Poughkeepsie, NY - Four weeks ago the Brewers came unstuck playing the regular season game against SUNY-Maritime. At 29-26 Vassar was down just 3 points with 13 minutes left in the match but in those 13 minutes the team shipped 20 points as 3 tries took Maritime way ahead and 49-26 looked as bad as it felt. So there were no illusions today of the task that was in front of the home team. As if to add a bit of spice it was a semifinal and losing it would mean the end of the fall season. 

Vassar College Men  50 v 28 SUNY-Maritime College Men
Tries: Max Czekaj (2) Eli Schair-Rigoletti (1), TJ Usher (3), Samia Jaman (1) & Caleb Joyce (1).
Cons: Mark Gislason (5).
This one was a whole lot better than the game a month ago! Vassar took the lead when lock Max Czekaj barged over and it was 5-0. But Maritime didn't wait long before crashing over from short range as well and with the conversion the visitors led 7-5.

But when Eli Schair-Rigoletti went over and Vassar led 12-7 the Brewers would not look back and held the lead for the remainder of the match. But one shouldn't get the idea that this was easy, quite to the contrary, as there were some critical tackles made by players to keep the Bronx school from crossing the goal line.

The headlines are often dominated by the scorers but on this beautiful sunny fall afternoon those most deserving are the lads who did the hard yards and made countless tackles. Vassar hooker Phil Knowlton consistently put his body on the line along with first year student Sawyer Bivins. Ben Kaplan is like the energizer bunny and in addition to hitting rucks he was strong in the scrum. The first year students playing on the wings, Sam Hoover and McCarthy Barber, distinguished themselves with outstanding open field tackles. In the centers Schair-Rigoletti and Kruse were often out of position but when they did tackle they put their opponents down. At scrumhalf TJ Usher had a better game than his last outing and he was rewarded with 3 tries. 

Vassar went up 19-7 then 26-7 and with just minutes left in the half that would have been a commanding position. But the Brewers let Maritime back into the contest and put some wind in the visitors' sails when the half finished at 26-14.

The second half did not begin well for Vassar and Maritime narrowed the gap to 5 points at 26-21. But the reposte from Vassar was emphatic  as Usher scored his third try and 33-21 looked a lot more comfortable. Maybe comfortable is not the best description given the regular season game finale but at least Vassar was not conceding points rapidly.

Max Czekaj scored his second with an impressive run breaking a couple of tackles and at 40-21 the game was there for the taking. Flyhalf Mark Gislason had a good day with the boot as he slotted 5 conversions.

Maritime did collect a couple of yellow cards so that hampered their chances but their spirits were broken when Samia Jaman strode over for a try at a lineout basically unopposed.

The Brewers will play for the Conference Championship this coming weekend on Sunday November 9th, 2025 at USMMA, Kings Point. Full details to follow.

Team: 15 Kiran Mullen 14 McCarthy Barber 13 Marius Kruse 12 Eli Schair-Rigoletti 11 Sam Hoover 10 Mark Gislason 9 TJ Usher 1 Sawyer Bivins 2 Phil Knowlton 3 Ben Kaplan 4 Max Czekaj 5 Gene Waddy 6 Ken Kabeya 7 Samia Jaman 8 Kaiden Tocher. Subs: Miles Yum for Ken Kabeya & Caleb Joyce for Sam Hoover.

Record: 6-4-0

Next: Sunday November 9, 2025 Tri-State Conference Championship Game
Vassar College Men at USMMA, Kings Point Men