ST. LOUIS  -  The Baron rugby lads did incredible on their mission to reach Nationals again, despite the many roadblocks that stood in their way over the course of a month. The Barons became the Road Warrior Barons, logging a staggering 2612 travel miles, by way of vans to Slippery Rock, IUP, Rio Grande (the day after playing RMU at IUP), Elkhart, IN, and then St. Louis for regionals. The team didn't have a charter bus for any of the long trip matches nor to St. Louis while the other regional teams did. Over the past 4 weeks, players and coaches drove the vans, got stuck in mud, had a flat tire, took wrong turns, drove in snow and rain, and all the other things that occur when traveling, all to play 6 matches in 4 weekends. The players were tired, beat up, and exhausted but never wilted when it came to being on the field. They have had 5 starters (2 other starters were lost for the year earlier in the season) out for the last 3 weeks which would derail most teams in small colleges because teams usually only have about 18-22 guys and depth can be just as important as having 15 good starters. Obviously, injuries are part of playing rugby and everyone has them at this time of the year, and this isn't an excuse, but rather just to show how hard the players committed to making the team successful. The Barons developed a somewhat unwanted identity that seemed to play out in every game. If they got a lead by a try or two, they lost it just as quickly as they scored. The Barons were able to score in bunches, often within minutes of each other but just couldn't maintain the momentum. If the opponents got a lead to go up 2 tries or 2 scores, the Baron lads never gave up, and would always make a mad dash in the last 10-15 minutes of the game where they looked unstoppable and quite possibly, the best D3 team in the country. Our leaders were instrumental in getting the young guys as prepared as possible while also getting their own game preparation in. After a long 9 hour drive on Friday, the team arrived to their hotel in St. Louis, only to wait for an hour before getting to their rooms due to unforeseen issues.

Saturday rolled around and they set off to face a formidable and familiar squad in nationally ranked #2 St. John's, a team the Barons beat in 2019 to advance to Nationals. They were neck and neck with the bigger St. John's team in the regional semifinal game on Saturday. The Barons' Peter Thibault, doing a great impression of his younger brother John Thibault, set the table with a 40 meter long try up the left touchline, dodging and fending off defenders, to dot down the game's first points. The conversion was unsuccessful from the difficult angle for Aidan Gibbons. Not to be usurped by his older brother's nifty try, sophomore sensation, John Thibault countered with a patented galloping long run of his own through the St. John's backline, touching it down between the post and with the conversion kick tacked on, the Barons quickly had a 12-0 lead after 10 minutes. It was a lead they couldn't maintain. St. John's found their footing and were able to ball control with several pick and go's to tie up the score and eventually grabbed an 8 point lead at the half, going up 20-12.

After the break, Franciscan was able to close the gap to 1 point on another long galloping run by John Thibault as he threaded through several St. John's defenders attempted tackles and touched it down. With the converted kick after, the score now read 20-19, St. John's. The Barons had several opportunities to regain the lead but committed a few infractions and a yellow card to Vincent Prezzia sent him off to the sinbin for 10 minutes. Playing with the 15-14 man advantage, St. John's certainly took advantage and were able to score twice, once on a short try off a line out to stretch their lead back to 8 again, 27-19 and again to give them a 34-19 lead with about 10 minutes left to play. St John's went into control mode and slow played the ball to run out the clock. They did well in bleeding the time down. However, in typical 2021 Baron fashion, the boys of Franciscan never quit. With St. John's tiring out and feeling the pressure, they committed a penalty, giving the possession back to the Barons and on a rolling, bouncing pass, John Thibault scooped it up and jaunted for another 50 plus meter try outracing several defenders, knotting a hat trick with his 3rd try of the game. From the bad angle, Gibbons could not convert and the score was now 34-24 with less than 3 minutes to go, time was quickly running out on the green and gold. By now, St. John's were completely gassed, they couldn't keep up, and were feeling the pressure to just get the ball back and kick it dead to end the match. However, with the momentum on Franciscan's side, and the Barons made quick work again with the ball as Mike Hardy had a sensational run to get the ball close to the try line. Franciscan's forwards did some of their own pick and go's and Vince Prezzia stretched out to dot the ball down and scored with little time left. Gibbons kicked the conversion to bring the score 34-31. Alas, there was no time left, and St. John's was miraculously "saved by the bell" and they avenged their previous regional loss to the Barons in 2019. In a contrast of styles, St. John's did most of their scoring with their forward pack, winning lineouts and using pick and go's to score while the Barons exhibited speed and precision with their passing and running. Senior and Captain, Rafe Lewis was named the "Gold"en Man of the Match as he played valiantly throughout the match and kept the team together. The team was gutted by the loss and very disappointed with the outcome. In hindsight, they actually ended up playing better than expected as St. John's would go on to beat the Barons' counterpart, Rio Grande 51-34 to advance to the Nationals to play for the NCR Small Colleges Cohen Cup Championship.

The Barons were not done though, as they still had one more match to play on Sunday vs Xavier University in the consolation bracket. In a tightly contested match with the young guys getting more playing time and other starters moving around to play different positions, they were able to eke out a 26-25 win. John Thibault once again led the charge with another hat trick, scoring 3 tries, all of them from long ranges. Matt Hennig played well, making tackles and running hard with the ball Captain Rafe Lewis scored his last try as a Baron as far as 15's goes. Newcomer Dru Treague earned the "Gold"en Man of the Match with his fierce running style and determination to want the ball in pressure moments. The team traveled well with numbers and many young players were able to get more experience playing in important matches which bodes well for the future. The team arrived back to Franciscan before midnight Sunday night. They showed the true spirit of heart in God's eyes and what it means to uphold the Christian values and faith. Their friends, peers, professors and other Franciscan members on campus should be very proud of them and hopefully, they will go out of their way to congratulate them on a tough but successful season. They certainly have earned it and deserve it. With utmost dignity and absolute passion, the ruggers of Franciscan battled to the end. They will look towards the spring when 7's season kicks off and have their eyes set on Nationals 7s. Fire Me Up, Barons!!