STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Students, fans, and community members congregated at Harding Stadium for the ninth consecutive season to celebrate the annual Robert D'Anniballe Rugby Ruckus. Grove City College played spoiler, however, as they defeated the hosting Barons by a score of 31-17. The loss was the first regular-season loss for the Franciscan Ruggers since October of 2009.

“We had opportunities to win this match,” first-year head coach Ken DeLucia said. “There were several opportunities in the other team's end, and we squandered those. Those should be points on the board. Had we converted on half of those, we walk away winners. When we go to deck we need to clean out our rucks harder and faster. It's just focus and details.”

The Barons never held a lead in the game as they were down 12-5 at the half. Grove City stretched the lead to 19-5 early in the second half until Baron freshman Jimmy Kueber scored a try from the 22-meter line to make the score 19-12 after the unsuccessful conversion. 

Kueber was named “Man of the Match” for the second straight week as he recorded eight tackles to go along with his try.

A try minutes later by Adam Smyth brought the score to 19-17, but that is as close as the Barons would get all night.

“We have a lot of young players on our side,” first-year head coach Ken DeLucia said. “We need a little more focus and detail work this week – it's just something we have to work on. This is a very big learning curve for the guys; maybe it will serve them a dose of 'Humble Pie.'”

DeLucia did give Grove City a lot of credit for how hard they came out of the gate.

“They came out and played very, very well,” DeLucia said. “They seemed rather large and this smaller field played to their advantage. They deserve a lot of credit for sticking to their game plan.”

Despite the loss, DeLucia was glowing about the event as a whole.

“It's a fantastic event,” DeLucia said. “This is my first time here and it's a lot to take in, but the benevolence is uplifting. Knowing all that the D'Anniballe family does for this program we just really appreciate it.”

The relationship between Franciscan Rugby and the D'Anniballe family started twelve years ago when Robert D'Anniballe sponsored a brand new FUS Rugby Club's trip to a playoff game in Dayton.

“It's a good opportunity to showcase who we are at FUS Rugby,” said FUS Head of Rugby Operations Mark Hanrahan. “The event couldn't happen if it weren't for the D'Anniballe's offering their services to our team.”

Since Duquesne University was scheduled to play in the Ruckus but had to forfeit, the Barons record improves to 2-1 on the season with the win from Duquesne's forfeit and the loss to Grove City. After a bye next week, they travel to play Robert Morris at 1 p.m.