After a disappointing loss in the ARU championship match last weekend and having to play the play-in qualifier for the 3rd year in a row, the Barons did not wallow in self-pity. They were eager to show that last week's defeat was an aberration and that they learned from their mistakes in that match. The boys hit the week hard with a Monday training vowing to improve on their game into the lead up to their match against Xavier. It was a rematch from last year's play-in qualifier which the Barons won 7-0 but this year's replay would not mirror that result.

On the road to Wheeling, W.Va. where they were hosting the match under the lights with a 4pm kickoff time, the Barons started things off with a penalty and Xavier decided to try for points. The long attempt was good as they quickly led 3-0. It would be the only time they led. After a few minutes of Xavier controlling the ball, the Barons were able to create a penalty and with a quick tap and pass out to Liam Phelan, making his debut start after being injured all fall, and he fended off a few defenders and dotted it down with his first career try as a Baron. Aidan Gibbons tacked on two with his successful conversion kick and the Barons were up 7-3. Franciscan continued to show great ball movement and support as they cycled the ball wide and with Luke Divver in for Noah Schlueter (who went out with a cut for a few minutes), Andrew Normandin offloaded the ball to Divver and he was able to dive in for a try in the corner. Gibbons missed the conversion kick from the near sideline but the Barons increased their lead to 12-3. Once again, Normandin took an offload pass and zoomed his way down the pitch but before he was to be tackled, he offloaded to Jacob Leerkes as he thundered his way into the try zone for another 5 points. Gibbons missed his second kick in a row and the scored ticked up to 17 Franciscan and 3 for Xavier. After a few phases of ball running and passing, Gibbons offloaded to John Thibault and Thibault lowered his shoulder and bowled the defender over, and fended off a few other defensive players to slide in for the nifty try. On an off night for kicking, Gibbons missed his third one as the score increased to 22-3. Xavier got back on the board with another penalty kick making the score 22-6 with about 15 minutes remaining in the half. Normandin then went on a scoring spree and scored two tries with an assist on each try from Thibault. The ten points added to the lead giving Franciscan the 32-5 lead before the half. Gibbons missed both conversions but to be fair, all of his kicks were attempted from the far corner as that is where the tries were touched down. Xavier was able to capitalize on some iffy tackling by the Barons as they recovered a restart kick and took the ball down the sideline for a try. The missed conversion and the end of the half had the score at 32-11.

After the half, the Barons continued to score tries as Normandin completed the hat trick with his third try after John Bateman set him up for the score. Gibbons was able to convert the kick giving the Barons a 39-11 lead. Once again, Phelan took an offload and powered his way through the Xavier defense and dotted it down as Gibbons converted the kick to give the Barons a commanding 46-11 lead. After a lull in play for about 15-20 minutes, the Barons cycled the ball through the back line as Abe Schmeising offloaded to Schlueter and he scored the try. Once again, Gibbons converted the kick to make the score 53-11. With time winding down and a few sub changes, John Paul Kilmer came on and was the beneficiary of Thibault's offload after Normandin chased a kick down and collected it and passed to Thibault, who in turn offloaded to Kilmer for the easy try. Vincent Prezzia took over kicking duties with Gibbons out on the sub change. Prezzia converted the kick, giving the final score of 60-11.
 

For the Barons, it was a great way to move forward from the difficult loss of the previous week and to look forward to Regionals. Xavier put forth a great effort and the score is not indicative of how hard they played and never quitting throughout the match. Franciscan will get the ARU #2 seed and punched their ticket to NCR's Small College Sweet 16 for the third year in a row. They will face Wayne St, the #3 ranked team in the country and a team with vast international experience at every position. The Barons will look to reverse their travails of pasts losses in St. Louis this Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 11am Central time (12 EST). A victory against Wayne State will move the Barons into the Elite 8 against the winner of St. John's (MN) and Slippery Rock. A win there will put Franciscan in the Final Four in Houston on the weekend of December 9th. The Baron ruggers have put in a lot of work and effort to get this far and will look to continue seeing that pay off. Please be on the lookout for the livestream that will be available for the match.

National Playoff Release from the NCR

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