While North Dakota State students and fans won’t be able to cheer on the Thundering Herd in the Fargodome on Saturday, they will have the opportunity to support an equally physical yet far more mysterious game. In the absence of a Bison football game this weekend, NDSU’s club rugby team is seeking to fill the void.  

The Lost Boys, as they call themselves, will be hosting their annual “Pack The Stands” tournament this Saturday, Sept. 16, to kick off the season and promote their club.

“Every year we like to have an event we call ‘Pack the Stands’ for one of our home games,” club president Andrew Karp said. “It’s typically when we get our biggest crowd. We sell food, team merchandise and have an announcer for our game,” he added.

The decision to hold Pack The Stands this weekend was because the only other weekend the Lost Boys have a home game is next Saturday, when the Bison also have a home football game. That game will be at 1 p.m. against the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Karp spoke optimistically about the upcoming season, confident that the Lost Boys can continue to add on to their success from a year ago.

“We’re really excited to kick off our season this weekend, especially after making it to nationals last fall and being ranked fifth in the nation,” Karp commented. “We have a lot of returning players this year and a handful of new ones that are working hard and picking up the game pretty quickly,” he continued.

The Lost Boys have participated in one preseason tournament thus far, the All-Minnesota, finishing second. On the first day of the tournament, they won two games by forfeit, but were able to play two friendly games against Wayne State College and Bemidji State University.

The Lost Boys won both friendlies. The two forfeits positioned them as the No. 1 seed entering the semifinals. They topped No. 3 seed St. John’s University to advance to the finals against the University of Minnesota. However, the Lost Boys would lose to Minnesota by a close score of 12-5 in the finals.

This Saturday’s slate of games includes three matchups between the Lost Boys and St. Cloud State University. At 11 a.m., the women’s team will open the proceedings, followed by the men’s game at 1 p.m. and the men’s B team at 3 p.m. The club rugby team plays their home games on the field on 17th Ave N and 18th St N, just north of the Mathew Living Learning Centers and west of the Shelly Ellig Track and Field Complex.