The NC State men’s club rugby team (3-2) played its final home match of the season at the Raleigh Rugby Fields against Maryland (2-1-1) over the weekend, handing the Terps their first loss of the season in a 51-31 shootout.

The win gives the Pack 164 points this season, good for second in a conference filled with powerhouses such as the 4-1 Virginia Tech Hokies and 3-1 Mt. Saint Mary’s Mountaineers. It puts the Wolfpack ahead of Mt. Saint Mary’s in terms of total points scored, though the Pack has a worse point differential at 48 than the Mountaineers, who have just allowed 80 points this season compared to the Pack’s 116.

This win is also significant because of the potential playoff implications it has. Maryland, Salisbury, Mt. Saint Mary’s and NC State are all in the hunt for the second/third seed, which would be a matchup that puts the victor in the national championship bracket. NC State sits just above Mt. Saint Mary’s, who defeated the Pack earlier in the season.

This game was a huge statement for the Pack, especially in the second half, in the form of the huge plays executed by senior Mende Carlton, who had five total tries in the game, with four coming in the second half. The win was especially impressive with the significant player losses the Pack had going into the game, including president and senior Greg Amaty, who could not make the game for personal reasons, and graduate Thabani Mtsi, who was out with injury.

“We changed some things in the game plan in the last couple of weeks, because we aren’t always the biggest team on the field,” said head coach Brian Ketchum. “We wanted to get some new guys in, with the big guys out, change some things up.”

The team also lost freshman Colton Woodard to injury right before the second half, knocking him out for a significant amount of time within the game.

Carlton had his first score in the early minutes of the first half, when the Pack drove down the field very quickly to go up 5-0 after some good scrums, and junior Tom Stockton was successful in his first attempt, bringing the game to 7-0.

From here, the game went back and forth for a while, with the Maryland defense beginning to pick up and ultimately stifling the Pack in the middle. The Terps scored quickly, bringing the game to 12-7, but after some impressive powerhouse plays by sophomore Jonny Robbins, junior Mayo Ogunmola and senior Darren Murphy, the team was able to bring the game back to 14-12. 

Then, Maryland captured a 17-14 lead, but this would be the last lead of the game for Maryland, and the team’s last score for a significant chunk of time. In the second half, junior Jack Lowe made a huge recovery before freshman Luke McPherson scooped it up to bring the lead to 22-17 early in the second half.

After this, the onslaught began, with Carlton scoring three times in his next three tries for the Pack. His first came after a huge trucking charge by senior Brandon Corkery, who dropped the ball behind for Carlton to scoop up, who took it to the outside and tiptoed down the sideline for a smooth finish.

“Once we got things figured out, it was pretty much a track meet,” Ketchum said.

Almost immediately, Carlton scored a huge try, running down nearly the entirety of the field to bring the score to 34-17 after the attempt by Stockton. Maryland tried to answer back and marched down the field to the goal line, but the Pack defense came up with a huge stop, furthering the match in the direction of a blowout.

Following that drive, Carlton scored once more, bringing his total to four tries in the match and the score to a strong 41-17, following another kick from Stockton.

“It really means a lot,” Carlton said. “After losing so many last year, it means a lot to be building this chemistry back, and we are not sitting back on the past. We are looking to the future and looking to keep building this program. When we made this jump to D1-AA, we knew that we were going to have to make plays. All the seniors and upperclassmen have been playing for a while. We all just try to be leaders and keep on playing.”

The Terps scored a handful of times, bringing their point total to 31, but Carlton proved too much again, scoring another try, and late in the game Stockton scored a try of his own, bringing the final score to 51-31 on a nice final drive that included the entire team.

Carlton finished with five total tries, equating to 25 points scored for the Pack. Stockton finished with one try, and four attempts and one drop goal, bringing his point total to 16 points.

“Our experienced guys are at practice every week, asking what they can learn, watching games, and watching video,” Ketchum said. “To see that love and commitment is why I am still here. It’s great to see it continue.”

The team plays one more regular-season game against James Madison in Harrisonburg, Virginia, before moving to a play-in game that determines its playoff fate.

“It would be amazing, with all the guys who graduated and the move up a division, to even make it to the playoffs, and it is in our sights,” Ketchum said.