JONESBORO, Ark. - Davenport men's rugby played against Arkansas State University for their tenth match of the 15's season on March 18. The final score against the Red Wolves was 17-14 resulting in another win against them this season. Previously, Davenport won against them in November with a 17-7 score on their home turf.

The match started off with the Panthers taking the lead with a try from Maris Kurti. During the entirety of the first half, Davenport was adjusting to windy weather with a muddy field. Although the weather was less than ideal, their defense dominated the Red Wolves and made it nearly impossible for them to put up points on the board in a conventional way (scoring tries). Arkansas State had to resort to penalty kicks in order to start gaining points.

During the second half, the game started to get too close for comfort on either side. Arkansas State was up, but Davenport had a few more tricks up their sleeves before the final whistle. With powerful runs gaining meters towards the try line, in combination with more complex passing and strong offloads, came more and more ground won by the Panthers. With only a few minutes left to spare Arkansas state was up, but Davenport was able to create a turnover and Orlando Casey was able to score the second try of the match. It was such a close game, but Davenport getting the upper hand in the last few minutes was all they needed to secure the win. All they had to do was play their team-centered defense and maintain the score they had. This was not as easy of a game as it had been previously in the season, but they remained on top again, and hope to carry through their game next week.

Scoring Breakdown for Davenport v. Arkansas State
Maris Kurti - 1 try (5 points)
Orlando Casey - 1 try (5 points)
Sean Nolan - 2 conversions and 1 penalty kick (7 points)

Next week our Davenport Men's Rugby team takes on Life University on Saturday, March 25 in Marietta, Georgia. The last time the Panthers won against Life was earlier this season with a 23-10 final score. It was their first win against Life in the history of this program, and they get another chance to face off before the season concludes.