke through six tackles to gain major meters before Calum Haddock bulldozed his way in to score and took a 27-26 advantage.

However, with two minutes left in the game, Navy strategically played on the Falcons side of the field and drew a penalty. They took the penalty kick and slotted it through for the winning points.

"Through this match, the forwards made a huge impact on this game," the coaching staff said. "We knew Navy was going to have strong forwards and try to use them as an advantage. We finished with 100-percent completion in the scrums won and led Navy, as they had a 50-percent completion rate for their scrums won, with three of them collapsing due to the force applied by the Falcons."

Guerra and Haddock had a huge day on both sides of the ball. Guerra had 15 ball carries with a total of 96 meters gained and four tackle breaks. Haddock had 15 ball carries as well, with 97 meters gained and two tackle breaks.

On the defensive side, Guerra had an impressive 100-percent tackle completion, making 21 tackles. Haddock was 14 out of 15 with his tackles. Sean Woods also had a great game in the rucks, making it to 29 rucks when on attack. He was able to clean out the opposition an impressive seven times. Prop Aidan Carr also made his presence felt, completing 16 out of his 17 tackles. He also made an impact on the rucks, being there 27 times on attack.

With this being the last game of the fall season for the Falcons, D1A has them at No. 10 in the nation. The East Conference, which is arguably the best conference for college rugby, had five out of six teams are ranked. Kutztown sits at six, Army is ninth, NDC is now No. 10 with Penn State at 12 and St. Bonaventure at 19.