Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Air Force
No. 8 Men's Rugby Falls To Air Force In Season Finale
November 06, 2015 | Men's Rugby
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The eighth-ranked Army West Point men's rugby team took an eight-point advantage into the half but was unable to hold on to the lead as the 17th-ranked Air Force Falcons walked away with a 31-25 win on Friday afternoon.
Four different players earned points for the Black Knights as Peter Basnight, Andrew Irwin and John Sproul each dotted down. Thomas Del Pino added 10 points to the game, booting two penalty kicks and two conversions.
Air Force came out hot, getting up by a score of 12-0 through the first seven minutes.
Back-to-back penalty kicks from Del Pino would cut the Falcons' lead in half as they clung to a 12-6 advantage midway through the first half.
Irwin scored the Black Knights' first try of the contest in the 25th minute off of a scrum to put Army up 13-12.
Basnight extended the Army lead in the 31st minute as the Black Knights headed into the break with the 20-12 lead.
With Army down a man due to a yellow card on Mitchell Sanderson, Air Force capitalized, rattling off two straight tries to go up 26-20.
Army responded in the 60th minute as Sproul was able to score off of a scrum to cut the Falcons' lead to 26-25.
Physicality dominated for the remainder of the period as neither team was able to establish a dominant possession. Air Force, however, found the back of the try zone in the 78th minute to go up 31-25.
Army kept the pressure on for the remaining minutes of action, but was denied another score as the Falcons earned the 31-25 win.
With the loss, Army falls to 5-3-0 on the season, with all three losses coming in consecutive matches.
The game was the final of the fall season for the Black Knights who will get the spring slate underway in March.
Visit www.GoArmyWestPoint.com for up-to-date information and follow the Black Knights on Twitter @ArmyWP_MRugby and Instagram @armywprugby.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
Players Mentioned
