Catholic Rugby Claim Fifth Straight MARC Title, Punch Ticket to National Sweet 16!

The Catholic Men’s rugby team is headed back to the national playoffs and will appear in its eighth national “Sweet-16” playoff in the last nine seasons.  On November 1st, the Cardinals made it 5 from 5 MARC championships, vanquishing Susquehanna 37-35 on a late penalty kick off the foot of freshman second row Luke Skelton. With the win Catholic earned an automatic berth in the national playoffs. Catholic was undefeated in the regular season, including a 52-10 non-league win over UMBC in their final match before the MARC Championship.
 
Catholic and Susquehanna have played in a number of epic playoff matches over recent years, and the 2025 MARC championship was no different.  The game got off to a quick start when Catholic fullback Joey Henzel sliced through Riverhawks backline and dashed 35 meters to the opening try just minutes after the kickoff (7-0, conversion Luke Skelton).  Susquehanna responded quickly with their own try (7-7, converted) off a Catholic miscue and the two rivals were back to square one, tie game.  Susquehanna didn’t wait long to follow up with another strike, on a kick and chase into the corner of the try zone (7-14, converted). The Riverhawks pushed the lead out further when they added another converted try 24 minutes into the first half (7-21).

Catholic would counter minutes later when wing CJ Edozie found the corner for an unconverted try (12-21). These two teams were trading punches like heavyweight fighters and Catholic would land another blow just minutes later.  Henzel went in for his second try from 20 meters out after the Catholic forwards stole a Susquehanna throw-in (19-21, conversion Luke Skelton).  But the Riverhawks countered just as quickly and landed another try via good ball handling and aggressive running from their backline (19-28, converted). Catholic did not go quietly into half, and narrowed the gap again off a nifty, darting run from scrumhalf Ethan Miller.  Miller slipped through multiple defenders and connected with hard running center Pat Hart. Hart carried forward and offloaded to Edozie who finished the move with a try in the corner (24-28, unconverted). It seemed like Catholic would have the final score of the half, but Susquehanna took advantage of some Catholic penalties and found the try line for the fifth time in the half (converted), to lead by 11 at the break, 24-35.

In the second half, Catholic found itself defensively and denied Susquehanna any points. Catholic tackled well, showed discipline on defense and only allowed the Riverhawks to threaten their line a few times. Susquehanna also clamped down defensively and the game settled into a tighter contest. The big break came when Catholic was able to sustain pressure at the Susquehanna try line. Eventually flanker Joe Meyer punched in after picking up from the base of a goal line ruck and smashing over (31-34, conversion Luke Skelton) for a critical Catholic try 20 minutes into the second frame. Ten minutes later Catholic closed the gap further, when Luke Skelton converted the first penalty kick on the day (34-35). The two teams battled into the final minutes when Susquehanna committed a critical penalty 30 meters out at mid field.  Skelton stepped forward, and calmly converted his second penalty kick of the game for a 2 point Catholic lead (37-35). That lead would hold up over the closing minute and Catholic had claimed another MARC championship.

The Cardinals are now preparing for the round of 16 in Rock Hill South Carolina on Saturday, 22 November, 3pm. Catholic will face Duke (Duke defeated Southeastern Champion Tulane in a regional playoff), in a rematch of their quarterfinal last year. The winner claims a spot in the national quarterfinals on Sunday the 23rd.