By John Graham
Community Submission
Men Qualify for Territorial Playoffs
Longwood men's rugby qualified for the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) by defeating Washington & Lee University 50-15 at the Virginia Rugby Union (VRU) playoffs in Roanoke. Unfortunately, the game took its toll when seniors Ryan Ballinger and James 'Lumberjack' Betz and junior Brad Roger were injured and could not play in the finals. All three were hurt in the first 20 minutes of the game and LU seem out of sync until the last 20 minutes when they ran in several tries that put the game out of reach.
In the Finals of the VRU Championships LU fell short of defending its 2008 title in a loss to Christopher Newport University (CNU). CNU ran out to a 13-0 lead behind two tries and a penalty kick. Tries by Jimmy Bittner, Jay Kennedy and Jessy Kelly and conversions by Austin Lux and TJ Van Petten gave LU the lead 19-13 with 10 minutes to play. But with CNU applying the pressure, the defense was unable to stop a final score and CNU took the title 26-19.
CNU will enter the MARFU playoffs as the #1 seed while LU will be #4. LU will host either American University or Frostburg State University in March for a chance to advance in the playoffs.
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