STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - The Franciscan University Rugby team put on a strong performance against Carnegie Mellon Tartans in a dominant 44-7 victory.

The Barons drove the Tartans back early but a knock-on at the 36-minute mark halted their early momentum.

It took a little while for the Barons to break through the proverbial wall that was the Carnegie Mellon defense, but once they did the tries came easily. With 20 minutes left in the first half, Kevin Arkoosh scored the first try of the game for the Barons. Just two minutes later, Jeffrey Baldwin broke through scoring once more for the Barons extending the lead to 14-0.

The flow of the game came to an abrupt halt after a massive tackle at the 16-minute mark leaving a member of the Tartans down in the middle of the field. Despite the pause in play, the Barons' momentum did not go away.

With four minutes left in the first, the Barons extended their lead with a successful try from Isaac Sanford. Paul Deschler punched in another try for the Barons to extend their lead to 26-0 with just four second left until half time.

Head Coach Chris Courtnell was beaming at his team's performance in the first half and encouraged everyone to keep doing what they were doing.

"It's been two weeks since our last loss and we've really been working on some of the mistakes we made against Robert Morris," said Courtnell. "It's about taking control of the game from the first whistle, cutting out the mistakes and playing Franciscan rugby."

In the second half, the game looked exactly the same as it did in the first half.

Just eight minutes into the half, Chris La Mar extended the Baron lead with a try to 31-0.

After a penalty near the 24-minute mark, Baldwin successfully completed a conversion bringing the lead to 34-0.

The Barons were running the Tartans ragged due to an obvious change in style from they way they played in the first half.

"Rather than playing tight Rugby, we shipped it out and really used our backs to hit some of the gaps," said Courtnell. "That just killed off Carnegie Mellon."

Sanford scored his second try of the game at the 5-minute mark and just two minutes later John Schuele scored the final try for the Barons bringing the score to 44-0.

The Tartans did not go away empty handed as they scored their only try when the clock hit zero to bring the score to its final, 44-7.

Due to his strong play, Deschler was named man of the match.

"He was intense and was getting in their faces," said Courtnell. "When he got the ball he was hitting the ball hard. Whenever they got their hands on the ball he was all over them."

The Barons visit Fairmont on October 1 after a short week.