Men’s Division 3 – October 2026 Recap

This past month we had FIVE bumper weekends of rugby action; from teams finally kicking off their season to the Midwest and New England dealing up some intense playoff games, there’s a lot to cover from October. We’ve also gotten some of the answers to the questions we asked at the end of September, and a few more competitions have posted schedules, so hang on for the ride, because this is going to be a long one.

Disclaimer – before anyone gets mad at me – all of this information is taken from team-entered data in Rugby Xplorer. The quicker you are about updating information and the more info you include, the better picture I can paint. The rest of the commentary is added for fun from someone who has no stake in the outcome of these matches. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. If you do like it, then welcome!

Without further ado – let’s dive into what happened in the Men’s D3 Competition over October!

Starting off with the Midwest! We’ve got eight different regions to recap this month, some of which were basically done and dusted last month, but others came down to the final weekend of matches in October. On top of that we have eight Round of 16 games to cover AND four quarterfinals. The semifinals are this upcoming weekend so we’d better get started.

Over in the CARFU league, the Rockford Ravens (5-0) finished out their season undefeated when they took down the Northwest Woodsmen (1-4) this past month. They had already locked up the top seed at the end of September, but just to close it out in good fashion, they ran in 76 points in the try-fest, while only allowing five from the Woodsmen. In the battle for fourth place, Lincoln Park (2-3) emerged victorious over the Woodsmen on October 10th, also piling on a ton of points in the 73-28 final. This means the Chicago Silverbacks (4-1) finish in second and qualify for the round of 16, with the Peoria Pigs (3-2) in third and the South Side Irish (0-5) in sixth. 

Over in the Central league, we were eagerly awaiting the top of the table clash between the Michiana Moose (4-0) and Fort Wayne (2-2) on October 10th. That one fell heavily in favor of the Moose, who scored nine tries to Fort Wayne’s one. Sujai Ikemefuna scored three himself in the win, while Adam Church contributed the conversions. To make matters worse for Fort Wayne, the Kalamazoo Dogs (2-2) managed to win their final match with a bonus point to jump over Fort Wayne in the standings and qualify for the round of 16. White River (0-4) put up three tries of their own in the loss, but the Dogs just had that dog in them, final score 40-21. Fort Wayne takes third over the Indianapolis Impalas (2-2), while White River finishes fifth. 

In the Eastern league we still had a few unknowns when we left off last month; the Cleveland Rovers (5-0) were in, but not guaranteed the top spot. The second spot was still up for grabs between Canton-Akron (3-1-1) and the Pittsburgh Forge (3-1-1) who battled it out on the 10th. The Rovers topped the South Pittsburgh Hooligans (0-5) on October 3rd, guaranteeing their home berth in the round of 16. Pittsburgh Forge beat the Greensburg Maulers (1-4) the same day, setting up a big final weekend in the East. The Maulers forfeited to Erie (2-3) on October 10th – not relevant to the playoff race, but every match matters! The final match had the Forge traveling to Canton-Akron, both teams at 3-1, but Pittsburgh with one more bonus point. A win for either team would seal the deal. So naturally what would be the most dramatic end to this? A draw. That’s right, the Forge and Canton-Akron drew 40-40 in the final match of the season. With identical records it came down to table points, and that’s where the Forge had the edge. Pittsburgh advances to the playoffs as the second seed in a photo finish. 

Moving over to the Iowa league; this one was already sorted at the end of last month, though we did have two more matches left to play. The Bremer County Bucks (6-0) finished undefeated with a 22-15 win over the Dubuque River Boat Gamblers (2-4) on October 3rd. A much closer match than their first, which the Bucks won 40-10, but not enough for Dubuque to topple the top of the table. The West Des Moines Wombats (4-2) also took down the River Boat Gamblers in their final match of the season, 57-12 on the 10th. The Bucks and the Wombats advance to the playoffs, while Dubuque hits the off-season early with Des Moines, who forfeited their final match against the Wombats. 

Sliding over to Michigan where we still had five matches to get through in October. At the end of September, both the Flint Rogues (5-0) and the Capital Area Crisis (4-1) were undefeated and storming towards playoff spots. The two finally met on October 10th, after the Rogues forfeit win over the Tri City Barbarians (0-5) and the Crisis’ defeat of Washtenaw (2-3) on the 3rd. It was a thrilling match-up, with the teams going into halftime with a score of 21-12 to the Crisis. The Rogues also played down a significant portion of the first half, losing two players to yellow cards as Capital Area started to draw away. The second half was all Flint though, as the Rogues found their footing and started to chip away at the deficit. The Crisis had the last say in the match with a try and conversion from Grady Bridges, but the final whistle blew and the Rogues emerged victorious, 43-42, both teams advancing. The Todelo Celtics (3-2) managed to finish in third with a winning record thanks to their October 10th defeat of the Barbarians, 86-19. Washtenaw also finished on a win, defeating the Findlay Scars (1-4) 56-22 to clinch fourth. 

The Minnesota league finished off their regular season and their bonus Minnesota Final to determine their champion to advance. The Red River Ruffians (5-0) defeated the St. Paul Jazz Pigs (4-1) in a repeat of last year’s final to take the crown and advance as the top seed. The Ruffians defeated Metropolis (1-4) in their final match of the regular season on October 3rd, 57-12, to finish undefeated, while the Jazz Pigs narrowly snuck by the Rochester Rogues (2-3) by one point in order to secure their spot in the Minnesota final. The Ruffians took that one by a score of 36-0, but both teams advanced to the playoffs to represent Minnesota (or North Dakota…). 

Over to Ohio where we have our first subdivision without an undefeated team on top of the standings! We knew this last recap of course, but it’s still impressive that out of eight subdivisions only one doesn’t have an undefeated team. Louisville (3-2), the Cincinnati Kelts (3-2), Dayton (3-2), and the Columbus Castaways (4-1) were all tied on 2-1 records last we checked in and man has October dealt us more confusion on that front. Let’s start at the top, the Columbus Castaways have qualified as the top seed from Ohio thanks to wins over Dayton and the Kelts on the 3rd and 10th. The Kelts managed to get a losing bonus point in that 46-33 loss, while Dayton only scored 14 to Columbus’ 27, putting them one table point behind Cincinnati. The Kelts beat the Cincinnati Wolfhounds (1-4) 31-14 on the 10th, putting everything on the line to try to snag the second seed. Louisville however smashed Queen City (1-4) 50-0 on October 3rd to put them in the best spot to advance, but lost 29-5 to Dayton the next weekend, tying them on record and table points with the Kelts. It must’ve come down to the point differential between the two to determine who took the seed to the playoffs, with Louisville on +52 and Cincinnati on -2. 

Our final region is over in Wisconsin, where the Fox City Gargoyles (5-0) wrapped this one up nice and neat with two more wins in October, 62-31 over Wisconsin (2-3) and 59-0 over the Oshkosh Mighty Pigs (2-3). So that’s who took first, but what about second place. Well, for the first time I can remember, all five other teams in the region finished with the same record. That’s right. Wisconsin, Green Bay (2-3), Waukesha (2-3), Oshkosh, AND the Milwaukee Barbarians (2-3) finished with identical records. However they did differ in one thing, bonus points. Wisconsin racked up six bonus points over the season, two losing ones in their August match against Oshkosh. Green Bay and Waukesha both had five, Oshkosh got four, and the Barbarians only took home three. Despite Wisconsin’s two losses in October, they still got the nudge thanks to their try-scoring earlier in the season. The Barbarians defeated Green Bay 23-19 to end their season on a high, and Green Bay defeated the Mighty Pigs 22-17 the weekend before. Waukesha actually smoked Wisconsin 76-22 on the 10th, but in the whirlwind of the end of the season, it didn’t end up mattering. Perhaps if they had prevented them from scoring that fourth try at the death, everything would have been different. Alas, Wisconsin and the Gargoyles advanced to the round of 16, while everyone else ended their season on a 2-3 record. 

Into the round of 16 we go! The top two teams from each region battled it out on October 17th with eight coveted positions in the quarterfinals up for grabs. I’ll be honest, most of the matches saw the home team take the win, but we did have one upset! Let’s start with the big wins – the Michiana Moose took down the Capital Area Crisis 92-14 and the Fox City Gargoyles topped the Peoria Pigs 100-22, woof. That’s a lot of running. The Ruffians defeated the Wombats 50-20, the Ravens beat Wisconsin 41-12, Bremer County won out over the Jazz Pigs 51-7, and the Flint Rogues took down the Kalamazoo Dogs 27-7. Those are all of our “mid-tier” wins. Now into the juicy stuff. The Cincinnati Kelts traveled to the Cleveland Rovers for a little Ohio on Ohio action, and managed to keep pace for most of the match. The halftime score was 19-17 in favor of the Rovers, and the excitement kept up until the final minutes. The final score fell in favor of the home team 36-24, but a valiant effort from the Kelts to try to pull off the upset. Our final round of 16 match was the big one. The Pittsburgh Forge traveled to the Columbus Castaways (the only top of the table team with a loss this season) and pulled off the upset 43-29. Both teams threw all they had out there, but three tries from Claude Clark and 13 points off the tee for Brydon Bateman helped propel the Forge to victory, eliminating the Ohio league teams from the quarterfinals. 

In the quarterfinals it definitely started to get more interesting. Well, for most of the games. The Michiana Moose continued to dominate, defeating the Flint Rogues 77-7 in a 12-try showcase with seven different players dotting down for the Moose. Jack Stephens got the lone try for the Rogues, but nowhere near enough to keep them alive in the postseason. The Rockford Ravens found themselves under pressure as they took on the also undefeated Fox City Gargoyles. The Gargoyles scored in the closing minutes to make it a one-try match, but there wasn’t enough time left for them to even the score. Final score to Rockford 24-19. The Bremer County Bucks had a bit of an easier time over the Red River Ruffians once the second half got underway. The Ruffians scored all four tries in the opening 25 minutes, almost running away with it before the Bucks could adjust. A couple penalty goals helped give Bremer County hope moving into the halftime break, and by the second half, the Bucks pulled back into the lead. Final score 41-26, Bremer County on top. Our final quarterfinal saw our Cinderella team of the season pull off yet another upset to top the Cleveland Rovers 43-21. That’s right, the Pittsburgh Forge can’t stop won’t stop taking down the higher seeds. They’re certainly racking up the miles but they are also getting the glory, as they advance to another round to fight another day.

The semifinals this weekend pit Bremer County against Rockford and the Moose against Pittsburgh. No team is going down easy, as a ticket for the Northern Super Regionals is on the line. Win this one and you are in for the National Championship run. Lose and go home early. You don’t want to miss this. 

There’s a fair number of forfeits in the Mid-America MD3 competition, a league that had already lost two teams from their numbers last year. This past month both the Celts and the Kansas City Blues forfeited all of their matches, adding up to five total games forfeited which leaves us with eight to cover. 

In the East, Sunday Morning (5-0) are the final undefeated club in the entire conference, head and shoulders above the rest of the competition in terms of table points. They defeated the Hornets (2-3) 57-14 on October 10th and 107-14 on the 24th. They had a very close match on the 17th when they hosted the Royal Ramblers (2-1) who have two less matches played than Sunday Morning. The Royal Ramblers’ Austin Lyons scored with five minutes to spare and Sykora converted to bring the game within seven, but Sunday Morning held out for the win. The Royal Ramblers got two bonus points in the loss, and again still have more games to play, so they are a strong candidate for a second-place finish and a spot in the spring playoffs. The Royal Ramblers also notched a win over the Hornets at the start of the month, taking a comfortable 54-7 victory on the 3rd. 

Over in the West we have three teams with three wins apiece all fighting for position. The Springfield Mudpuppies (3-2) currently have one more bonus point than the other two, but also have more matches played. They split their matches with Kansas City (3-2) this month, losing 52-24 on the 10th, but taking the win at home 38-21 on the 31st. If it comes down to it, Kansas City would win the head to head PD comparison, with a combined total score of KC 73-62 Springfield. Kansas City also clocked a close win over Northland (3-1) back on the 17th, final score 34-26. It looked like Northland were going to take that one until Kansas City scored two late tries in the closing minutes through Francis Griesbauer and Stephen Fehr to surge back into the lead and snatch victory from the visitors. When you compare the head to head though, Northland take that one thanks to their own 69-29 victory over the Reds back on October 3rd. So this one is going to be interesting when it shakes out. 

Coming up in November we’ve got three more weekends of matches; the Mudpuppies host Northland on the 14th while the Royal Ramblers host the Hornets, then closing us out on the 21st the Royal Ramblers host Sunday Morning. The Blues and Celts also have a few matches scheduled, but based on how October worked out, we’re not sure those will happen.

Over in the Rockies, we have closed out the fall season, but it looks like there are still a few matches to play in the spring as not everyone has faced all opponents in the league.

With three more matches played this past month, Boulder (6-0) are still on top of the table as the only undefeated team left in the competition. They defeated the Colorado Springs Grizzlies (2-3) on October 10th 57-17 before making the trek to the Scalliwags (1-4) on the 17th. Despite the Scalliwags sitting sixth in the standings, they put up quite a fight against Boulder, scoring in the 70th minute and converting to bring the game within a point. Boulder’s Giancarlo DiMeo slotted a penalty goal a few minutes later to pull back the lead to four points, and the final score held 32-28. The Scalliwags got two bonus points in that loss, which put them above Littleton (2-4) in the standings, despite Littleton having a better record. Boulder also took down Littleton on the 24th, this one a more comfortable 51-21. Boulder still hasn’t taken on the second-place team, the Northern Colorado Flamingos (4-1), who have wreaked havoc this past month. 

Northern Colorado were 0-1 last we checked in, and frankly not even in the conversation for who could be on top of the standings come playoff time, but boy am I glad to be wrong. The Flamingos have not just won their matches, they have dominated the field this past month, racking up four wins to shoot up the standings. On October 3rd they took down the Denver Highlanders (2-3) at home 48-29. Impressive sure, but the Flamingos did this at the end of last year too. The next weekend they smoked the Denver Harlequins (0-6) 122-5; okay okay but the Harlequins are 0-6 so that’s not a big deal. They followed this up with a 45-19 win over the Littleton Scots (2-3) on the road then a win over the Colorado Springs Grizzlies (who topped the table last year) 43-22. We’re dying to see them face the Queen City Rams (4-1) or Boulder in the spring, a real test of their might.

The Queen City Rams are in third with the same record and table points as the Flamingos, but a bit less overall PD. They topped the Littleton Scots and the Denver Highlanders this past month before traveling to the Colorado Springs Grizzlies (a game we are still waiting on the score from). Their match over the Highlanders was the closest, with Anthony Rice dotting down thrice for the Rams in the 47-45 victory. Harrison Helton scored at the death for the Highlanders to get the second bonus point in the loss, converted by Thomas Jenvey.

Outside of that close one, the Highlanders have had a relatively quiet month thanks to a forfeit win over the Harlequins on the 17th. They hosted the Littleton Scots this past weekend, but no finalized scores are in the system yet so we don’t know the outcome of that one. 

The Grizzlies, the Scalliwags, and the Scots take up places 5-7 in our standings. Despite being out of the playoff picture (for now), these teams are stirring things up in the Rockies. The Grizzlies topped the Scalliwags 55-28 on October 3rd, then the Scalliwags went try for try with Boulder. Littleton managed to score three tries in each match against Boulder and the Flamingos, one away from bonus point territory, but still finding gaps in their defense. Any one of these three teams poses a serious threat to the top teams when this season resumes in the spring. 

New England Men’s D3 wrapped up their regular season on October 24th, with semifinals and consolation matches on the 31st, all culminating in the NERFU Championships this weekend. First things first, let’s wrap up the pools and see how our top teams advanced.

Finishing on top of Pool A are the new kids on the block, New London County Rugby (5-0). They finished out their regular season with a 39-24 win over the South Shore Anchors (1-4) and a 29-19 win over Providence (2-3). New London took home bonus points in every win and racked up a total PD of +100 over five games, a dream rookie year. The Boston Irish Wolfhounds (4-1) finished in second, clinching a spot in the postseason race. They had to face the Albany Knickerbockers (3-2) back on October 10th, both teams in a must-win position in order to try to advance to playoffs. It was a wild match with five tries scored in the last ten minutes, but the Wolfhounds held onto the win, final score 50-41. On October 17th the Wolfhounds hosted Providence while the Knicks hosted North Shore (0-5); had the Wolfhounds lost without a bonus point and the Knicks won with one, Albany would have headed to the postseason. Providence gave them a real go, but the Wolfhounds had their eyes on the prize, taking home the win and the playoff berth, final score 39-22. The Knicks finished in third with their 50-12 win over North Shore, and Providence finished fourth after two October losses and one 48-36 win over North Shore. South Shore got their lone win of the season back on October 10th, defeating North Shore 52-31 in Salem. 

With one less team, there was less margin for error in Pool B. When we left off in September, there weren’t many matches played, so we didn’t have any idea of how this would play out. Burlington (3-1) nabbed the top spot despite losing their final match of the season 34-26 against the Boston Maccabi (2-2). They already had it locked up regardless of the outcome thanks to their wins over Amoskeag (0-4) and Charles River (2-2) earlier in the month. Even if they didn’t get a bonus point and tied in the standings with the Hartford Wanderers (3-1), they still had the head to head result from back on September 19th. The Boston Maccabi did everything they could to jump into the top two, but their October 3rd loss to Charles River prevented them from advancing to the postseason. The Hartford Wanderers (3-1) definitely look good storming into the postseason though, they topped Amoskeag 93-12 back on October 10th before toppling Charles River 60-7 on the 17th. With one less bonus point than Burlington, Hartford advanced as the second seed from Pool B.

On Halloween weekend we had the two conference semifinals as well as the third-best teams from each pool compete for the Plate and the bottom teams from each pool compete for a consolation match. Let’s start at the bottom and move up. In the consolation game Amoskeag took on North Shore; neither team had gotten a league win yet this season and one was guaranteed to emerge victorious. That honor went to Pool A’s North Shore, who toppled Amoskeag 34-0 enroute to their first and last victory of the season. Next up was the Plate final which pitted the Albany Knickerbockers against the Boston Maccabi. Both teams were very unlucky to miss out on the semifinals, and definitely had some fire left in their systems to finish on a win. 86 total points were scored in the barnburner, with Pool B’s Boston Maccabi taking the win 48-38. One for Pool A and one for Pool B, then we headed into the semifinals. 

The first semifinal had the top of Pool B, Burlington, taking on the second in Pool A, the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. The last league game these two faced off was last November, with Burlington taking the win 40-24. This one was much closer. The Wolfhounds scored first, through Walker Bartkiewicz, but Burlington followed up with a penalty goal. By the time the teams broke for the half, the Wolfhounds had added three more tries, leading 24-17. Then Burlington made their move. Thanks to tries from Liam Begos and Michael Lucy, as well as a penalty goal from Jaeger Nedde, Burlington took the lead with only minutes to spare. The Wolfhounds scored in the waning minutes and converted to bring the match within three points, but there wasn’t enough time left and Burlington were victorious at the final whistle, final score 34-31.

The second semifinal had our only undefeated team, New London County Rugby taking on second place from Pool B, the Hartford Wanderers. Given how competitive the other semifinal was, I expected this to somehow be even closer. It was not. Apparently Hartford really had been warming up with those two massive wins in October as they hit the ground running in this one. A massive second half saw the Wanderers score four tries en route to a 43-17 victory over the top seed. For New London County Rugby, the journey ends here, but they certainly have a solid foundation to build upon for seasons to come. 

Coming up this weekend we’ve got the NERFU Championship with Burlington taking on the Wanderers for the second time this season. Last time the two met was on September 19th, with Burlington taking the win 29-21. Much has changed since then, and this is anyone’s game to win.

Empire has wrapped up the last of their regular season this past month in preparation for playoffs, and we’ve got a lot to get through.

Starting in Connecticut. The Fairfield Yankees (2-4) were our only undefeated team last we left off, and clearly things have changed. The Yankees lost a whopping four matches in a row to finish in third place this past month. It’s actually heartbreaking when you look at the details, the Yankees were inches away in many of the matches, losing 24-22 to Greenwich (5-1) and 29-25 to Danbury (4-2). While Fairfield dropped down the rankings, Greenwich steadily rose. 33-29 over Danbury on October 3rd, two wins over the Yankees, and a 41-26 defeat of New Haven (1-5) saw them climb into the top spot and set in roots. Their lone loss of the season was against Danbury 42-41 back in August. Had it come down to head to head PD, Greenwich would have won that contest, but Danbury lost their September game to the Yankees, which put them one win behind Greenwich at the end of the season. The Madhatters did manage to close out their month with three wins, two over New Haven and one over the Yankees. If only one team from each league advances to the playoffs, Greenwich will represent Connecticut; if for some reason two teams get the nod, Danbury will join as the second-place team.

Over in New Jersey we kicked off the season with two draws, almost guaranteeing us a headache when tiebreakers would come out at the end of the season. We never needed to get there though, because one team stood out above the rest, the Union County Mudturtles (6-0). Union racked up three more wins in October with a combined total of 237 to 40. 26 of those points came from the Bayonne Bombers (2-3-1) in a bonus point loss back on October 17th. Fortunately for the Mudturtles, they only had to play the Morris Lions (4-1-1) once, the team who finished second overall. Morris also clocked three wins in October: 69-31 over Central Jersey (0-5-1), 38-26 over Bayonne, and 35-7 over Princeton (1-4-1). Had they had a rematch against Union, the tables might have shifted a little bit, but there was still that draw against Bayonne from September weighing them down. If two teams advance to playoffs, Morris will go, but if not, the Lions have finished out their season. Bayonne finished in third after two close losses to the top teams in October. The Bombers still managed to get a win of their own against Central Jersey on October 10th, bringing their final record to 2-3-1. To end on a positive note, Princeton got their first win of the season on the 17th over Central Jersey, final score 76-12. It’s not much but it’s better than nothing, Princeton able to end their season with a win. 

Over in the Metro subdivision, the month started off with the most exciting possible thing, a 10-10 draw between Long Island (4-0-1) and NYRC (4-0-1). Surely it wouldn’t come down to those two right? Of course it did. Long Island and NYRC tied on top of the table in record and table points, and the head to head was naturally a tie, so it came down to total PD to differentiate the two. That’s where Long Island was a nose ahead, total PD of +117 compared to NYRC’s +77. Most of Long Island’s differential from the past month came from their 63-17 win over the Village Lions (2-3) on October 31st. They also defeated Rockaway (0-5) on the 17th, but that one was only 37-19. NYRC on the other hand clocked two wins in October, 24-13 over the Lions and 26-15 over Brooklyn (2-3). Missing out on the battle at the top by only one table point is the Suffolk Bull Moose (4-1) who won all three matches in October to pull within striking distance of the top. They took down the Village Lions, Queens (0-4), and Brooklyn by a total PD of 69 over three games. The Bull Moose finished with the highest PD on the table, +125, but that loss from August against NYRC haunted them until the end. Out of playoff contention, Brooklyn managed to secure a 69-10 win over Rockaway on October 10th, bringing their final record to 2-3. Although it came down to the wire on this one, Long Island will advance to the postseason as the top seed. 

Heading upstate to our final region, it’s still all about Syracuse (6-0) (was there any doubt?). The Chargers are doing just as well as they did last year, which is great because they won a National Championship last year, so it clearly worked. They defeated Rochester (3-3) in their final match of the month after taking a forfeit win over South Buffalo (0-6) on the 10th. It was a solid win, adding 39 points of differential to their total for the season, and cementing them on top of the standings, yet again. In second and third place finished Rochester and Buffalo (3-3). It came down to the wire between the two, who tied on record as well as table points. In the head to head Buffalo topped Rochester 32-10 on the 10th, but Rochester beat Buffalo 58-17 back in September. This gave Rochester the edge, putting them in second while Buffalo took third. 

We’re not sure when the playoffs will be for Empire and whether they will go directly to semifinals as in years’ past or throw quarterfinals in the mix. There’s definitely some solid second-place teams that would love another chance to show what they’ve got in the playoff rounds, but there’s also some big dogs out there that aren’t afraid of a fight. 

Plenty of rugby in the Capital Men’s D3 from this past month, and still no guaranteed winners for the playoffs in April. 

We’ll start with the D3 Central league. As of right now, the Western Suburbs (4-1) are on top of the table after a jam-packed month with four matches on the schedule. They won three of four, one being a played forfeit win over Loudoun (0-6), and lost one to undefeated Severn River (4-0) who are currently one table point below them in the standings. Their match against Severn River was very close, final score 12-6, only two tries scored the entire 80 minutes. Western Suburbs got a bonus point in that loss, and with one more game than Severn, it’s what keeps them in first for now. Severn River and Western Suburbs both got big wins over Frederick (2-3) this past month; Severn topping them 78-7 and 49-12 for Western Suburbs. The Washington Renegades (3-3) have closed out their season, holding onto third place for now after a loss and a win this past month. Their win was on the 24th, defeating Loudoun 39-7 before Loudoun forfeited out the rest of their season. Those forfeits are already recorded in the records, which is how the Renegades managed to end their fall season so far ahead of the other teams. They’ll have one more game against Severn River, but that’s not until March. Our final match in November for this division will be Frederick hosting Severn River on November 7th. 

Over to the D3 South, which has been quiet since last month. There’s only three matches that happened, one of which was a forfeit – Roanoke (1-2) to the Newport News (1-2). It’s surprising because Roanoke hosted Virginia Beach (1-2) three weeks later, defeating them 36-17. So we have three teams at 1-2, but Newport News has the most bonus points. One of those points comes from their October 17th match against Virginia (3-0). Given some of the scorelines that Virginia put up last year, you’d think it would be another runaway, but instead Newport News matched Virginia try for try, only missing out on the extras in the 39-30 defeat. Last time these two played in October of 2025, the final score was 78-7 in favor of Virginia, which just goes to show how strong this conference is getting. We get to see these two go head to head against this weekend, hosted by Virginia. That’s the final match of the fall for the South, games will resume in March with Roanoke hosting the Newport News on the 6th.

In the D3 Challenger we had eight matches this month and one postponed. Schuylkill River (4-0) and Rocky Gorge (4-1) are on top of the standings with the same number of wins, though Schuylkill has one more match played. Schuylkill came home with two wins this month, 99-7 over Washington (0-4) on the 3rd and 38-31 over the Potomac Exiles (2-2) on the 24th. The Exiles also defeated Washington on the 31st, final score 65-10, but fell to Rocky Gorge 24-17 back on the 17th. Rocky Gorge had a big month, adding three wins to their record, 41-19 over the Washington Irish (0-3) and 44-19 over NOVA (2-2), in addition to that one over Potomac. Unfortunately with their loss back to Schuylkill back in September, all they can do is win their games and hope that Schuylkill stumbles somewhere along the line. Potomac and NOVA are tied with 2-2 records, but the Exiles have four more bonus points than NOVA. They got some of these in their wins over Washington and the Washington Irish this past month. The game against the Irish was a close one, with Kevin Cheng scoring twice for NOVA in the 22-19 win. They host Schuylkill River this weekend before heading in for the winter. The Irish also host the Exiles this weekend, while Washington and Rocky Gorge are already done for the fall. 

Last but not least we have our smallest league, the Challenger South. The Riverlands (3-0) is still on top after adding another win this past month, 24-10 over James River (0-4). Raleigh (2-1) also defeated James River two weeks later by a score of 41-10, then added a forfeit win to their record the following week. Not sure if this was a fluke or if James River will pull out of more matches, but it’ll probably come down to Raleigh and the Riverlands Golden Boars this year. The two face off again this weekend in the Riverlands. The last time they met it was 38-27 in favor of Riverlands, but anything could happen this weekend.

Finishing off the Atlantic region in the EPRU, we have 11 D3 Men’s teams who now all have between 4-6 matches played so far. I think this means we’ll have some more rugby to look forward to in the spring, so for the time being, let’s see how October shook up the standings.

We left in September with five teams still undefeated, that has changed drastically with Jersey Shore (6-0) our only undefeated team left. The Sharks ruined Northeast Philadelphia’s (5-1) streak on October 3rd with a 24-7 victory. The Sharks failed to get a bonus point in that win though, with the Irish holding them to three tries and a penalty goal. The next weekend Jersey Shore ruined Lehigh Valley’s (4-1) perfect record with a 41-17 victory. Lehigh Valley had continued their streak another week when they topped Wilkes-Barre (3-2) 33-31 on the 3rd. The Sharks then took a forfeit win over Brandywine (2-3) and a 97-0 walloping over the Montgomery Bucks (0-6) to head into the winter with high hopes of another trip to the playoffs. 

Left in the Sharks’ wake were Northeast Philadelphia, who bounced back with a 37-1 victory over Brandywine, a 54-12 victory over Blackthorn (1-5), and a 43-19 win over Wilkes-Barre to end their October on a high. Lehigh Valley is currently in third with one less match recorded than the Irish (still waiting on a few scores from this past weekend), having defeated Reading (1-5) 75-24 on October 24th. 

Wilkes-Barre still holds onto fourth in the standings despite taking on two of the top teams this past month. They notched a big win over Harrisburg (2-4) on the 10th and Wilmington (3-1). This last one was a close one, with Wilmington getting two losing bonus points in the melee, final score 40-38. As I mentioned, not sure all of these games have updated and hit the standings yet, so if things have shifted by the times these articles post, that’s the cause.

Phoenixville White Horse (3-2) turned their ship around with three back to back to back wins this past month. First up they toppled Blackthorn 56-24, before taking down the Montgomery Bucks on the road 32-17. They closed out the month with a 44-23 defeat of Reading in Reading this past weekend. They have one more match this weekend before winter shuts them in for good, hosting Wilmington who sits right above them in the standings. 

Blackthorn got their first win of the season over Reading this month, 33-29 on October 3rd. Wilmington beat the Bucks the same day, 29-22, to get one in the win column as well. Brandywine smashed Harrisburg 94-33, but Harrisburg clocked a win of their own over the Bucks on the 24th, 59-12. Only one team is still without a win this season, the Montgomery Bucks, who go into the winter break with a mission to get a win come spring. 

Northern California hasn’t yet released their schedule, which doesn’t surprise us because they likely won’t kick off until 2027. Last year nine teams played in NorCal’s D3, with Life West finishing undefeated. If Life West moves up, we could have a real battle on our hands for a new champion seeing as the next top four teams all finished neck and neck. Reno could move down, they finished 0-8 with a forfeit last year; but we won’t know until the schedule drops. Until then, it’s all speculation, so don’t take my word for it.

Southern California is pretty similar to NorCal; they haven’t yet posted a schedule, but aren’t expected to kickoff until January. Last year there were seven teams in the league, with the Fullerton Dead Elephants going 6-0 before the South LA Soul made a dream run to take the SoCal Championship out from under them. The San Diego Armada went winless with a forfeit, which might push them down to D4 (if SoCal has one). We’ll find out more as we get closer.

October was a jam-packed month up in the Pacific Northwest with thirteen games to cover! Let’s dive in.

Starting off with the not so good so we can end on a positive note; it appears that the Yakima Griffins have forfeited the rest of their season. All teams have +1 win added to their records from the forfeits, which extend prematurely through the spring. So when we cover records and results, just remember that all those forfeits are counted as wins (even the ones in the future). With that being noted, let’s start on top of the table! 

The Clark County Chiefs (6-0) are in the top spot with four bumper wins from this past month. The first weekend they blasted the Eastside/Spokane Razoraxes (1-5) out of the water with 112 points to five. The Razoraxes did manage to get something on the board, but it’s not fun to be on the receiving end of that. The Chiefs followed this up with a 59-19 win over the Snohomish Rhinos (3-1-1) on the road, then took a week off to rest and recover. They came back stronger than ever with two massive wins, 67-0 over Eugene/Salem (2-4) and 58-14 over the current second-place team, the Budd Bay Buffaloes (5-1). It seems like the Chiefs are in a bracket of their own this year, averaging over 50 points of differential per match. They’ll take on the Bend Roughriders (4-0) this weekend before packing it in for the winter. 

Bend are an interesting case, they’re currently sitting at fourth in the standings, but they are the only other undefeated team left in the competition. They only had one match this month, and one forfeit, a 59-14 win on the road over Eugene/Salem. They did already take down the Portland Pigs (4-2-1), so their big test against the Chiefs this upcoming weekend will be very telling. 

The Budd Bay Buffaloes are currently in second with one loss, but the Portland Pigs are close behind with one loss and one draw. They did face off against each other back on the 17th, Budd Bay taking the win in that one 30-12. The Buffaloes also notched a win over the Seattle Quake (2-4) back on the 10th, while their October 3rd match was recorded as a forfeit. The Pigs had two incredibly close matches against Eugene/Salem in October, winning both, but just barely. On the 3rd the Pigs hosted, allowing the visitors two losing bonus points in the 31-26 victory. On the 31st the Pigs hit the road and made it even closer with a one-point nailbiter. Portland came away with the victory 33-32, but I would not count out Eugene/Salem. If they can go try for try with one of the best teams in the conference, they are primed for a big upset soon. 

Snohomish are hanging out in the middle of the table with three wins, one loss, and one draw against Portland. They closed out their October fixtures with two big wins over Seattle Quake and the Razoraxes, final scores of 71-10 and 92-17 respectively. 

Coming up in November we’ve got some big match-ups; the Chiefs will host Bend, the Rhinos will host the Seattle Quake, and the Razoraxes will host the Pigs. Games will finish out on the 14th, and the season will take a hiatus until March. 

Nothing yet posted for the Southwest Men’s D2/D3 competition. Last year this league played a hybrid regular season with 12 Men’s D3 sides competing with four Men’s D2 sides. The D3 sides held their own, with the New Mexico Brujos advancing to the Pacific Super Regional after defeating Phoenix Camelback 32-28 in the Southwest Championship. All of the playoff matches were quite competitive, along with most of the regular season games. There were a number of forfeits from some of the bottom teams, I could see them dropping off this year to rebuild, so we might have a smaller playing field for 2027. Last year the games started in October with one at the end of September, so time is ticking to get this schedule formalized and give it to the people! We wanna know!

There’s still nothing yet posted for the True South Men’s D3 competition, so we’re left guessing for the time being. Last year there were 13 different teams split into two subdivisions (although there were also a few forfeits). We know that the D2 has dwindled to one, but Nashville has been playing a couple of matches against D3 teams, so we know they’re out there. Once the schedule and results get uploaded in RX, we’ll begin our debrief.

Games started early this year with two subdivisions kicking off their season on October 24th. 

All four teams in the North were in action when Little Rock (0-1) hosted DARC (1-0) and OKC Legion (1-0) hosted the Arkansas Gryphons (0-1) two weeks ago. DARC weren’t fazed by the trip to Little Rock as they tackled the Stormers 59-19. A statement win to kick off the season, DARC’s Bradley Luyt and Casey Morgan scored twice in the melee, adding to the nine try total. Little Rock did manage three of their one tries, but ended up one short from getting a bonus point, which might make a difference come the end of the season. OKC Legion had a thrilling top of the table rematch from last year, emerging victorious over the Gryphons 50-22. The Legion also held Arkansas without a losing bonus point, as the Gryphons opted for penalty kicks early in the match. The Gryphons will host Little Rock on November 14th while DARC hosts the Legion, so these standings should shake out a little bit by our next check-in. 

Our final match of October was over in the South region, between BARC (1-0) and Galveston (0-1). It was decently close for the first half of the match, BARC taking the lead into the break by a score of 22-14, but the second half opened up for Bay Area, who ended up finishing with a final score of 49-22. Different from the teams up north, Galveston managed to score four tries before the end of the match, taking away a losing bonus point. Galveston will host Shreveport on the 12th while BARC travels to the Arrows.

The D1c region will also start their matches next month; the Austin Huns will host HURT and San Antonio will host Dallas RFC. The Austin Blacks and the Dallas Harlequins will kick off their season on the 21st, when they go head to head in Dallas.

Florida Men’s D3 is down to ten teams this year after boasting an impressive 14 last season. Four of the double-sided clubs are out – Fort Lauderdale, Pelicans, Tampa, and Orlando. FSU’s second side is also out, while Tallahassee joins the fray. Currently games are scheduled to start on January 23rd with Brevard hosting Palm Beach, Jacksonville hosting Gainesville, the Hammerheads hosting Sarasota, and Tallahassee hosting Lakeland. 

We’ve got some updates from the Georgia Rugby Union, with a fall schedule released on RX. We’ve only got the results of three of the October matches to date, and two of them are quite painful. One of them however is thrilling stuff, so let’s cover it!

According to the ladder, there are 11 total Men’s D3 teams participating in the Georgia Rugby Union this year, down two from last year, the Alpharetta Exiles and Hilton Head. Last year the Savannah Shamrocks took home the GRU title, advancing to the Gulf Coast Super Regional play-in against New Orleans. They fell 38-14, ending Georgia’s D3 presence in the National Playoffs. This year, someone has already toppled the reigning champions; the Gainesville Spartans got their first (according to RX) win of the season with a 28-17 defeat of Savannah on October 17th. The Spartans scored their fourth try with only a few minutes to go to also clinch the bonus point, which might come in handy later in the season. Their next match is scheduled to be this weekend hosting High Country. Savannah will head on the road this weekend when they travel to Macon Love. The other two matches that we have results from were both triple-digit routs, in favor of the Atlanta Renegades and Charleston. I don’t love a triple-digit win, particularly a 132-0 win, as in the case of the Renegades over Gwinnett, but I guess it’s the cost of doing business. The Augusta Maddogs did manage to score and convert in their loss to Charleston, avoiding a zero on the scoreboard, but there is still work to be done in Georgia. This weekend we have five games to close out the fall season: Athens hosting the Bucks, Charleston hosting the Renegades (that’ll be a goodie!), Augusta hosting Columbus, Gainesville hosting High Country, and Macon hosting Savannah. Once the rest of the scores get updated, we’ll fill you in on all that’s been happening, but until then we can only go off what we have!

October was a busy month down in the Carolinas and it is close across the board. 

Two teams both have three wins and are currently on top of the standings, the Charlotte Barbarians (3-1) just edging out Tobacco Road (3-0) thanks to one more game played. The Barbarians kicked off their month with a 63-0 win over Triad (1-4) on the 3rd and followed it up with a 29-7 win over the Hartsville Hydras (0-3) on the 17th. They hosted the Charlotte Olde Originals (2-2) on October 24th, suffering their first loss of the season. It wasn’t even that tight, Charlotte was up 24-0 before the Barbarians got points on the board through Payton Petrilli’s penalty goal. Charlotte got one more before the break and took the lead into halftime 29-3. The second half was less scoring on both sides, but the Barbarians scored their lone try around minute 50 thanks to Joseph Raimondi. The final score was 44-10, the Olde Originals on top. Still without a loss this season are Tobacco Road, who added two wins to their record this past month. They took down the Onslow Misfits (2-2) 55-12 on October 17th and smashed Triad 93-7 on the 24th. They hit the road this weekend to take on the Barbarians, and depending on the outcome of that one, we could have a new top seed after Saturday.

Not to be counted out of the top teams are the Fayetteville Dragons (2-0), still undefeated, who had one of their matches postponed due to weather on October 10th. Their second match of the month was a strong 40-33 win over Myrtle Beach Man O’ War (2-2) who are currently third in the standings. Jeremiah Barzanti scored three for the Dragons in that one while Derrick Keyoga scored two. Fayetteville’s next match is November 14th, traveling to the Charlotte Olde Originals. 

Myrtle Beach, Onslow, and Charlotte all sit in the middle of the table with 2-2 records. Myrtle Beach and Onslow both have one more bonus point than Charlotte, but Charlotte has the bigger point differential. Man O’ War closed out this past month with a 40-35 win over Triad on the 31st. Triad managed to get two bonus points in the loss thanks to Steven Hemric going five for five on conversion kicks for Triad. Both Onslow and Charlotte added to their record with wins over the Clayton Bootleggers (1-2), Onslow on the 31st and Charlotte on the 17th. There’s some big fixtures coming up for these teams that could very well mix up the standings; Onslow hosts Triad on the 14th, Charlotte hosts back to back on the 14th and 21st, and Myrtle Beach hosts Tobacco Road on the 21st. 

Triad, Clayton, and Hartsville are all currently sitting at the bottom of the table. Clayton will host the Hydras this weekend and Triad will travel to Onslow on November 14th. Only Hartsville are currently fighting for their first win of the season, but it’s still early, it will come in time.