[citation needed] Owens and Bleichner cleared up the issues with the PRU and were accepted into the union in less than the two-year waiting period as a Division II club.
On the way to Savannah, Ga., for the St. Patrick's Day tournament, Vince Michalski played "Dancing Queen" by ABBA non-stop for four hours until the CD was broken.
Deploying a forward-oriented, smash-mouth, always recycling style of "machine rugby", Culpepper turned a losing record club into a playoff bound squad in 2003.
Players from local colleges such as Frostburg, Salisbury, St. Mary's, and UMBC joined the team during that time and in the 2002–2003 season, Gorge had a 4–4 record advancing to the MARFU Quarterfinals against Raleigh, but lost 34–8.
The picnics continued for the next four years that included 2006's Post Apocalyptic Road Warrior bash with Bartertown, 2007's Wrestling Extravaganza with entry music and a fully functioning squared circle, 2008's Cowboys and Indians Pow-Wow, and 2010's Rednecks and Hillbillies Drink-Up with a pig-wrassling competition.
Sensing that the team needed a new look to differentiate itself other local squads, the club colors were changed from green to royal blue, black, white.
Four recently graduated players from Salisbury, Matty Shover, Sean Kelley, Ashton Thomas, and Tyler Wickline, were welcomed to Gorge.
Gorge went on its second international tour to Ireland playing Saint Mary's in Limerick, practicing in horrible conditions in Cork, and finishing up against Malahide in Dublin.
During the ten day, 25-man tour, the club played Central Naval in Buenos Aires and Bigua in Mar de Plata.
Following tour, Gorge had a team meeting with head coach Chuck Moore and president Trace Hall to concentrate on getting better as a club.
With about two minutes remaining, Gorge moved the ball wide and Jon Biermann hit Ressler back on the inside for the converted try.
[4] After raising over $25,000 to send the team to Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado for the championship weekend, Gorge faced Pacific Champion, Santa Rosa Rugby Club, on Saturday in the National Semifinals.
On Sunday in the stadium at Infinity Park, Gorge met the Wisconsin Rugby Club to decide the DII National Championship.
After trailing for most of the first half, Rocky George fought back and closed the gap to 17–12 at halftime behind a pick and go try from Bryan Perez and an Andrew Kendall score set up by the strong running of Jon Biermann.
With the momentum coming out of the half, Dustin Meehan grabbed the lead for Gorge with a try in the 44th minute and a subsequent conversion by Kendall.
Wisconsin answered with a penalty to retake the lead at 20–19, but Gorge came right back with another forwards try by Will "A Strong Specimen of a Man" Miller in the 50th minute.
[9] On Sunday in the conference final, Gorge clawed back from a 14-point deficit at halftime to exact revenge on its rival Wilmington to win, 34–24.
In a defensive battle under horrible field and weather conditions, Gorge and Wisconsin traded blows in a closely contested affair.
[11] In the National Semifinal against New Haven Old Black RFC on Sunday, Gorge barely survived in an intense match full of momentum swings and tense moments.
The DII National Championship at Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wisconsin featured a clash in styles that culminated in an exciting 80 minutes of rugby.
Tempe looked to have righted the ship scoring in the 45th minute to cut the advantage to ten points, but Gorge's gritty and consistent defense continued to keep the Old Devils at bay.
[13] The members of the 2014 National Championship team are: After winning the DII Mid-Atlantic, Gorge was offered a promotion to Division I for the 2014–2015 season.
In addition to its divisional adversaries, Gorge also beat DI's Raleigh and the Potomac Exiles and tied the ARP's Boston RFC.
The higher quality competition prepared Gorge for the conference playoffs as it ran past Media, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, and Wilmington on its way to its third Mid-Atlantic Championship in four years.
The wins continued to rack up and completed an undefeated 14–0 record, which included a 36–33 victory over the visiting ARP side, New York Athletic Club RFC.
Against Reading in the DIII MAC Championship, William Lomax, Aki Raymond (2), Matthew Phillips, and Bill Bush scored tries and Chris Bleiler had two conversions and a penalty for the 32–24 win.
In the end, the USA Rugby Grievance Committee ruled in favor of Rocky Gorge allowing it to represent the Mid-Atlantic at Nationals.
Following the 2017–2018 season, Rocky Gorge made a change at the top installing Andrew "Copperpot" Chesterfield as club president and named a board to the team.
Additionally, during the club banquet in November, Chuck Moore and Tom Henry donned the blue jackets as new members of the Rocky Gorge Hall of Fame.
After dropping its first game on the road against Schuylkill River, DI finished the fall with six straight victories to lead the north division.