Collegiate Rugby, FTF Sign D1A Broadcast Deal
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (CRAA Press Release) — The Collegiate Rugby Association of America and Lax United Marketing, LLC (LUM) have agreed on a three-year deal to bring D1A College Rugby to a massive television and digital audience.
Lax United Marketing, via the brand FTF—For the Fans—will broadcast a minimum of 50 D1A rugby games per season over the course of the deal between the 2019-2022 seasons.
FTF salutes the drivers of the sports industry—the passionate, rabid fans seeking a unique sports experience along with exceptional coverage. FTF is available across multiple digital platforms including: Twitch, Pluto, Distro, Xumo, etc. FTF can be seen in more than 60 million households worldwide.
Gamebreakers Men DII College Playoffs
Playoff time, and so big performances are event bigger; here's a look at some players who made an impact during the Men's DII college playoffs this past weekend.
Noah Cook Norwich
Cook scored two tries as Norwich won their Round of 16 game over Loyola.
Jeffrey Rein, Furman
The Paladins' scrumhalf directed a very potent Furman attack in a win over William Paterson.
Dylan Moorman, UMS&T
The hard-hitting lock forward was in the middle of the action for S&T and also served as their goalkicker as S&T shut down Montana State 34-3.
Scott Labine, Illinois State
The No. 8 for ISU is their captain and one of their chief ground-gainers, and led from the front over MSU Moorhead.
WMU Win Shows Strength Of MAC
Did Western Michigan just make a statement for the Mid-American Conference?
It could be.
Consider that as the Broncos get set for the USA Fall DIAA final, the MAC get them ready as well as just about any conference could.
Sure WMU was undefeated in the regular-season play in the MAC, but it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t easy anywhere, for anyone. Defending national DIAA Fall champs, Bowling Green, lost twice in the regular season, once to Western Michigan, and once to Louisville. That wasn’t a fluke for Louisville, which ended the season 6-3 (including playoffs) and beat IUPUI to take 3rd in the conference.
NSCRO Playoff Latest
Here's a look at who has qualified for the NSCRO Championship weekend in the spring, after a series of playoff weekends the past three weeks.
The Championship weekend is scheduled for April 24 to 26, 2020 at a venue to be announced and consists of the Final Four teams in both the NSCRO Champions Cup and Challenge Cup playoffs.
Northeast Region
Salve Regina came back from a 12-0 deficit to beat Holy Cross 15-12 in overtime to win the Northeast Regional playoffs for the National Small College Rugby Organization.
Seniors Ben Aubuchon and Kyle O'Connor scored tries to spark the comeback and Alexander Fingado converted one to tie the game 12-12 at full time.
In OT, Fingado slotted the game-winning penalty goal, and earned the game MVP honors in the process. Salve Regina is now 10-0.
Chesapeake Conference Announce All-Conference Selections
The Chesapeake Rugby Conference has named its All-Conference selections.
As befits a very competitive conference which had four close-loss bonus points and two tries, several teams contributed players to the 1st Team.
Conference champion Virginia Tech put three players on 1st Team All-Conference and five on the 2nd Team. Conference runners-up NC State put four players on the 1st Team.
Here are the All-Conference teams, as voted by the Conference and team administrators.
The Numbers Add Up: S&T Leads Charge For Tech Schools
You ever notice that technical and engineering colleges seem to do well in rugby?
It’s noticeable. RPI made the conference playoffs in both men and women. RIT women made the national playoffs, and so did Colorado School of Mines.
NC State, which has a strong engineering program, and they along with Cal Poly and Texas A&M have all been successful in rugby.
And then there’s one more—Missouri S&T.
AC Foundation Supports Collegiate All-Star Team At NY 7s
Among the teams entered in this coming weekend's New York 7s collegiate bracket will be a select side of local players backed by the New York Athletic Club.
The team started a few years ago as a collection of Pelham HS alumni, with one or two friends as additions. The concept has expanded a little, as the former Pelham players make friends with former opponents.
Now, the AC Rugby Foundation out of New York has stepped in to support to effort, reasoning that putting the NYAC Rugby name behind a team of talented rugby players would be a good recruiting move.
The team has performed well. Two years ago they beat Stony Brook to win the Plate at the New York 7s. Last year they made the Cup Final before losing to Bishop's University out of Canada.
Big Ten Makes All-Conference Selections
The Big Ten Conference has announced its All-Conference selections.
Ohio State loose forward Ben Richards and Indiana flyhalf Case Fleck have been named co-MVPs for the season, while Indiana center Will Chevalier was named Freshman of the Year. Richards played flanker and also hooker for Ohio State, and in fact received All-Conference honors at both positions (2nd team as hooker).
Conference champion Indiana has eight selections to 1st-team All-Conference, and four more who made 2nd team or honorable mention. Seven Ohio State Buckeyes made 1st- or 2nd-team All-Conference.
It's Iowa Central And Western Michigan In DIAA Final
Western Michigan will play Iowa Central Community College in the fall final of the Men's DIAA College rugby playoffs after both won games Sunday.
Iowa Central, which started the season as a DII team and was moved up to DIAA despite their protests because of the Tritons' strength of schedule, have made lemonade out those lemons with an impressive run this weekend.
After coming back to beat Virginia Tech in the last minute on Saturday, the Tritons beat defending fall champs Bowling Green 25-5 on Sunday.
Overtime, Comebacks Highlight Men DII QFs
Four teams are left in the Men's DII playoffs after some thrillers on Sunday in the quarterfinals.
Overtime
Norwich needed overtime to defeat Furman 60-41 in a wild one. Furman led 41-24 with 15 minutes left in the second half. But
But in those final 15 minutes the Cadets scored three tries, including a long series of phases from a lineout, maul, and several pick-and-goes that needed Jeffrey Minicucci to convert on to tie the game 41-41.
Shaken by the comeback, Furman had no answer in overtime as Norwich scored three tries to win 60-41.
That wasn't the only nailbiter on the day.
All College Playoff Games
Here are all of the kickoff times and scores for this weekend's college playoff games.
All times are local.
NSCRO Northeast Regionals Latest
The Northeast NSCRO Regional playoffs are underway.
Holy Cross defeated Ithaca 22-7 in the Cup Semis, while Salve Regina edged Colby 22-16 in an exciting encounter to set up the Regional Championship on Sunday.
Captain Harry Holte, Mark Barry, Ant Giacchi, and Ben Aubuchon all scored tries in Salve's win.
In the Challenge Cup semis, New Haven beat SUNY Maritime.
Wild Day One In Men DII Playoffs
Plenty of drama and excitement in the Men's DII Round of 16 as there were a couple of surprises, and some comebacks along the way.
Norwich and Furman.
Top-ranked Norwich and #2 Furman both won. Details here:
Two Top-Ranked DII Teams Win In Playoffs
Illinois State looked fairly solid in defeating Minnesota State-Moorhead 31-7 to advance.
Missouri S&T controlled things against Rocky Mountain Conference winners Montana State and rolled out 34-3 winners. Most of the first half was played in the S&T half, but they were able to break out and score just before halftime.
Bowling Green, Iowa Central Win DIAA QFs
Bowling Green and Iowa Central Community College will face off Sunday for a spot in the DIAA Fall final after both won close quarterfinal games Saturday.
Iowa Central beat Virginia Tech in dramatic fashion, scoring late to win 15-12. The rain started just before kickoff, and that weather seemed to slow the Iowa CCC wide attack. Certainly Tech handled it better early.
"Virginia Tech are big and tey run hard and they hit really hard," said Iowa Central Head Coach Brent Nelson. "We really needed our back row to play well to stand up to them when those big dudes were running at us. We were fortunate."
St. Joe's, WMU On To DIAA Semis
Two accomplished DIAA teams that know each other well are facing off Sunday in one of the fall semifinals.
Western Michigan, which just barely lost out to Bowling Green in the MAC conference final, defeated SCRC champs Tennessee 38-22 to move on. Fullback William Stanley was strong throughout for WMU, playing excellent defense and slotting in everywhere as a potent attacker. He helped organize the backline as well.
Hooker Manny Bravo and No. 8 Joey Backe were the go-to Broncos on defense, and with props Ivan Delgado and Mark Green making strong carries and locks Justice Delli Bovi and Sean McNamara running intelligent lines, WMU started to control the gain line. That all set up space for the backs, and outside center Kyle Williams scored two tries and set up two more after breaking through.
