The early twilight evening in the valley of the Shenandoah brought forth a shimmering of the changing foliage of the Appalachian Mountains. Fall is on the cusp of eclipsing summer, the temperature is changing, the days are a little shorter, the leaves are falling, but, along with Autumn's arrival, comes the start of the Franciscan Barons Rugby XV's season. The Baron ruggers of Franciscan University Steubenville journeyed to the Shenandoah Valley to take on long-time rival Christendom College for the annual Frassati Shield on Saturday September 6th. In what has been a commanding one-sided affair by Christendom with nine straight years of winning, has changed like the season of fall, as the Barons continue to dismantle the shackles of their fallen comrades over the last 10 years.

After last season's surprising 22-17 victory at Franciscan to end the losing streak with a young Barons team, the 2025 Barons showed that the win was no fluke, defeating the much bigger forwards of the Crusaders 29-5. While the match was close in the first half, it was the Barons constantly making big gains on the pitch when advancing the ball. Franciscan received the kickoff to start the match and made a few plays with it, but turned it over to the Crusaders. It would be a common theme for both teams throughout the match, which can be expected since both teams were only playing their second match of the season. Turnovers and penalties were a thorn to the Barons side as they let Christendom hang around the first half. But the Barons were able to do several pick and goes off the rucks, and Peter Rooney dove in for the match's first points of the game. Joseph Moleski (Joe Bob) initially scored the try on a quick tap penalty, but the way the pitch was marked at the goalposts indicated that he was short of the try. Christopher Ascough slotted the kick after for two points, and the Barons were up 7-0, seven minutes into the match. Both teams then went back forth, mirroring one another with attacking, defense, penalties, dropped balls, until Nathanael Bateman, made a heads-up play and stripped the ball from the Crusader's #10 and took off untouched towards the Crusaders' try line, going 50 meters, but he downed the ball on the far left of the tryline and Ascough missed the tough angle kick. The Barons continued to play relentless defense against the bigger Christendom forwards, making good tackles and defending the line well. The Crusaders were able to capitalize on a yellow card to the Barons for too many high tackle penalties and with the Barons down a player, they were able to move 50 meters on penalty kicks alone and punched in a try with no time left in the half. With the missed conversion, the score was 12-5 Barons. The Barons were forced to move a few players around to play other positions. Abraham Schmeissing moved to #8 from the 13 position, freshman Liam Treece moved from the wing to the lock position, and newcomer, Kolbe Evert entered in at wing. Schmiesing and Treece played excellently at positions that they haven't practiced at, with both players contesting lineout plays, and being tough at the tackles and the attack. The second half commenced, and the Barons were back to full strength with 15 after a few minutes. Both teams continued to gain possession of the ball and attempt to establish phase play. The Barons had several nice back play chances but couldn't quite punch it in. Luke Lang (Lex) almost finished off a dazzling run but was grounded down, and after a few pick and goes, the Barons were held up in Christendom's try zone. They once again moved the ball to the backline, and after a high tackle call on the Crusaders, the Barons threw an errant pass that was picked off by Christendom's winger who was chased down on a great effort by Ascough as Christendom tried to change the momentum that was favoring the Barons for 15 minutes at the opening of the second half. Franciscan was undeterred as they were able to poach the ball and gain a penalty and reverse the field back in their favor. The Barons won a lineout and proceeded to maul closer to the try line. Freshman Dominic Grecol executed a pick and go and was able to wiggle his way in for the first try of his young career. Once again, the try occurred on the far end of the try zone, and Ascough was tasked with kicking from the difficult angle. He barely missed wide, and the score was 17-5, Franciscan. With the pressure off for the Barons, they kicked it up a notch and swiftly moved the ball back down the field. After a few back-and-forth possessions by both teams, a Crusader knock turned into a try as Ascough picked the ball from the ruck and scored a brilliant try, outracing and breaking two tackles in the process to dot the ball between the posts. He kicked the conversion to up the lead to 24-5 with 13 minutes remaining. Once again, both teams continued to have possession of the ball, but the Barons spent most of the time in the Crusader's half of the field, finishing off their scoring with an offload by Liam Treece to Brendan Lacey out wide, and with Bateman's difficult kick coming up short, the score was 29-5. Christendom's attempt to score at the tryline with no time remaining fell short as the Barons held strong at the end to thwart the effort.

The Baron ruggers celebrated winning the Shield for the second year in a row in emphatic fashion. They played diligently and with passion to the end. Franciscan thanks Christendom for being gracious hosts and joining together for prayer at mid field. Abraham Schmiesing earned the Player of the Match for his stellar play at #8 and #13 with his overall play in tackling, ball handling, rucking and helping to maintain continuity in the attack. Bateman earned DAWG of the Game with his tough tackling and controlling the ball on the attack. Overall, the team was stellar with their tackling and defense against the bigger forwards, and while there are still a lot of things to clean up, they have shown resiliency in improving each week.

Franciscan will next travel to DII nationally ranked #2 IUP on Sunday, September 14th, for one more nonconference match before hosting Xavier at home on September 20th to start conference play.

Tries: Rooney (1); Bateman (1); Grecol (1); Ascough (1); Lacey (1)

Kick Conversions: Ascough (2/4); Bateman (0/1)

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