Men’s Division 3 – November 2025 Recap

Welcome back to another season of USA Club Rugby and another round of monthly recaps hosted by yours truly. After a scintillating summer of sevens rugby, the teams have headed back to the pitch to play XVs. Some conferences have changed, some have remained the same, some new clubs have entered the picture, others have closed doors, we’ll cover it all right here.

At the start of the year most of the action takes place in the Midwest and Northeast, but we’ll keep you in the loop with what’s happening in the Spring leagues as well. 

Also, the disclaimer (in case you’re new here), all of this information is gathered from team-entered data on RugbyXplorer. If something is wrong, it might just be because the data is incorrect in RugbyXplorer, otherwise it could be because I’m a human and sometimes make mistakes (yes, even me). I’m always open to correcting those mistakes if you reach out nicely! Outside of that, all of the commentary is added purely for fun from someone who has no stake in the outcomes of these matches. So sit down and enjoy as we cover what happened this past month in the Men’s D3 competition.

We started with 48 teams in August; all striving for glory in the Midwest Men’s D3 competition. In October the field was whittled down to 16, then to eight as the quarterfinals took place at the end of the month. At the start of November there were four left standing, and by the end of the month – only one. 

Let’s get started with the epic semifinials that took place on November 8th. First up, the Detroit Tradesmen (6-0) hosted the Cleveland Rovers (5-0). Detroit hosted the South Pittsburgh Harlequins in last year’s semis, eventually losing out to the underdog who progressed to the Super Regionals. The Rovers were knocked out by Dayton in last year’s play-in rounds, so they had already made it one step further this year by qualifying for the semis. Detroit were nigh unstoppable this year, racking up max bonus points and an average of 51PD per match in the regular season. They smashed the Toledo Celtics by 35 points in the round of 16, and defeated the Michiana Moose 40-19 in the quarters; it seemed like nothing would stand in their way of reaching that final. Cleveland fared similarly, racking up an average PD of 45 points per game; their quarterfinal was a bit closer, 40-25 over the Columbus Castaways. In the quarterfinals they upset the home team, the Cincinnati Kelts, with a penalty try to break the tie and push the Rovers toward the semis. In the semifinal match, Will Brumfield put in a shift for the Rovers, racking up the first three tries for his team while Sean Hearns took over the kicking duties. It was neck and neck for a while with Detroit, but the Tradesmen wouldn’t give. Sam Lilley and Michael Metz both scored twice for the Tradesmen, while Adam Saad took over kicking duties, slotting five of seven conversion kicks on the day. At full-time, the home team advanced, Tradesmen taking the win 45-31. 

The other semifinal match had the Chicago Blaze (5-0) taking on last year’s runners-up, the Red River Ruffians (5-0). After defeating the Wisconsin Sharks in the round of 16, the Blaze upset the Fox Cities Gargoyles 41-21 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semis. The Ruffians took down the West Des Moines Wombats before barely sneaking by the Bremer County Bucks 26-24 in order to nab their spot in the final four. While the Ruffians had been here before, the Blaze finished 4-3 last year, missing the playoff boat. The first half weighed favorably to the Blaze, thanks to a flurry of tries just before the break. However in the second half, the Ruffians led the charge. Outscoring the Blaze 17 points to 10 in the second half was enough to get the Ruffians two bonus points; but in playoff rugby, it’s do or die, bonus points mean nothing. The Chicago Blaze took the win 36-32, and headed home to prepare for an epic Championship match on home turf. 

And then there were two; the Chicago Blaze and the Detroit Tradesmen battling it out for Midwest glory. Both had already qualified for the Northern Super Regional, but there was hardware left to win. The first half was tight, Detroit leading 12-7 at the break, but in the second half, things opened up a bit. Chicago managed to score twice more, but the Tradesmen added another 22 points to their total, soaring past the Blaze and claiming the trophy for their own. Detroit’s Quinn Murray received player of the match honors for his performance, directing the team from the back three. Both the Blaze and the Tradesmen will represent the Midwest in the Northern Super Regional next May, but until then, some well deserved time off for these sides. 

In Mid-America we have two subdivisions, Eastern and Western. The West wrapped up their regular fall play in October and finalized standings; the East has one match left, and it could determine who tops the table. 

In the West it was a close race between Springfield (3-1) and the Kansas City Blues (3-1). The Blues defeated Springfield 31-28 the final weekend of October, but Springfield had gotten more bonus points throughout the season, keeping them in first place. Kansas City (2-2) and Northland (2-2) are both in a great spot to advance to playoffs, particularly since the Blues are ineligible [information from Mid-America’s Facebook page]. However when the two of them went head to head, it was a 91-0 stomping by Kansas City, so KC might have a little more a claim to that crown. 

In the East it’s one table point separating the first and second place teams. Sunday Morning Rugby Club (3-1) have one more game played than the St. Louis Hornets (3-0), but a whole lot more point differential. However, an average of over 55 points per match in differential wasn’t enough for SMRC when they faced the Hornets head on in October. St. Louis won that one 27-15. According to RX, the Hornets still have to play against the Mercenaries (0-3); that win would vault them into first place over Sunday Morning. The Rowdies (2-2) are solidly middle of the table, but their losses to the top two teams were big ones. In order to claim one of the top two spots, they’ll have to make up a fair amount of distance in the spring. 

All ten Mid-America teams will close down for the winter, before the spring season kicks off in March.

We have one weekend of games from November to cover, but we also have the last weekend of games from October that weren’t updated when I last wrote about Rocky Mountain.

Firstly, it’s pretty tight at the top of the table. The top four teams are all within four table points of each other. The Colorado Springs Grizzlies (5-1) just nudged ahead of everyone else, despite their November 1st loss to the Denver Highlanders (4-2). Now, Denver probably had a point to prove in that one, as they lost the weekend before to the Northern Colorado Flamingos (2-4). And let’s be clear, it wasn’t a “one-point oh man the ref really screwed us game”; the Flamingos solidly beat last year’s RMR champs 49-32. The Highlanders are still in second overall, one point ahead of the third and fourth place sides. The Littleton Scots (4-2) and the Queen City Rams (3-3-1) are tied on 22 points apiece despite different records. The Scots are ahead in the standings, but Queen City actually defeated them back in October, 57-31. However, back at the start of November, the Rams tied Boulder RFC (3-3-1) 24-24, keeping them in fourth. Boulder has the same record as Queen City, but far fewer bonus points, which holds them back in the standings. Below Boulder are the Flamingos, followed by the Denver Harlequins (0-6) who came close to a win on October 25th, but no dice. 

So what’s on deck for March? We’ve got two more rounds of games to play before the top four teams enter semifinals to determine a champion. While the Grizzlies, Highlanders, Scots, and Rams are in the lead for qualifying for those slots, nothing is guaranteed. As we saw back in October, no team is to be counted out in this conference. 

New England had two weeks of regular season to finish in November, followed by a winner take all playoff between the top two teams at the NERFU Championships on the 16th. Burlington (6-1-1) needed to win their final two matches with bonus points in order to stay on top of the Albany Knickerbockers (6-2) and qualify for the championship match. They did this with a 40-24 defeat of the Boston Irish Wolfhounds (2-6) on the 1st, and a 40-19 defeat of North Shore (0-8) on the 8th. The Knicks did everything in their power to jump Burlington, winning their final match of the season 42-18 over North Shore, but in the end it wasn’t in their control. Providence (6-2) also had to get two bonus point wins and they would hold onto the top spot; which they did with defeats of South Shore (5-3) and Amoskeag (2-6) in November. The Hartford Wanderers (5-3) were another team that was throwing their hat in the ring for the final two spots, but their 34-26 loss to South Shore on the 8th pulled them out of contention. The Boston Maccabi (3-4-1) knew they were out of the running, but still closed their season with a big win over the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, 62-0 on November 8th. 

Now it was down to two, Providence and Burlington. Their regular season match was all the way back on opening weekend and ended 8-6, in favor of Burlington. The halftime score was 3-3, with each side getting a penalty goal; this held until 70 minutes through the match when Providence slotted another kick. Burlington finally got the lone try of the match at minute 75 through Noah El-Naboulsi, taking the win by two points. Last year Providence were booted out during the semifinals, while Burlington finished fifth, not even making the cut. But that was last year, this was a whole new ball game. Unlike the first meeting, this one wasn’t close. Providence had a mission, and they executed. The first half Burlington kept them in check, with Providence only scoring two tries and a penalty goal. In the second half Providence unleashed their fury, finding the try zone four times to rack up the points and put the nail in the coffin for Burlington. Final score 43-12, Providence claiming the title and advancing to the Atlantic Super Regional. 

All four of our Empire Men’s D3 divisions wrapped up in November, and although the playoff schedule isn’t yet posted, we know final positions in the standings. 

First up, the Connecticut division. It came down to the wire in Connecticut; two teams battling it out for first place. The Fairfield Yankees (5-2-1) needed to beat Greenwich (6-1-1) on November 8th and have Greenwich lose to New Haven (5-3) the following weekend in order to claim first. Well, one of those things happened? New Haven did beat Greenwich, a thrilling 28-26 battle. However, that did give Greenwich two losing bonus points. The Yankees also failed to beat Greenwich on the 8th, instead tying them 26-26. Now, I love a tie for the drama, but man it makes it hard to organize a table. So Greenwich finishes on top. Now, if playoffs take the top two seeds from each division, the Fairfield Yankees will also qualify; and they will be a mean second place seed to play against.

Over in the Metro division, it’s even crazier. So last month I said “if Rockaway beats Long Island, they deserve to be on top”. Well, Rockaway (7-1) did beat Long Island (6-2) 45-41, but they still sit one point below them on the table. It all goes back to that forfeit at the start of the season from Rockaway; it’s been haunting them ever since. Long Island got two bonus points in that loss, and one bonus point in their 30-17 win over Suffolk (3-5) earlier in the month in order to keep that top spot. Brooklyn (6-2) tied on overall points with Rockaway thanks to their 40-12 win over the NYRC (3-5) on November 8th. In the head to head Rockaway beat them 41-26, so Brooklyn finishes third on the table, likely out of playoff contention. Queens (3-5) finished their season with a win over Lansdowne (0-8) 48-24. They are definitely out of the playoff picture, but still get to end their year on a high note. NYRC also finished on a win, defeating Suffolk 48-24 in order to claim fourth.

Over in New Jersey, every team was able to find a win this season. Leading the way with the most wins was Union (7-0-1). Since they finished with a draw against Bayonne (4-3-1) 17-17, technically they didn’t lose a match all season. They also played Bayonne once more on November 15th, defeating the third-place team 24-5, cementing their proper place on top of the table. The Morris Lions (5-3) pulled into second thanks to a pair of wins in November. First they smashed Central Jersey (2-6) 72-0; then they took down Hudson Valley (1-7) 43-7. It’s a better finish than last year, when they went 3-3 and finished in the middle of the table, but still might not be enough to make the playoffs. 

All the way upstate we have our reigning Empire D3 champions, the Syracuse Chargers (8-0). As you can see by the record, Syracuse are doing great upstate. They look on track to make another trip to the Atlantic Super Regional, after dicing through the local comp and securing first on the table. The Chargers finished off their November season with a pair of wins over Buffalo (5-3) and South Buffalo (2-6). South Buffalo challenged them back in September, keeping them from getting the winning bonus pint, the first time all season. This time, Syracuse didn’t hold back, scoring a whopping 83 points to South Buffalo’s seven. In a far second are the Rochester Aardvarks (5-3); who defeated KenTon (0-8) 66-10 to finish their season on a high note. With likely only one team advancing, the rest of the Empire Upstate can only hope the Chargers go all the way and win the National Title, then maybe they will move up to D2 and the rest of the division won’t have to see them anymore. Playoff matches are likely to be in March or April, ahead of the Atlantic Super Regional.  

Capital wrapped up back in October with three of the four divisional championships set in stone. 

The South Championship will be between Virginia (6-0) and Virginia Beach (5-1). Virginia has an average PD of 57 points per game, the highest in the entire Capital region. The last time they played Virginia Beach was back at the beginning of October, Virginia taking the spoils 53-10. Virginia Beach were the big dogs last year, going 5-2-1 and winning out the division. I say it could go either way, but Virginia looks incredibly strong this year, I think they’ll be tough to stop. 

The Central Championship will be between Severn River (5-1) and the Washington Renegades (4-2). A bit less cut and dry in the Central region. Severn River dropped a match back in September against Loudoun (2-4), a team whom the Renegades beat twice, once at the start of the season and the other in mid-October. However when the Renegades faced off against Severn, it wasn’t pretty. Severn blanked the Washington side 52-0, and that was a road win for Severn. Both teams went 7-1 last year, with Severn defeating the Renegades 17-7 to advance to the semifinals. 

The Challenger Central Championship will be between Rocky Gorge (5-0) and the Potomac Exiles (4-1). Rocky Gorge is another one of those really good teams; they’ve had an average PD of about 41 per match, getting bonus points in all but one win. Appropriately, the match they missed the bonus point was the one they played against the Exiles. It finished 24-21 in favor of Rocky Gorge, but three points is nothing in the big picture. Potomac have won every other match outside of that one, and look in top form to take on last year’s National semifinalist. 

The Challenger South Championship is still yet to be decided. There is one more regular season game between the Raleigh Vipers (2-1) and James River (2-1). The winner will get the home field advantage, and the loser will have to travel. The Riverlands Golden Boars (1-3) have unfortunately already been knocked out of this competition, having completed their season in October.

The EPRU finished out their last two games and secured the final standings for spring playoffs. The top six teams will advance, with the top two getting byes into the semifinals.

Jersey Shore (6-0) finished undefeated with max bonus points (and a huge differential, but who’s counting). They will host the 1 v winner of the 4v5 semifinal on March 28th. Lehigh Valley (5-1) defeated Reading (2-4) on November 1st to secure their own semifinal home advantage. Lehigh needed to win with a bonus point in order to stay on top of Wilkes-Barre (5-1) in the standings. 45 minutes into their match against Reading, they got the fourth try, guaranteeing them the bonus point and the second-place finish, as long as they could win the match. They did with flying colors, final score 43-17. Now Lehigh Valley will host the winner of the 3v6 quarterfinal on March 28th. 

In third place, our first quarterfinal team, are the reigning EPRU champions, the Wilkes-Barre Breakers. The Breakers only lost one match all season, their final one against Jersey Shore. They do get home field advantage for their quarterfinal, which will be played on March 21st. Following Wilkes-Barre are the men from Brandywine Rugby (4-2). Brandywine finished with the same record as Northeast Philadelphia (4-2), but with one more bonus point. This means that Brandywine will host Northeast Philadelphia on March 21st, thanks to NE Philly’s 36-14 win over Phoenixville Whitehorse at the end of the season. The two played all the way back in September, Brandywine getting the better of Philly 38-21. Our final team to qualify for the postseason is the Montgomery Bucks (3-3). Thanks to Reading’s loss to Lehigh Valley, the Bucks held onto sixth place and now play the Wilkes-Barre Breakers in their quarterfinal. As there are 11 total teams in this division, Wilkes-Barre and Montgomery haven’t gone head to head yet this season. They did last year, the Breakers winning 62-25, but a lot can change in a year and a half. Wilmington (2-4), Reading, Blackthorn (1-5), White Horse, and Harrisburg (0-6) missed the cut this year, but will come back stronger next fall. Playoffs start in March, you don’t want to miss this action.

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.

There were only two matches that happened on November 1st for us to cover. First up, the Portland Pigs (6-0) continued their winning streak with a 39-26 victory over the Snohomish Rhinos (2-4). Portland got out to an early lead with tries from Daniel Noonan and Tinashe Muchena, but the Rhinos scored two of their own thanks to Victor Swanson and Jerry Motokana. The halftime score was 17-14, in favor of the Pigs. Snohomish scored first after the break, taking the lead for the first time all game, and held it for another 20 minutes or so. Then Portland scored a barrage of tries that shot them into the lead, which they held for the rest of the match. This win keeps Portland solidly in first place, while Snohomish are in fourth, unlikely to jump up to the top three. 

Our second match took place between the Clark County Chiefs (4-2) and the Budd Bay Buffaloes (4-2). This one was to determine second and third place in the standings, with Budd Bay just a step above the Chiefs before the game kicked off. When the two played back at the start of the season, it was a tight contest, Budd Bay eventually slipping by the Chiefs 26-22. The rest of the season the two had similar records, so we assumed it would be another tight contest. However Clark County had different plans. The Chiefs obliterated the Buffaloes, shocking them from minute one. Final score 53-5, enough to vault Clark County into second place, and drop Budd Bay into third. 

There’s only one regular season match left to play in the spring for this league, between the Yakima Griffins (0-5) and the Seattle Quake (1-4). No playoff status on the line for that one, but there are certainly bragging rights at stake. That match will take place on March 7th.

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.

It looks like we had three matches at the start of November to cover. Huntsville (2-1), Memphis (2-1) and Chattanooga (2-1) are all battling it out on top of the table. Memphis beat Chattanooga back on opening weekend, then Chattanooga beat Huntsville a few weeks later. Just this past month, Huntsville beat Memphis 43-22. So, it’s all over the place, and we’re just getting started. The Knoxville Possums (1-0) kicked off their season with a spectacular 41-19 win over Atlanta Old White (0-2). They may currently be lower in the standings, but it’s just because they’ve only played one match so far. The Clarksville Head Hunters (0-1) and Montgomery Yellowhammers (0-1) are also looking for their first wins of the season; again, they’re only one match in, so it’s not do or die just yet. 

The South division has yet to kick off their season, but that will happen next month with New Orleans hosting the Pensacola Aviators and the Crescent City Blues hosting Wiregrass. 

Our three regional divisions have kicked off in Texas, with varying levels of games played. The only division with zero games played yet is the D1-C, which has all of our multi-sided clubs. 

The North has had the most action so far, with teams all playing anywhere from two to four games. In the lead are the OKC Legion (3-0) who are undefeated with max bonus points. However, they only have an overall point differential of 20, which makes sense when you look at how close their November games were. They squeezed by Little Rock (1-3) on the 8th by a single point, 26-25. It was actually a try in the final play by Ezra West Puentes that won it for OKC, thrilling the home fans. Then they won on the road against Tulsa (0-2) 26-22; again a try in the final few minutes to get the W. The Arkansas Gryphons (2-0) are in second place as the only undefeated team left in the conference. They finished November with a 58-19 win over DARC (1-1). It was a full team effort from the Gryphons, with six different players scoring tries and two going for the conversions. Little Rock are in third on a bit of a downswing; they had that close loss to OKC, but then followed it up with a bigger loss to fourth-place Alliance (1-2), 42-22. Just below Alliance are DARC, who got their first win of the season over Alliance 40-39 on 8th. It seems like there is quite a bit of reorganization of the table that will happen as the division progresses and more matches are played. However, right now it’s anyone’s game in the North. 

The Central division consists of one D3 side, Corpus Christi (2-0), and three D4 sides, McAllen, Alamo City, and Ft Hood Old Skool. Corpus may be the only team seeking the D3 postseason, but all four teams will play home and away fixtures this year in order to provide the Crabs the competition they need to prepare. Unsurprisingly, Corpus won their November 1st game over Alamo City at the start of the month, and another on the 15th over Ft Hood Old Skool. 

Down in the South, everyone has played at least two games. Tied on 10 points apiece are Bay Area Rugby Club [BARC] (2-1) and the Houston Arrows (2-0). The Arrows had one match in November, defeating Galveston (1-2) on November 8th, 47-12. BARC split their results this past month, taking a win over Cy-Fair (0-2) 72-5, and falling to Shreveport (1-1) on the 22nd, 42-27. They still managed to get a bonus point in the loss for scoring over four tries, which keeps them at the top of the table for now. Our third and fourth place teams are currently Shreveport and Galveston, both with one win. Both teams have lost to the Arrows, but Shreveport has that win over Bay Area; they’ll be looking to move up on the table after their next couple of fixtures. Finally Cy-Fair is still waiting for their first win. It’s still early doors, so plenty of time for the tide to turn, but in the South division, it’s key to get all the wins you can while you can.

With 14 teams this season, Florida has broken down their D3 into three subdivisions: 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 subdivision is home to Fort Lauderdale, 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.

Checking in on the Peach State; we’re a little all over the place in Georgia because there have been a fair number of forfeits or matches not played. But we’ll cover what we can!

In the Eastern conference, it’s between Hilton Head (3-1) and the Savannah Shamrocks (3-0). The Shamrocks added one more win to their tally this past month when they defeated Macon Love (0-3) 28-0. The Charleston Outlaws (1-0) are currently in third in this division, with only one match played, they’re still a bit of a wild card. The Athens Eagles (1-2) also got their first win of the season this past month when they defeated the Love 61-0. They currently sit in fourth place overall, above the Augusta Maddogs (0-2) and Macon. 

In the West we had a few more matches played in November. The Atlanta Renegades (4-0) are the team to beat, though many have tried. The Columbus Cruisers (0-1) came dangerously close at the start of the month when they hosted the Renegades. The final score for that one was 34-31 in favor of Atlanta, just barely. Teams are continuing to pile points on the Atlanta Bucks (0-3); the Alpharetta Exiles (1-3) put 119 on them and the Renegades dumped 108. It is certainly a tough year for the Bucks. The Gainesville Spartans (3-0) are also still undefeated, with one match less played than the Renegades. Gainesville got a sweet 42-21 win over second-place High Country (3-1) back on November 8th, which should have put them in second, but something might be amiss in the table allocations. We’ll look into that. Our final match in November for the West Division was between High Country and the Exiles. High Country bounced back from their loss against Gainesville and put up 52 points against Alpharetta. Preston Thompson scored three times for High Country in the win, while three different kickers all slotted conversions throughout the match. 

Georgia has one match scheduled for December, between the Renegades and High Country, however, there are a ton of matches that were supposed to be played in October and November with no scores. Whether those will go down as forfeits or be rescheduled, we’re not positive. I’m sure we’ll know more next month. 

There were a fair number of games in November, with three full weekends of fixtures. We’ll check in on the Eastern Conference first. 

The Southern Pines Big Cones (6-0) added two wins to their undefeated record this past month. First they took down Cape Fear (2-3) 51-22, followed by a 34-7 defeat of the Fayetteville Dragons (3-3). With Fayetteville in second place, this win almost guarantees SoPi a top two finish. The Dragons narrowly beat the third place Onslow Misfits (3-2) in November, four tries to three. Noelan Parrent was perfect off the tee for the Dragons in that 28-21 win. Onslow still got a bonus point in the loss, which keeps them tied on total points with Fayetteville. Cape Fear (2-3) was slotted to play Raeford (0-4) on November 8th; that game might go down as a forfeit, given that Raeford has forfeited three other matches this season. That win would shoot Fear up to second overall, one table point ahead of Fayetteville and Onslow. Tobacco Road (1-3) were also supposed to play Raeford on November 1st; I’m thinking that will be the same result that applies to Cape Fear. If that’s the case, despite having a 2-3 record, Tobacco Road won’t actually have won a game on the pitch yet – both wins come from forfeit wins. 

Over in the Western Division it’s between Charlotte (5-0-1) and the Columbia Rhinos (4-1-1) for the top spot. How close is it? Well back on November 8th the two tied 31-31, so I’d say pretty close. Charlotte has one more win over the Rhinos, who lost their opening game of the season. However, they lost the season opener last year and it worked out okay for them, winning a National Championship and all. Charlotte also got a 66-15 win over the Charlotte Barbarians (1-5) on November 15th, with Colby Marr scoring three times for Charlotte. The Greenville Griffins (3-2) are currently in third place, a solid amount behind Charlotte and Columbia. They defeated the Myrtle Beach Man O’ War (0-5) in November, 59-0. Aaron Ptak and Benjamin Ptak each scored twice (related do you think?) for the Griffins in the win. The Asheville Iguanas (3-2) also got a win over Man O’ War in November. They have less matches played than any team in the D3 Western division, but will have to get some wins and score some bonus points to really throw their name in the hat for a playoff run. 

All games are done now for December, but start back up in January. We have five games on opening weekend, January 24th. Tobacco Road hosts the Big Cones, the Griffins host Man O’ War, Cape Fear hosts the dragons, the Rhinos host the Iguanas, and Onslow hosts Raeford (maybe). Plenty more to cover come January!