Tobacco Road men’s rugby (D3) won a close match at Southern Pines and lost at Fayetteville.
Southern Pines was the most physical of the season yet and very back and forth. SoPi scored after 20 minutes, but TR punched right back with a try from John Ahenda. Adam Bulgrin converted. They scored another toward the end of the first half, which ended at 12-7 in their favor.
TR started the second half strong and got back-to-back tries from Evan Barbaryka to go up 17-12. SoPi responded with a try of their own, but Ralo Howard struck right back. Score was 22-17 for ToRo with about 8 minutes to go, but Southern Pines managed to get across the line one more time. With time fading, Jack Sears struck a penalty kick to put TR up 25-22, and that’s how it ended.
Forward of the match was Jonah Paasche-Orlow, and back of the match was Evan Barbaryka.
Fayetteville downed Tobacco Road 52-31 on the road. It was the first matrix loss of fall. ToRo won earlier 32-20 in Durham.
Try scorers were Elijah McLaughlin, JC Perez and Paasche-Orlow (2 each). Jack Carpenter converted 3 of 5. Forward of the match was Perez, and Back of the Match Malcolm Smith-Fraser.