Hamilton, Ontario – The Davenport men's rugby team opened up the regular season north of the border with a pair of non-conference scrimmage victories. In game one, the Panthers defeated McMaster University, 29-19.  Brady Gent led the way with two tries and a total of 19 points.
 
Jacob Woltjer and Carl Smith also picked up tries for the Panthers. Gent was successful on three of his four conversions, and also tallied a penalty goal in the first half.
 
Davenport got things going early in the first half with a Gent try from ten meters out. McMaster then begins to develop sustained pressure on the Panthers and fires back with two unanswered tries, taking the lead into the half.
 
The Panthers regained their bearings coming out of halftime, and Gent continued his exceptional play by adding another try just four minutes into the second half.  The Panthers seemed to have found their stride, for they score 19 unanswered points, until McMaster manages to push another try just minutes before the game came to an end. Davenport beat McMaster 29-19
 
In the team's second match of the weekend they traveled to London, Ontario to face Western Ontario in a 90-minute junior varsity and varsity combined match. Davenport controlled the first 30 minutes of play as Onye Onwukanjo scored two tries while Casey Moag and Tristin Baum each tallied a try as the Panthers took a 29-0 lead after the first 30 minutes.
 
The Panthers and Mustangs battle back and forth in next minutes as they traded scores. Donavan VanPatten tacked on a try to increase the Davenport lead to 36, but Western Ontario finally broke through with a try followed by a successful conversion. Willy Urena put five more points on the board, and the Mustangs closed out the first 60 minutes of play with their second try of the match.
 
In the final 30 minutes of play, the scoring settled down as Michael Hughes tallied a penalty goal, but just one minute late the Mustangs scored their third try of the game to bring the scored to 44-19. Both defensives stood strong the rest of the match as Davenport won the game 44-19.
 
Davenport will face Western Ontario again on Saturday on the DU Turf Field to kick off their 2014-15 home schedule.