Steubenville, Ohio - The 2023 ARU Championship between the same teams that met last year, was another highly contested match. With Franciscan hosting the ARU championship for three matches, they were the home team against Slippery Rock. Both teams came into the matchup with one loss, with SRU's loss coming a few weeks ago against Franciscan on the same pitch. Both teams came off a bye week after securing first-round wins. The weather was fair, with a little wind, and a mix of sunshine and clouds.

Franciscan started things off with the opening kickoff as both teams looked to assert themselves. SRU kept ball control at a premium throughout the first half to keep the ball away from the Barons' attack. The hard-hitting and constant running of the ball was intense. SRU was able to execute a chip kick that settled into the waiting hands of their oncoming player, and he made a few whirly moves to escape the defense's grasp and touched the ball down for the match's opening try. The failed conversion gave SRU a 5-0 lead. After several more phases by both teams, Franciscan continued to be dogged by bad mistakes and non-calls that kept SRU's opportunities alive. After a yellow card on Franciscan's Abraham Schmeising - which was warranted, but somehow not originally called and after a questionable decision by the side ref, gave SRU a prime spot 5 meters from the try line. They were able to punch it in on a leap over a defender and with another missed conversion, SRU upped their lead to 10. The Barons were just not able to find a groove as SRU continued to maintain ball control and sustain momentum. SRU was able to tally one more try with extra time in the half. The conversion kick was good and SRU had a commanding 17-0 over the Barons.

The Barons knew that they were making bad decisions and not executing the plays well and were confident that they could come back. Franciscan received the ball for the second half and was able to get into a rhythm and move the ball around. John Thibault took an offload pass deep in their zone and was able to bring it out close to midfield and the Barons continued to cycle the ball across the field and Jacob Leerkes took an offload from Andrew Normandin and with a thundering stiff arm, threw down the SRU defender to the ground as he stampeded his way to a long try. The conversion kick by Aidan Gibbons wasn't successful, making the score 17-5, SRU. The score energized the Barons, though as they scored about 4 minutes into the 2nd half. After about 10 minutes of controlling the ball and moving up the field, the Barons were able to tack on another try as they cycled the ball through 4 players and Thibault made a nifty offload to Normandin as Normandin ran it in untouched from 10 meters out. John Bateman connected on the kick after and the lead for SRU was now at 7, as the 17-0 lead was whittled down to 17-10. Both teams continued to play hard, with SRU trying to play defense and capitalize on a Baron mistake and Franciscan looking for the equalizer. The Barons continued with nifty passing and playmaking ability as they advanced the ball once again to near Slippery Rock's try zone but an errant pass created a knock-on. On the ensuing scrum, SRU was able to come away with a penalty and opted to try to run it out of their zone. They were able to advance a few meters bit but the Barons were able to poach the ball back. After a few phases, Vincent Prezzia spun the ball out wide to John Paul Leatherby, and Leatherby took on a few defenders and threw a pass to Leerkes, who scooped up the bouncing ball and again galloped up the field and offloaded to Schmeising, who made a cut back move and sauntered in the try zone for his first career try and knotting up the score at 17 all. Bateman again converted the kick to make it 19-17 with 20 minutes to go. The teams continued to battle back and forth for the rest of the match with neither team giving the other any quarter. The Barons were able to string together a few phases and turned it over and SRU ran a few phases and kicked it out to touch. The Barons got the ball back and ran a few phases when Bateman got the ball from Prezzia split between two defenders and offloaded to Thibault and he took off for a 30-meter gain, only to have it called back on a questionable forward pass call. This seemed to take the wind out of the Barons' sails as this stalled the Barons' attack and gave SRU a chance to breathe and gather energy, which was needed. After a few more back-and-forth ball handling by both teams as well as turnovers, SRU was able to get the ball down towards Franciscan's zone thanks to some penalties and ball movement. Another penalty call enabled SRU to execute a quick tap and they scored to put themselves up 22-19. The conversion was wide, and the score remained 22-19. With a little time still left on the clock, the Barons worked feverishly to get the ball back and get a try before time ran out. They had a few opportunities but couldn't quite connect as SRU played solid defense in the closing stanza. The Barons had a chance to go for points and tie up the score but the distance, slight wind, and time remaining played a factor in bypassing that for a chance to keep it on the ground. A final knockdown pass by SRU kept the Barons from scoring as the ref deemed it to be a knock and not an intentional knock.

Slippery Rock won their second consecutive ARU Conference Championship and earned a bye week to Regionals in St. Louis on November 18th as well as the ARU #1 seed. Franciscan will head to Wheeling, WV, and take on Xavier at 4 pm this Saturday with the winner heading regionals in St. Louis with the ARU #2 seed. Congratulations to SRU for their win. It was a gritty and hard-fought match. It was a bitter disappointment for the Baron ruggers as they worked hard to get here. They will move on and focus on the play-in qualifier for a chance to head back to St. Louis. Franciscan would like to thank the fans for showing up and supporting the team during this season as the players loved hearing the cheers!

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