Men’s Division 3 – October 2025 Recap

With October coming to a close, it is yet again time for another USA Club  Rugby Monthly Recap where we cover all of the goings-on from this past month in the USA Club Rugby scene. It’s a spicy time of the year for some regions who have completed their regular season this month and are entering playoffs. Other regions have just kicked off, while even more have just finalized schedules for the spring season. And we’re covering it all right here. As always, recaps are organized by division, so take a seat as we dive into what happened in the Men’s D3 Competition this past October!

Before I forget, all of this information is gathered from team-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. If you see something wrong, please check first on Rugby Xplorer and talk to your Geographic Union; if it’s right on RugbyX but wrong here, I could have just made a mistake. Unfortunately, I too am a human. I am always open to hearing comments and suggestions, so don’t be afraid to reach out. Any additional commentary is added for fun from someone who has zero standing in the outcomes of these games. Sounds good? Let’s get started.

It’s do or die time in the Midwest as the regular season finished at the start of October, and the teams have gone through two rounds of playoffs to give us our final four. I’m going to break it down by quarterfinal, but expect each summary to be hefty as I still have to recap the round of 16 AND how each team got there. 

QF1: Cincinnati Kelts versus the Cleveland Rovers. In Ohio, Cincinnati went 5-1 in the regular season, as did the Columbus Castaways who finished second. However, when it came to the head to head, Cincinnati defeated Columbus 34-24, giving them the leg up. Louisville was close to making the cut for the postseason, a heartbreaking 24-20 loss back in September to the Kelts prevented them from making it out. Cincinnati took on the Pittsburgh Forge in the round of 16, the second seed out of the D3 East. It all came down to the final game of the season for Pittsburgh, who faced Canton-Akron on October 11th. The match was a classic “winner goes through”, and Pittsburgh delivered, scoring 8 tries to punch their 50-12 ticket to the postseason. When the Forge faced the Kelts, it was the Forge that scored first through Christopher O’Connor, who converted his own try. However the next five tries went the way of Cincinnati. O’Connor dotted another one down, but a one-man effort wasn’t going to be enough. Cincinnati lived to fight another day, final score 52-12. 

So how did the Cleveland Rovers make the cut? Cleveland finished 5-0 in Pittsburgh’s pool, the D3 East. With a total point differential of 222, they didn’t have much pushback throughout the season. In fact, their closest match was when they took on Canton-Akron, a 33-point win. They took on the second-place team from Ohio, the Cleveland Castaways. The Castaways had the same record and table points as Cincinnati, so just as good as any other first seed, and they played like it. For a team like the Rovers, who didn’t face much in terms of competition, the Castaways were a bit of a shock. However, Cleveland had too much riding on this to fall at the first hurdle, so they did what they do best and took down the Castaways 40-25. 

Now it was time for Cleveland and Cincinnati to meet in the quarter. The Kelts secured the home field advantage, and the fans were out in droves to cheer their men onward to victory. The match was hotly contested, everything you want playoff footy to be. In the end it was the underdogs who took the win, the Cleveland Rovers putting one over on the Kelts 24-17 to advance to the semifinals. It’s a nice treat for the Rovers who were eliminated last year in the round of 16 to Dayton, but a tough loss for the Kelts who were having a dream season. The Rovers remain undefeated heading into the next round. 

QF2: Detroit Tradesmen vs Michiana Moose. The Detroit Tradesmen finished 6-0 in the D3 Michigan League. With a 306 point differential, they had an average differential of 51 points per match. That’s a lot. It’s also not Detroit’s first rodeo; they made it all the way to the semifinals last year where they lost to the eventual Midwest Champions, the South Pittsburgh Hooligans. This year, they are aiming higher. Their first challenge was taking down the second-place team from the Indiana league, the Toledo Celtics. The Celtics finished 5-1, their final game being their ticket to the postseason when they defeated the third-place Indianapolis Impalas 55-22. Now who else would be in the way of the Celtics except Detroit. According to this author (shoutout for a great write-up), it’s a rivalry that exceeds time and space. Unfortunately for Toledo, their four-try second half miracle just wasn’t enough to counter Adam Saad’s perfect boot. Detroit advanced, final score 59-24. 

On the other side of this match up we had the Michiana Moose who finished perfect in Indiana before taking on the Capital Area Crisis in the round of 16. The Moose definitely had to fight for their wins in the Indiana league; there was some stiff competition. They defeated Toledo back in August 48-36 and snuck by the Indianapolis Impalas 24-12 in September. The Impalas had a great first season in D3, finishing 4-2; I’m sure we’ll see them in the postseason conversation soon enough. The Capital Area Crisis finished second in Michigan, with a 5-1 record. What’s actually crazy is that the Crisis had four teams forfeit to them in a row over September and October. Talk about a crisis. So when you consider the games they did play, they finished 1-1. Now, one of those losses was 48-26 against the Tradesmen, so, they were obviously able to hold their own with the big dogs, but still a rough way to get thrown in the fire after not playing a league game since September 6th. As the higher seed, the Moose hosted the Crisis. Michiana was turned on from minute one (Alex Gillet’s score) to minute 80 (Rashad Brigg’s score). Don’t be fooled, the Crisis came to play, they just didn’t score as many as the Moose did. The final score was 53-31 in favor of the Moose. 

Detroit hosted Michiana last weekend in an eerie deja vu of last year’s quarterfinal. Detroit scored first, five minutes in through Patrick Miyamoto. Tony Anderson leveled from the Moose, conversion missed, but still neck and neck. Alex Gillet added another and the Moose took the lead, Irubel Macias converting. Samuel Lilley added his own for the Tradesmen and for 20 minutes the score stood 12-12, both teams tied entering the halftime break. It was the triple threat of tries that Detroit scored early in the second half that won the match; before Michiana could blink, the score was 33-12. Both teams added one more before the final whistle, but the damage was done, Detroit advancing to the semifinals. 

QF3: Fox Cities Gargoyles vs Chicago Blaze. The Fox Cities Gargoyles were perfect in the D3 Wisconsin conference this year, going 6-0. Their closest match was September 27th against the Milwaukee Barbarians who ended up a surprising fourth overall. Fox City made it to the play-in game last year as the higher seed, only to lose to the visiting Chicago Riot. As the top seed again, the Gargoyles were determined to make it out of the round of 16 and host their own quarterfinal. They had a mountain to climb, as their first opponent in the postseason were the Rockford Ravens, who finished second in the CARFU league. It came down to the final weekend in CARFU, both the Chicago Blaze and Rockford knew they were qualified, but they were playing for hosting rights. The visiting Blaze stormed out to an early lead and kept their foot on the gas, taking the top slot with a 50-12 win over the Ravens. Fox Cities was held to a single try in the first 55 minutes, but then the floodgates opened. Jacob Mason was perfect off the tee for the Gargoyles, hitting all five conversions and adding a try of his own at minute 60. The Ravens sent Christopher Walker over the line three times, but in the end they needed more. Fox Cities shut down Rockford’s hopes and managed to advance, going further than they did last year. 

This is where Fox Cities ran into the Chicago Blaze. Chicago not only stormed over Rockford in the CARFU league, they stormed over everyone. They hit triple digits twice this season, once over the Chicago Silverbacks and again against the Peoria Pigs. They faced D3 Wisconsin’s second-place side, the Wisconsin Sharks in the round of 16. The Sharks went 5-1 in the regular season, and finished with a higher differential than the Gargoyles did. That game they lost was all the way at the start of September, plenty had changed since then. This also wasn’t Wisconsin’s first trip to the playoffs, they traveled to the Northwest Woodsmen last year in the round of 16, falling short 47-40. Unfortunately this year, they hit a harder brick wall than the Woodsmen. The Blaze got their first try in under five minutes, through hooker William Almodovar. Edward Smith converted, and the Blaze were in the groove. They ended up scoring seven tries in the match, a comfortable buffer over the Shark’s three, and enough to secure a trip to the quarters. 

Fox Cities were the hosts for this one, soaking up the home field advantage. However, it was Chicago that found the try zone first, through Christopher Lamberton. Ryan Peters scored next for the Gargoyles, and it was back to a draw. Not for long though, Chicago sent two more players in to take the lead into the half 19-7. When the Blaze scored three tries in 12 minutes at the start of the second half, home fans started to get worried. Mason added another try for Fox Cities, but it didn’t start a trend like he’d hoped. The Gargoyles would get one final score at the death, but Chicago had already won the battle, final score 41-21. 

QF4: Red River Ruffians vs Bremer County Bucks. Our final quarterfinal was between last year’s Midwest runners-up and Super Regional representative, the Red River Ruffians, and the Bremer County Bucks, the Iowa league champions. First up, the Red River Ruffians. Obviously based on their credentials, you know the Ruffians are a good side. They went 5-0 in the Minnesota league (despite being from North Dakota), but it wasn’t an easy ride. They cut it too close for comfort when they hosted the St. Paul Jazz Pigs on September 13th, only winning 12-5. In the Minnesota playoffs, they defeated the Wailers 36-24 before taking on the Jazz Pigs again, and confidently showing them who is top dog with a 31-12 statement victory. The Ruffians hosted the West Des Moines Wombats in the round of 16. The Wombats finished 4-2 in the Iowa league, both losses at the hands of the Bremer County Bucks. (There’s only four teams in Iowa so they play each other twice each). The Wombats and the Ruffians went head to head last year as well, with the Wombats falling 44-5 despite hosting the play-in match. For a club in their fifth year, who has only ever played 30 matches, back to back playoff appearances is pretty impressive; that’s not even including that one of the best teams in their region was their first stop on the postseason circuit. The Ruffians played confidently in Fargo on the 18th, scoring six first half tries in their eventual defeat of the Wombats. Final score 53-20, Ruffians advancing to the next round.

The Bremer County Bucks left Iowa with a 6-0 record, and a total point differential of 269. They had tread this path before; last year the Bucks defeated the Rochester Rogues to qualify for quarters, where they fell by a single point to the Ruffians, absolute heartbreak at the final whistle. This year, they came to play. Their opponent in the round of 16 was the St. Paul Jazz Pigs who finished with a 3-1 record including that close loss to the Ruffians. The Jazz Pigs went through the Minnesota playoffs, meeting the Ruffians again in the MN final. They lost again, but they still qualified for the Midwest postseason. Unfortunately, they ran into the wrong team, as Bremer County stacked the points on St. Paul. It was the largest differential of all eight play-in matches, with the Bucks topping the Jazz Pigs 62-10. Thomas Lundberg and Matthew Zvitkovitz scored the final two tries for the Jazz Pigs this season as they ended their run in the round of 16. 

So on it went, the Ruffians versus the Bucks. If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because last year these two sides played in the closest quarterfinal for the Midwest. An 81st minute try by Tate Hoseth won it last year for the Ruffians, final score 41-40. I wish I could say it was less dramatic this year, but it wasn’t. Danny Lahai scored first for the Red River, Neymar Mukori converting to make it 7-0. Kyle Hoisington got himself a double at the end of the first half, Mukori also converting both of those to take the lead into halftime 21-0. Easy day for the Ruffians right? Wrong. David Randall scored his own for the Bucks at minute 47, followed by two quick tries at minutes 51 and 53 by Kaleb Boleyn. Randall converted both of those to bring the score to 21-19. Lahai added his own second for the Ruffians five minutes later to drag the lead to 26-19; no conversion meant that a converted try by the Bucks would tie the game and force it into extra time. Kobe Nobis would score that try for Bremer County with four minutes to go, but the kick missed. Trailing by two, Bremer County left it all out on the pitch for those final plays, but fell short once again. The Ruffians are back in the semifinals, here to finish what they started last year. 

With our four semifinalists confirmed, we’ll have to wait until November 8th to see what happens next. 

A bit south in the Mid-America region, we’ve run through all the matches scheduled for this fall, however a serious storm postponed all the games on October 18th, so we’ll see when those get rescheduled to. Let’s cover what we do have information on!

In the East division, the St. Louis Hornets (3-0) maintained their perfect record when they defeated second-place Sunday Morning RC (2-1) on October 11th. Both teams scored three tries, but St. Louis was able to add all three conversions and two penalty goals in order to take the win 27-15. However, neither the Hornets nor Sunday Morning received bonus points in that one, which could matter around playoff time. The Hornets also got a strong road win over the Rowdies (1-2) at the start of the month, defeating them 41-7 on the 4th. 

Sunday Morning are one table point above the Hornets despite having the same win record, thanks to their bonus point win last weekend against the Rowdies. They scored 14 tries in the slaughter, with flyhalf Ryan Lobbig sending over eight conversions to bring the final score 86-7. Sunday Morning have now played all teams in the division, while the Hornets have one match left against the Mercenaries (0-3). Using deductive reasoning, if we assume that one to be a win to St. Louis, they will pull back into first place. 

Both the Rowdies and the Celts are 1-2. Their match against each other was the one that was rained out, so they definitely need to play that one. They’re currently tied on table points as well, but the Rowdies have a better point differential which keeps them third while the Celts fall to fourth. 

The Mercenaries, well, they’re giving it all they’ve got. It’s been a rough season, and they still have to take on the undefeated Hornets. I don’t envy them, but I do know that every team goes through it; I’m sure they’ll take the offseason to rebuild and come back better. 

Moving into the Western division, Springfield (3-1) are currently sitting above the Kansas City Blues (3-0) thanks to a few extra bonus points. The Blues actually defeated Springfield last weekend 31-28, but since Springfield has played one more game AND got those two bonus points in the loss, they’ll keep hold of first for now. 

Every team in the Mid-America West also has a free win due to the Outlaws (0-4) forfeiting the season. This means that each team only played three matches in the fall, and since a few were rained out, some teams have only played twice. The Blues are one of these teams. They won their season opener back in September over Kansas City (2-2), then all quiet until this past weekend. I mean, they are still undefeated so I guess it worked out for them. 

It also appears that Northland (1-2) are getting better. Their one win is from the forfeit, but they lost their first played match 91-0 against Kansas City. In their second played match they managed to cut that difference to 17 points, and they played a higher-ranked team. If this trend continues, then Northland has a serious chance of beating the Kansas City Blues in their final match of the fall.

We’re not sure when these rainout games will be played, but we will update you when we find out!

Over to the Rocky Mountains to check in on our Colorado-based D3 sides. There’s one weekend left of games in November and two in March before the top four teams advance to semifinals.

The Colorado Springs Grizzlies (5-0) are so far perfect on the season; earning maximum bonus points and winning all their matches. They took down the Queen City Rams (2-3) on October 4th and followed it up with a road win at Boulder (2-3). Now, they haven’t played either the second or third place team, both of whom finished higher than the Grizzlies did last year. 

In second place are last year’s National semifinalists, the Denver Highlanders (3-1). The Highlanders may have a loss on their record, but they also got maximum available bonus points in all games, including that 43-41 loss to Boulder on the opening weekend. They followed that up with three exciting wins; 48-33 over the Littleton Scots (3-1), 44-35 over the Denver Harlequins (0-4), and 27-24 over the Queen City Rams. You’ve got to admit, the Highlanders know how to put on a show. This weekend the Grizzlies will take on the Highlanders, which will finally give us a chance to see who’s really on top of this conference. 

In third place, with the same record as the Highlanders, are the Littleton Scots (3-1). Littleton has one less bonus point for failing to come within seven in their loss to the Highlanders back in September, which keeps them at third. The Scots have been relatively quiet this month, their only action* was a 45-17 win over Boulder on the 4th. They’ll travel to the Harlequins to finish off their season this fall and resume in the spring with a trip to the top of the table Colorado Springs Grizzlies. 

Last year’s Rocky Mountain’s runners-up, the Queen City Rams, are currently in fourth. It’s not great for the Rams; both matches in October ended in a loss for Queen City. Their last win was back in September when they traveled to the Northern Colorado Flamingos (1-4); even then it was only by six points, final score 43-37. Maybe it’s not the Rams’ year. But with semifinals in play this year, they really only have to make the top four in order to qualify for playoffs, so they can time their peak for later in the season. 

Boulder has an identical record to Queen City, but less bonus points. Of course they started the season banging on all cylinders as they took down the reigning Rocky Mountain champion, the Denver Highlanders, 43-41. However, they haven’t continued that trend as they probably would have liked. In October they lost to both the Scots and the Grizzlies. They did get their second win over the Northern Colorado Flamingos 26-21, but they just need some more oomph in their step to crack into that top four. Their last chance of the season will be next weekend when they travel to the Queen City Rams for their first meeting this year.

Hanging out at the bottom of the table are the Northern Colorado Flamingos and the Denver Harlequins. Both teams finished in the bottom two last year as well, so… they met expectations? Northern Colorado went 0-8 last year, so their October 11th win over the Harlequins was definitely something to celebrate. Even the smallest improvement is an improvement. 

*RMR has a few matches that happened this past weekend with incomplete data in RX. Instead of trying to guess and draw attention to it, I’ve just pretended that weekend didn’t happen. 

There’s two weeks left of regular season play for the nine teams in New England’s Men’s D3 competition and then the top two teams go directly to the final; plenty to play for.

The Albany Knickerbockers (5-2) are currently in first place with one match left to play against winless North Shore (0-6), so they’re probably safe. They were first in the league last year as well, making it to the final against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds before tripping up at the final hurdle. They opened October with a surprising 34-12 loss to South Shore (4-2), but bounced back with a 44-5 defeat of the Boston Maccabi (2-4-1). Their final game of the month was last weekend when they stormed by Amoskeag (2-4) 90-14. Front-rower Cody Clifford scored five times for the Knicks in that one. 

Currently in second place is Providence (4-2). Now, we’ve got a number of teams with this record or similar and we’ll touch on all the ways the end of the season can go at the bottom of this section, but just the recap for now. Providence made it to the semifinal last year where they lost to the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. This past month they’ve added two wins to their record, the first over the Boston Maccabi, and the second over the Wolfhounds. That win over the Wolfhounds effectively shot Boston’s chances of going back to playoffs, so no repeats of what happened last year.

In third and fourth are the Hartford Wanderers (4-2) and Burlington (4-1-1). Despite having different records, these two have the same number of bonus points, making them more or less even. Hartford has a larger point differential by about 30; they also have the head to head win record, as they defeated Burlington 47-19 back on October 4th. Burlington on the other hand, have defeated both Providence and the Knickerbockers. They went and made it even more confusing last weekend when they tied the Boston Maccabi who is all the way down in eighth place. They have less bonus points than Hartford, but got more table points in the tie than the Wanderers did in their second loss. So all even for now. 

In fifth place, we have South Shore who is also currently 4-2. South Shore has one less table point than Hartford and Burlington, and a smaller differential. South Shore lost to the Boston Maccabi and Burlington, but they’ve beaten the Knicks and the Wolfhounds. They arguably have two of their hardest matches yet to play, against Providence and the Wanderers. 

The Boston Irish Wolfhounds, Amoskeag, and the Boston Maccabi are all 2-4. They don’t have a chance to advance to the playoffs, though they do have the opportunity to mess it up for some of the teams that do! The Wolfhounds slotted a 37-36 win over North Shore at the start of October and followed it up with a 41-38 loss to South Shore. They needed to beat Providence last weekend to keep the dream alive, but failed to do so. The Boston Maccabi impressed with their 24-24 tie against Burlington last weekend while Amoskeag is still dreaming about their epic 59-0 win over the Maccabi back at the end of September. North Shore (6-0) is at the bottom; they’ve got two more chances this season, but as we’re about to get into, everyone is going to have to give it all they’ve got to qualify for that championship match, and no one is going to take it easy on anyone. 

So, two teams can make it. What’s the deal? The Knicks are on 27 points; assume a BP win over North Shore and they finish at 32. Providence is at 23 with two games left to play. If they beat South Shore and Amoskeag with BPs, they’ll end at 33, taking first. If they can only get a BP in one win, they’ll be tied with the Knicks, and since the Knicks beat them in the head to head, they’ll stay second. Now Hartford and Burlington are both on 22 points with two games to play. If either wins with max bonus points on both matches, they’ll be tied with the Knicks. In the head to head Hartford beat Burlington who beat the Knicks who beat Hartford. There’s a lot of permutations here, but the gist of it is: win your games with as many points as you can get. Then we’ll see what happens. 

Moving into the New York area, we’ve got four leagues to cover in the Empire Men’s D3. All four leagues have a couple more games to go before closing doors for the winter.

First up, the Connecticut league. Greenwich (6-0) are still undefeated, having added wins over New Haven (3-3), Saratoga (2-4), and Danbury (2-4) this past month. The New Haven match was a spicy one, New Haven got on the board first through Papa Ibrahima Niang, but Greenwich immediately answered with Michael Ricks. The teams went back and forth the whole game, but it was Ronald Rawlings who scored in the 79th minute to draw the game for Greenwich. Alexander Brown had the final say when he slotted the conversion and gave Greenwich the win, 24-22.

The Fairfield Yankees (5-2) are in a pretty confident second place with one match left to play. This is when they travel to Greenwich to play for the top of the table. Even if the Yankees win this one, they still need Greenwich to lose the next weekend when they play New Haven in order to finish first. It could happen. The Yankees have been pretty dominant since their opening loss to Saratoga on September 6th. The first loss to Greenwich was a final score of 13-11, that’s still anyone’s game to win. 

New Haven is in third and Saratoga in fourth. Neither have a chance of making it to the top two spots, they’re too many bonus points behind. Right now they’re battling it out for third; they’ll play each other on November 8th, then New Haven goes to Greenwich while Saratoga travels to Danbury. 

Danbury has one opportunity left to get their lone win of the season, and that is November 15th when they host Saratoga. They were close last time, losing 27-25 at Saratoga. They also came within five points the next weekend when they traveled to New Haven. A win is close enough to taste for Danbury, and what a sweet way to end the season that would be.

Over to the D3 Metro league. There’s some interesting tidbits in the Empire D3 Metro, let’s get into it. First up, Rockaway (6-1) should be solidly ahead of Brooklyn (5-2) but Rockaway forfeited to Long Island (5-1) back in September. Talk about drama. The thing about forfeits, is that it’s usually the teams who don’t have enough numbers, and when they don’t have enough numbers, they’re not doing well anyway. Rarely, if ever, have I seen a top of the table team forfeit and stay on top of the table. But, here’s Rockaway! There haven’t been that many blowouts in this conference; Rockaway’s wins are by 15 over Brooklyn, seven over NYRC (2-4), and one over Suffolk (3-3). So, pretty competitive. Rockaway has one match left, and it’s against Long Island, the one team they haven’t played yet. If they also beat Long Island, then case closed, they deserve to be on top.

Brooklyn are our current second-place team. Last weekend they nabbed a 32-23 victory over Queens (2-5) and back on the 18th they defeated third-place Long Island 28-17; Michael Weinstein was four for four from the boot in that last one. Brooklyn also have one match left, hitting the road to take on the New York Rugby Club on November 8th. 

Long Island is currently third, but with all the potential to rise into first over the next three weeks. They have two games left to play, Suffolk on the 8th and Rockaway on the 15th. They already defeated Suffolk once, back in September, and they obviously got that forfeit win over Rockaway, but the big question remains: can Long Island beat Rockaway? I think the winner of that match is going to be our league leader at the close of the season. 

Suffolk is middle of the table with an even 3-3 record. They definitely had an exciting October; they kicked off with a 113-0 smashing of Lansdowne and followed it up with two one-point losses, 28-27 against Rockaway and 11-10 against NYRC. I’d say they’re definitely improving as the season goes on. It might be too late to make the cut for playoffs, but they have two more matches to prove their stuff, including hosting Long Island on the 8th.

At fifth and sixth are the NYRC and Queens, who both added a win to their record in October. NYRC won that one-point battle over Suffolk while Queens defeated NYRC 52-33 on Randall’s Island the weekend before. Both teams already had a win from either defeating Lansdowne (0-7), or getting a forfeit win on their behalf. 

Onto the New Jersey bracket of Empire’s D3 conference. Union (5-0-1) has this top spot secured even with two games left to play AND their unexpected draw last weekend against Bayonne (3-2-1). Union were overshadowed by Montclair in this division last year, but as Montclair has been promoted, the gates are wide open for a new leader in New Jersey. Union kicked off their October with a 35-19 defeat of Central Jersey (2-4) followed by a 30-10 defeat of the Morris Lions (3-3). They obliterated Hudson Valley (1-5) 105-0, but they tied 17-17 against Bayonne. They’ll host Central Jersey this weekend followed by a rematch against Bayonne on the 15th; but no matter what happens, their lead is too strong to be caught. 

As expected for a team who tied the first place team, Bayonne is in second. They improved as the season went on, coming from 1-2 in September to adding two wins and one tie by the close of October. They defeated the third-place Morris Lions 22-5 on October 4th, gaining the advantage in the table despite having the same points as Morris. 

The Lions had the opposite experience from Bayonne this month; they were 2-1 at the close of September and shifted to 3-3 by the end of October. They have two games left, both against teams lower on the table, so they could hop back up to second if Bayonne lets their guard down. 

Hudson Valley got their first win of the season on October 11th when they defeated Central Jersey 26-21. Robert Stabile scored twice for Hudson Valley in the win, while Alex Szczepanski kicked the extras. They have two games left to play, traveling to Bayonne on the 8th and hosting the Morris Lions on the 15th. 

Finally, we head upstate to check in on our final five sides, and the reigning Empire D3 champion, the Syracuse Chargers. You’ll be pleased to know that not much has changed since last year. The Chargers are 6-0 with a 221 point differential. They do have one less bonus point from last year; that coming from their 18-12 win over South Buffalo (1-5) in September. However, October was good to them; they defeated second-place Buffalo (5-2) 62-19 and swept KenTon (0-6) 93-5. Their final game of the month was a 35-20 defeat of the Rochester Aardvarks (4-3). One could look at the table and see that both Buffalo and Rochester are realistically within striking distance of taking over the top spot, but they both have one more match played than Syracuse. The Chargers have two home games left; win either one of them and they’ll be back out of reach. 

Buffalo improved from third to second this year. Just last weekend they toppled old foes South Buffalo by a score of 53-22, Bryan Royster and Joe Philipps both scoring twice for Buffalo. They also topped the Aardvarks 38-34 the weekend before, center Matthew Coles slotting the extra conversions responsible for the gap. 

Rochester is also throwing their name in the ring as a real competitor this year. They kicked off October with a 51-17 defeat of South Buffalo, got a double bonus point loss against Buffalo, and came closer to Syracuse than almost any other side did this year. They’ve got one match left against KenTon on the 15th, a likely win based on stats. 

Checking in on the Capital region, two leagues are completely done, one has one match left but already knows their championship match, and the fourth has two matches remaining before they can determine who will go to the league championship. 

Starting with the four-team Central league. Severn River (5-1) wrapped this one up with their final win over the Washington Renegades (4-2) last weekend. It was one of three wins they had this month, the first 34-10 over Loudoun (2-4) and the second a 65-18 stomp of Frederick (1-5). Severn’s lone loss was back in September at the hands of Loudoun, 26-12. Joining them in the Central Championship will be the Washington Renegades, who finished second overall. Both of the Renegades’ losses come at the hands of Severn, who made it to the Capital D3 semifinals last year where they lost to Rocky Gorge. That final match will take place on March 28th.

Moving to the South league, Virginia (6-0) finished undefeated with a demolition of the Rocktown Roosters (0-6) last weekend 83-3. They’ve recorded an astounding 344 point differential this season, allowing only 46 points scored against them all year (that’s an average of one try per match). So who is lucky enough to be taking on Virginia in the South Championship? That would be Virginia Beach (5-1). Virginia Beach made it to the Capital finals last year where they were gobsmacked 117-0 by Rocky Gorge. All in all, Virginia Beach has had a really good season. In any other league they could be confidently top of the table; unfortunately they’re in here with Virginia. In third and fourth are Roanoke (3-2) and Newport News (2-3). They both have one fixture left to be played in the Spring, against each other! It’s actually going to be a really good game, seeing as whoever wins will take third and whoever loses will get fourth. It just unfortunately doesn’t matter for a playoff structure where only the top two teams advance. 

Sliding down to the Challenger Central (clubs with D1 and D3 sides), this league finished up last weekend and the championship is set for the end of March. Playing in that match will be first place Rocky Gorge (6-0) who made it all the way to the National semifinal last year, only to be defeated by the eventual National Champions, the Columbia Rhinos. So Rocky Gorge is obviously the team to beat in the D3 Atlantic. They only played two matches in October, one a 66-5 defeat of NOVA (1-4), the other a 67-26 defeat of Schuylkill River (3-2). That’s just how Rocky Gorge rolls. Joining them in the championship will be the second-place Potomac Exiles (4-1). Potomac had some clutch wins that pushed them into second place, including a 22-14 defeat of the Washington Irish (2-3), and their 26-17 victory over Schuylkill River. They haven’t played Rocky Gorge since September, and that was a 24-21 loss; the penalty goal from Michael Williams being the difference. So yeah, Rocky Gorge is good, but Potomac ain’t half bad. It’ll all be about who weathers the off-season better. 

Finally we check in on our three Challenger South teams (clubs with D2 and D3 sides). In September all three sides were 1-1. We’ve only had one match since then, so we haven’t yet confirmed teams for the championship in the spring. James River (2-1) beat the Riverlands (1-2) back on October 18th. It was nine tries to the Golden Boars’ four; even Pasquale Cassese’s perfect accuracy off the boot wasn’t enough to make it up for the Riverlands. Seeing as James River forfeited their first match against the Golden Boars, and the Riverlands have gotten more bonus points, the two are only separated by one table point. They both have to travel to Raleigh one final time; the Riverlands head out this weekend while James River waits until March. It’s not directly “winner goes through”, but it’s pretty close. If they want a chance in the final, they should all definitely try to win.

Heading over to our last GU in the Atlantic Super Region, let’s check in with Eastern Pennsylvania! There’s only two games left to play for the season and then everything will be set for playoffs in the spring. Last year the EPRU had three quarterfinal play-ins, giving the top seed the bye to the final; followed by semifinals and the final. Not sure if they will do the same this year, but let’s assume that if you’re in the top seven teams you are safe.

Top of the table are the Jersey Shore Sharks (6-0). It’s like Jaws out here. The Sharks finished fourth last year, making it to the semifinal where they fell to the Wilkes-Barre Breakers (5-1) who made it out of the EPRU to the Super Regional. This year they’re taking no chances. They cemented their standing with a 46-14 win over Wilkes-Barre last weekend; Quinn McLaughlin scored three times for the Sharks and Jacob Klecko added 16 points off the tee. 

In second place are last year’s EPRU champions, the Wilkes-Barre Breakers. Wilkes-Barre are solid, but their matches are a bit closer than last year; they notched a 41-36 win over Reading (2-3) at the start of the month followed by a 36-26 win when they traveled to Blackthorn (1-5) the following week. Then on October 18th they beat Brandywine by a single point, Antonio Vallorani scoring at the 78th minute for Brandywine and Ethan Pollock converting to bring the score to 36-35. That’s cutting it a bit too close for comfort for me.

In third are Brandywine (4-2). The way this conference works is that not everyone has to play every other team, and Brandywine are one of the lucky ones who didn’t have to face Jersey Shore. Their two losses came from Lehigh Valley on October 4th and the one-pointer against Wilkes-Barre on the 18th. They finished the season on a high when they hosted Blackthorn last weekend, taking the spoils in a back and forth barnburner, final score 49-45. 

Currently in fourth place is Lehigh Valley (4-1). They have one less game played than Brandywine and their final match of the season is this Saturday when they host Reading. If they win that one, they will leapfrog over Brandywine and take third (and possibly home field advantage in a playoff match). It’s important to note that Lehigh Valley hasn’t had to play either of the top two teams yet, so we don’t know how they stack up. There could be some surprises in the spring.

Northeast Philadelphia (3-2) and the Montgomery Bucks (3-3) are both tied on 16 table points in fifth and sixth respectively. Northeast has one match left to play against Phoenixville White Horse (1-4). If they win that AND Lehigh Valley loses without getting a bonus point, they would jump up another spot thanks to their 46-20 win over Lehigh Valley earlier in September. The Montgomery Bucks had two of their hardest matches at the end of October, losing 43-5 against Northeast Philadelphia and 51-31 against Lehigh Valley. 

Gunning for spot number seven on the playoff list are Wilmington (2-4) and Reading. With one less match played, Reading could jump Wilmington with a win over Lehigh Valley next weekend. Even a losing bonus point would tie them on table points, and then Reading would get the nod thanks to their 43-38 win over Wilmington on October 18th. 

At the bottom of the table are Blackthorn (1-5), Phoenixville White Horse (1-4), and Harrisburg (0-6). All three likely end their season this fall (unless some really weird playoff structure comes out). Blackthorn really pushed to the end, pulling two losing bonus points out of their last match against third-place Brandywine. They also came within 10 points of Wilkes-Barre on the 11th, they just couldn’t turn those close games into wins. Phoenixville got their lone win of the season last weekend when they defeated Harrisburg 33-17. They have one final game to play, hosting Northeast Philadelphia on Saturday.

As we head west, most of our California teams opt for a spring-only season. NorCal has nine Men’s D3 sides participating, down from 11 last year, but there are a whole lot of changes. Harlot Rugby has left, but as they forfeited their entire season, we kind of expected that. Chico have dropped to D4, kind of a surprise after going 6-3-1. However league changes often have to do with costs associated with travel instead of performance and competition-based. I’m just reporting the facts. The San Francisco Fog, Fresno Golden Dogs, and Mendocino have also dropped down to D4. San Jose D3 is gone, however they still have their D2 side participating. New to the competition are Life West, Olde Gaels, and San Francisco Golden Gate. With all these changes, we have no idea what’s going to unfold, but when it does, we’ll be there.

Southern California also doesn’t kick off until the new year. They have yet to release their teams for 2026, but we look forward to seeing clubs such as Beach Cities, the Fullerton Dead Elephants, the West Coast Marines, and many more back in action. Hopefully by October’s recap we will have some new updates for you.

Up in the Pacific Northwest we’re almost at the end of the fall season. Three more games happen this upcoming weekend, but we’ve got a pretty good idea of how all the teams will end up entering the winter break. 

On top are the Portland Pigs (5-0). The Pigs reigned as PNW champions last year, traveling down to Las Vegas to represent at the Pacific Super Regional. It was there that their campaign was cut short by the Scottsdale Blues, who ended up winning the whole shebang. So, how far could Portland have gone if not for running into the best team in the first round? Portland is on track to find out, and the first step is winning out the PNW. The Pigs are not just leading the way in table points, they also have the most points scored out of all teams. They’ve scored 245 points so far this season, an impressive 41 per match. Their closest game to date was against the Clark County Chiefs (3-2) on October 4th, a 21-point spread. 

In second are the Budd Bay Buffaloes (4-1). Outside of their match against the Pigs, the Buffaloes have also gotten bonus point wins over all opponents, however they’ve cut it close a few times. Back on opening weekend, the Clark County Chiefs came within four points, and then the following weekend the Snohomish Rhinos (3-2) came within three. They’ve stretched the gap a bit since then, but they still have to face the Chiefs again this weekend, and if the Chiefs pull off the upset, they could knock the Buffaloes down to third. 

Clark County is only a few points behind Budd Bay thanks to all those bonus points. They may have lost their October 4th game to the Pigs, but bounced back with a 26-24 defeat of the Yakima Griffins (0-5) two weeks later. Then just last weekend they hopped over Snohomish in the standings when they defeated the Rhinos 29-7. They have a big challenge on their plate this upcoming weekend, but it looks like Clark County is on the rise, and a win could bring them into second. 

The Seattle Quake (1-4) haven’t found a win since September, when they took down the Yakima Griffins (also looking for that elusive first win). They’ve been able to score the points, it’s just how to prevent the other team from scoring more points than them (also known as the goal of sports). They will travel to Yakima this weekend; it’s both teams’ best chance of going into the winter break on a high note. 

The Southwest region played a D2/D3 hybrid last year, but it looks like they are splitting things up this year. Last year’s champions, the Scottsdale Blues, have been promoted to D2, but they’ve added a D3 program, so you’ll still see their name around. The Las Vegas Irish, last year’s D2 champs, have done the same thing. So the bracket looks pretty similar to last year, but don’t let scores surprise you when they start rolling in.

A few games have taken place across the True South, and it looks like other ones have been rescheduled as no scores were reported. Let’s cover what we know did happen!

In the North division, the Memphis Blues (2-0) started strong with two wins over Chattanooga (1-1) and Atlanta Old White (0-1). They also played an out-of-conference friendly match against a combined D2/D3 Nashville side; as noted in the D2 wrap-up, scores were mixed depending who you asked, but both agreed Memphis held tough (and either tied or won). This bodes well for the Blues, who finished 2-2 last year, smack in the middle of the table. 

Chattanooga followed up their opening loss to Memphis with a tight 33-32 win over the Huntsville Space Cowboys (1-1). As Chattanooga went 0-4 last year, this was their first league win in a while, and a great kickoff to the season. Huntsville were 1-4 in D2 last year (their sole win a forfeit from Baton Rouge), so it wasn’t the welcome to D3 they were looking for, but they still bounced back and got their own win a week later when they traveled to Montgomery (0-1) to take on the Yellowhammers. Former Houston Sabercat Dom Akina took the field for the Space Cowboys in that one, but versatile number eight Jon Greene took home man of the match for his performance against the home team, final score 38-7.

The South division has yet to kickoff their season; two games were scheduled for this month, but no scores reported. It appears the October 4th game between the Pensacola Aviators (1-0) and the Panama Beach City Hurricanes (0-1) was a forfeit from PBC, but the Aviators still got some playing time in a friendly game. They also played a development round robin against the University of West Florida and Tallahassee, going 3-0 on the day. Their first league match will be in December when they travel to New Orleans. 

Rugby started early in Texas this year with five D3 matches taking place in October. There’s also a handful of friendly matches that occurred as well, but as most were interdivisional, we’re not going to cover them. Also note that D1-c has yet to kickoff, those are our teams in multi-divisional clubs; they’ll start in January when their other sides do.

But what has started? The D3 North had three games take place in October. The OKC Legion (1-0) and the Arkansas Gryphons (1-0) both started strong; the Gryphons notching a 17-0 win over fellow Arkansas team Little Rock (1-1), and the OKC Legion getting the bonus point win, 34-19 over Alliance (0-1). Little Rock also got their first win of the season when they hosted Tulsa (0-1) at the start of the month. Ben Holmes slotted two penalty goals and two conversions for Little Rock in that one. OKC Legion will look to make it two for two when they host Little Rock, and Alliance will go for their first win of the season when they take on former-D2 DARC, both on November 8th. 

D3 Central has yet to take the pitch, but teams will start this weekend when Corpus Christi hosts Alamo City and Ft Hood Old Skool hosts McAllen. This league will be a hybrid D3/D4, with with Crabs the lone side seeking D3 playoff eligibility. 

The D3 South had two games take place this past weekend. Bay Area Rugby Club (1-0) notched an important road win over Galveston (0-1). Those two were duking it out at the bottom of the table last year, with BARC defeating Galveston in the fall but Galveston taking the win back in the spring. Will history repeat itself this year? We’ve already got half the outcomes the same. Finally, the Houston Arrows (1-0) started off their campaign to get back to playoffs with a 38-7 smattering of Shreveport (0-1). The Arrows scored thrice in the opening 15 minutes, but slowed as the match progressed. Shreveport held them scoreless for the final quarter of the game, a testament to Shreveport’s stout defense. Coming up in November, Galveston will host the Arrows and BARC will host Cy-Fair, the newest addition to the Texas D3 competition. 

With 14 teams this season, Florida has broken down their D3 into three league: South, North, and Combo (which I believe are the four teams that also have D2 sides). In the South are last year’s champions Brevard Old Red Eye, joined by the former D2 Hammerheads and Palm Beach, as well as Sarasota and Lakeland. The North has former D2 Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Daytona, and the Claymores. The Claymores and Lakeland have a number of crossover games throughout the season, as well as a couple of teams that we’ll get into when we cover those games. Our Combo league is home to the Fort Lauderdale Knights, the Pelicans, Orlando, and Tampa; all clubs who field both a D2 and D3 side.  

Games are scheduled to kickoff with the rest of Florida’s competitions on January 17th. Sarasota will host Brevard, Palm Beach will host Lakeland, and Tampa and Orlando will go head to head in a massive interclub derby day, when the D2 and the women’s teams also face off. As the schedule is not yet formalized in Rugby Xplorer, this is all subject to change, but we’ll keep you updated.

In Georgia we have two leagues running; there weren’t many matches in October, but a few teams got out there.

In the Eastern Division, Hilton Head (3-1) is one of the teams who is super active this fall. They’ve played against everyone except the Charleston Outlaws (1-0), giving us a fair idea of where they sit. Hilton Head had an unlucky start to October when they hosted the Savannah Shamrocks (2-0) on the 4th. You know both teams knew it was going to be a close match when both opted for points off the tee early on. The Shamrocks managed to take their second road win in a row 30-10, staying undefeated. Hilton Head did close out the month nicely with two home wins over the Augusta Maddogs (0-2) and the Athens Eagles (0-2). Don’t let the records fool you, Augusta is a fierce side this year. They lost 24-28 against the Shamrocks in September, and put another 24 points on Hilton Head. Their next big test will be on the 15th when they travel to the Outlaws. The Shamrocks will host Macon Love (0-1) next weekend; Love had a tough opening match when they fell 70-0 to Hilton Head, but haven’t had a league game since. A lot can change in a month and a half. 

We’ve got even less action in the Western Division with one league match taking place. Okay, technically two games happened, but Gwinnett (0-3) had a played forfeit against the Atlanta Renegades (2-0), so it doesn’t really count. The Gainesville Spartans (2-0) traveled to the Alpharetta Exiles (0-2) on October 18th, extending their undefeated streak. The Spartans were top of the table last year, going 5-0 in the regular season before falling in the Georgia semifinals to the Shamrocks. Derobbias Brown scored three times against Alpharetta, and Joseph McLane was five for five from the tee on conversions. As the Spartans’ other win was from a forfeit, this was a pretty good start to their season. This weekend they will host High Country (2-0) whose last game was that stampede over the Atlanta Bucks (0-1) back in September. 

Down in the Carolinas we had a very busy October with a lot to cover, so let’s not dally. 

Over in the East, the Southern Pines Big Cones (4-0) are top of the table, though they have yet to face the second place team. Southern Pine’s last win was actually a forfeit from Raeford (0-4) who has been having a bit of trouble with numbers this season. Before that, the Big Cones defeated Cape Fear (2-2) 38-17 up in Wilmington; Davis Lopati Korosaya scoring twice in that one for SP. The Big Cones also notched a 44-17 win when they hosted the Fayetteville Dragons (2-2) back at the start of October, Korosaya with three tries this time. 

Yet to play Southern Pines are our second-place team, the Onslow Misfits (3-1). Onslow lost their opening match against the Dragons 29-26, but have been on the up and up since. They also got a forfeit win from Raeford, but beat both Tobacco Road (1-3) and Cape Fear by hand. Their last match against Cape Fear was a bit of a nailbiter, with Onslow scoring six tries to Fear’s five, and taking the win 34-31. Fear took two bonus points in that loss which helps keep them in third. They’re actually tied on table points against the Dragons, but since they won the head to head back in September, they stay on top. Fayetteville are doing pretty well themselves, they had a crunching 73-20 win over Tobacco Road two weeks ago. Add that to their early win over Onslow, and their double bonus point loss to Cape Fear, and they’re still within killing distance of the top few spots. 

I mentioned Raeford earlier, but Tobacco Road is also struggling. They have played all their matches since their opening week forfeit, but still haven’t played out a win. Their only win on record currently comes from Raeford’s forfeit to them. I doubt Raeford will host them this upcoming weekend; if that’s the case, their next league match won’t be until the end of January, hosting the Big Cones. 

In our Western conference, both Charlotte Rugby Club (4-0) and the Columbia Rhinos (4-1) have 20 table points each. Columbia has the larger points differential, but Charlotte has the win over the Rhinos from September to keep them down in second-place. Charlotte has been hard to beat this season; excluding the forfeit from the Asheville Iguanas (2-2), they’ve scored an average of 60 points per match, and no one has come within 27 points of them all season. Now, Columbia, of course, have a National title to defend, so sure, they have one loss, but that ain’t nothing in the long run. They dropped 117 points just last weekend against Myrtle Beach Man O’ War (0-4), so don’t worry about the Rhinos. 

The Greenville Griffins (2-2) and the Asheville Iguanas (2-2) are currently back and forth for third and fourth on the table. Unfortunately we won’t see them face off until January, but we can judge what’s likely going to happen based on the rest of their results. Greenville brought it to Columbia when they hosted, final score 35-24; however, by only scoring three tries, they missed their opportunity to snag a losing bonus point. The Griffins did beat the Charlotte Barbarians (1-4) 57-19 last weekend, with eight different Griffins getting on the scoreboard for Greenville. Asheville also defeated the Barbarians this past month, scoring 43 points to Charlotte’s 12. The Barbos are still riding out their lone win they got back on October 4th when they defeated Man O’ War 27-19. The biggest game for the west next month will be on November 15th when the Columbia Rhinos host Charlotte. The winner will take first on the table while the loser will move into second.