Franciscan Rugby took to the pitch again this past weekend in a 7's friendly at Clarion. It was a cold, wet and dreary day. Franciscan was slated to kickoff at 11am vs Fredonia St. However, 20 minutes after arriving to Clarion, Franciscan found out that a team dropped out the night before and the schedule had been changed early that morning unbeknownst to them. They were moved up to kick off at 10:40, which gave them less than 20 minutes to get dressed and warm up.

They were also moved into a new pool with different teams than previously scheduled. Their first opponent was none other than rival, Slippery Rock. The Barons mindset was not sharp, and it showed on the pitch as they lost a sloppily played match, 17-5. Slippery Rock took advantage of numerous mistakes by the Barons. Against a good team like SRU, mistakes usually dooms the team that loses. With the loss, the Barons were knocked out of the opportunity to play in the finals after pool play. The best they could do was 3rd place. Franciscan rallied together and went 3-0 the rest of the way, scoring 113 points and giving up zero points and winning third place against longtime rival Robert Morris. While it may look like Franciscan was trying to run up the score against inferior opponents, the Barons had to start their regular seven starters to begin matches so that they can work on timing of passes, communicating on defense, and getting used to playing together, especially since the team won't be playing again until March 16th. Additionally, the points scored in every match count toward their overall record when it comes to seeding for the ARU 7's championship on April 13th. They finished 3-1 on the day, and while losing the first match was disappointing, it also helped the team to understand that their mindset needs to be more focused from the start and to not use excuses as a reason for a loss. The Barons will train for the next week and then they will be on Spring Break. The team will come back early to train before they head to Columbus, OH for the Midwest-East Small College national qualifier on March 16th. The winner will get the automatic bid to the CRC National 7's in DC on April 26th-April 28th weekend.

How it Happened

Franciscan 5 SRU 17

The Barons played one of their worst matches in a while against the always solid team in Slippery Rock. Yes, it was wet and cold, but both teams were playing in the same element. SRU made less errors than the Barons and proceeded to win the match 17-5. In his 7's debut for the Barons, Tanner Harris scored the team's lone try with the offload pass coming from John Thibault. Both teams were in the same pool, so only one could move on to the finals as both teams were the best teams at the tournament. It was a learning experience that should help the team as they move forward. The 17 points would turn out to be the only points the Barons conceded on the day.

Tries: T. Harris (1)

Assist: J. Thibault (1)

Franciscan 34 Case Western 0

Franciscan took their frustrations out on Case Western as they rolled up 34 points in 9 minutes. Case Western decided to forfeit the rest of the match with 5 minutes left, as a player got hurt and they didn't have any subs left. Matt Orsay made his 7's debut with a try on an offload from Andrew Normandin.

Tries: Thibault (2); Normandin (2); Ben Baska (1); Orsay (1)

Assists: Vincent Prezzia (2); Normandin (2); Thibault (1)

Kick Conversions: Prezzia (2)

Franciscan 46 Grove City 0

Franciscan overwhelmed Grove City in this one as well, winning easily. The Barons started to string together passes and play fast and loose. Seven different players dotted down tries. Seth Jillson made his 7's debut, offloading the ball to set up a try.

Tries: Thibault (2); Normandin (1); Baska (1); Sam Chipps (1); Harris (1); Prezzia (1); Orsay (1)

Assists: Thibault (2); Prezzia (1); Orsay (1); Jacob Leerkes (1); Jillson (1)

Kick Conversions: Prezzia (2); Thibault (1)

Franciscan 33 Robert Morris 0

Franciscan faced off against their longtime rival for third place as the match was between the second-place finishers in the two pools. The Barons stayed hot as they preserved their day with a victory to gain third place. RMU presented a challenge with their hard running and physicality but the boys in green and gold outpaced the Colonials. Thibault scored a hat trick to give the Barons the win. Normandin had several nifty individual runs in this one as Prezzia handled three offloads for tries.

Tries: Thibault (3); Normandin (1); Baska (1)

Assists: Prezzia (3); Thibault (1)

Kick Conversions: Prezzia (3); Thibault (1)

**Third Place Match vs Robert Morris

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