Annapolis, Md. – In an early season conference showdown, the Navy men's rugby team (1-0, 1-0 Rugby East) displayed an all-around performance as it defeated Rugby East foe Mount St. Mary's (Md.) (1-1, 0-1 Rugby East), 36-8.
 
"The match is 80 minutes, you'll never win a match in just the first half. We do look for certain things in the first half to grind down the opposition," stated Director of Rugby Gavin Hickie. "We have significant depth this year, more than years prior, this allows us to get other guys on the pitch that can affect the game in different ways. We're very mindful of the way we approach games, we look for a certain performance in the first 40 minutes, then a different performance in the second 40 minutes."
 
It was a defensive battle with little scoring in the first half, each team was trying to gain an advantage in field position. Navy struck first on the scoreboard following a Mountaineers offside penalty outside of their 22-meter zone, the Mids elected for a penalty kick. Roanin Krieger, the teams 2023-24 scoring leader, drills the kick through the uprights to give Navy a 3-0 advantage 11 minutes into the match.
 
Mount St. Mary's found itself backed up in their own territory with its possession until a kick across mid field landed in the hands of a Mountaineer who bolted into the Midshipmen's 22-meter zone, a collapse in Navy's defense left an open lane for St. Mary's to score its lone try of the match and the first lead change of the day, 5-3.
 
The defensive physicality continued for both teams slowing down the opposition defense and forcing turnovers and creating throw-ins to gain the field advantage. The Mountaineers attempted a similar play that set up their first try, but perfectly defended by the Mids, after gaining possession from a ruck in their own 22-meter zone, sophomore Andrew Baublitz went coast-to-coast and ran past the opposing defense to score the first try of the season at the 30:30 mark. Navy would go into intermission with a narrow 8-5 lead.
 
The Midshipmen opened the second half with junior center Max Smith supplying a pair of big hits to erupt Navy sidelines and the packed Prusmack crowd. "Anyone on our team has the capability to bring the tempo and lay the boom to flip momentum. It just takes one person to set the tone and everyone else will feed off it. Every week we pride ourselves on winning the collision piece, as soon as we got in our rhythm, everybody started having a good time," remarked Smith.
 
"That was a huge momentum swing in that moment," said Hickie on Smith's big hits. "Max is physical and explosive, he played football his first year here, we were tracking him for a long time. His positive impact on attack and defense is phenomenal. He's one of our hardest hitters on the team, if he can blindside you at all and legally hit you, he'll pop you."
 
The Mids began to separate themselves and scored four tries highlighted by a pair of tries from senior captain JD Bengston. The Tifton, Ga., native displayed his physicality as he bullied his way through a Mountaineers defender for his first try of the year. "We had a lot of good guys on the bench that we wanted to sub on and make an impact and they did just that, we started winning scrums back-to-back and that's what opened up the scoring opportunities," said Bengston. "Having our forwards coming in fresh in the second half was the biggest thing, it set us up for easy tries."
 
Navy men's rugby will be back in action on its home pitch on Friday, Sept. 6 when it hosts the University of Maryland.

Box Score
First Half
10:35 – Penalty kick – Navy – Roanin Krieger (3-0)
 
15:50 – Try – Mount St. Mary's (3-5)
Failed conversion – Mount St. Mary's (3-5)
 
30:39 Try – Navy (8-5)
Failed conversion – Navy (8-5)
 
Second Half
 
59:14 – Try – Navy (13-5)
Conversion kick – Navy (15-5)
 
65:05 – Mount St. Mary's penalty kick (15-8)
 
69:20 – Try – Navy (20-8)
Conversion kick – Navy (22-8)
 
73^rd-minute – Try – Navy (27-8)
Conversion kick – Navy (29-8)
 
78^th-minute – Try – Navy (34-8)
Conversion kick- Navy (36-8)