1989 is also the year the club made it back to the ERU Championships with Stephen Siano as captain, winning over Providence 31 - 12 in the semis and beating the Atlanta Renegades 15 - 12 in the final. The Club represented the ERU at the final four in Denver for the National Championship. After beating host Denver 18 - 9 in the semi final, the club lost to reigning champ OMBAC 19 - 9 in the final. The spring of 1989 also brought the sad news of the untimely death of William 'Buddy' Kane. Buddy was a prop for Philadelphia in that clubs hey day and a big contributor to the clubs success in the seventies. In the fall of 1989 the 1st XV again won the EPRU. In the Mid-Atlantic's the club lost a heartbreaker to Washington. In the second half playing into the wind and 18 - 3 down the forwards led the way with repeated attacks by Mike Siano, Keith McLean and Rob Farley in a inspired comeback. However it all came down to the last two minutes and only 18 - 15 down. With our penalty kick at goal passing just below the crossbar our season came to an end. Two weeks later Washington beat Life and Old White to win the ERU.