Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference

The MARC Men's D1AA starts divisional play this weekend.  The division includes the Keystone teams as well as Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and Rowan University who made the jump from D2 to D1AA this season. MARC D1AA is split into an East and West Division that will meet for cross-over playoffs at the close of divisional play. 

The East Division will feature Rowan, Temple, Villanova, and West Chester. West Chester will head to Villanova on Saturday. With Ryan Morley and Nick Udovich in the backline, the Rams looked good getting a nice win over the University of Delaware in the preseason. Villanova has had some success in the preseason as well with a win over UPenn. Villanova has a new coach after Jack Foley had to step down and Tom Dugan stepped in. Big shoes to fill and Coach Dugan should be able to fill them.  Temple will travel to Rowan this Saturday for their first game. Temple is always a contender in the division and this year should be no different. A nice win over Maryland in the preseason for the fellas from Broad St.   Rowan can be a dark horse as they have been a continual contender at the D2 level.  They had a preseason win vs Rutgers and newly acquired Justin Sangster from New Zealand is already making an impact on the team.

The West will include IUP, Saint Joseph's, West Virginia, and Pitt. Pitt will head to IUP  on Saturday to get things started  in the West.  Like Rowan, IUP moved up to D1AA after finding continual success at D2. And after a nice win over Millersville in the preseason, one should not count them out. Pitt is always strong and physical and although they graduated a few seniors, they have some good depth to fill in the roster. Saint Joseph's and West Virginia will have to wait until September 30th to get their feet wet.  Saint Joseph's won the division Championship last year and will look to duplicate that again this year.  Jimmy Wolfer is back and will look to lead the boys from Hawk Hill. West Virginia is back from Rugby East and will certainly look to disrupt the pecking order in the division. Look for Luke Ellis and the rest of the Mountaineers to make some noise this season. 

This should be another exciting year for D1AA. Anyone's guess who could win it. Only time will tell. Good luck to all teams!