Week two of preseason saw Baltimore Chesapeake Rugby Football Club travel north for a match against the Mount on Echo Field. Representing BC were three Mount alumni: Tyler Myles, C’17, Jack Bonner, C'17 and Matt Drumgoole, C’14.
In the A side match, the Mount jumped out to an early lead with a try at four minutes into the game. The Mount's strength was with their backs, led by Senior Luis Turbyfield and Freshman Colby Rigg, who teamed for the first strike. BC replied with a try five minutes later. Donte Speight used his speed for a try at 12:27, and Rigg followed with a try at the 33:00 minute mark. Baltimore Chesapeake matched the Mount with scores to take a 21-17 lead into the half.
The second half started with the backs doing their part with tries by Turbyfield (41:46) and Rigg (51:25) to put the Mount up 29-21. BC was awarded a penalty try at the 59:00 mark to bring the visiting team close at 29-28. The Mount responded two minutes later with a try (Rigg) and missed conversion. The game continued like a heavy weight prize fight with each trading scores until the Mount finally prevailed with a 41-40 victory. The Mount's final score was by a hard-nosed extra effort 20 meter run by Will Jacobs to provide the winning margin. BC scored the final try with four minutes remaining in the match, but the Mount tightened up on defense to hold on for the victory
The developmental squad struggled for the first 30 minutes against a BC team primarily comprised of A side starters. BC showed no mercy against a Mount team comprised mostly of freshmen who gained valuable experience. In the second half the Mount regrouped and played well as they did in their first match against Delaware last week. They tightened up on defense and put points on the board with a tough run to the try zone by Kevin Hall. In the end the Mount fell to BC 39-5.
“Baltimore Chesapeake has been a rugby powerhouse since 1960 and has the championship hardware to prove it so they are a premier rugby program," said Coach Jay Myles. "The advantages of playing a team like this is it can give a young team such as ours confidence heading into the regular season, and it can also expose some weaknesses that need to be addressed on our end.”
For its final preseason tune up, the Mount travels to Happy Valley for a match against D-1 Penn State on Saturday, September 1. The match time and place have not been announced yet.