Queens Take Men's DII College Throne
Queens University Charlotte capped off a massive season with a dominating 74-8 defeat of Wisconsin-Whitewater Sunday in the men’s DII college final.
The Royals finished the fall 9-1, the only blemish being a non-league loss to Southern Virginia (33-28). In every other game Queens scored at least 50 points, and topped 70 six times, including in both the semifinal and final this weekend.
Queens were just too quick for Whitewater, and with No. 8 Dominic Tianga back after a suspension for a red card (he missed two playoff games), they used the compact, powerful loose forward to bull through Whitewater’s big defenders.
College Fall Finals Weekend Scores
Here ae the scores and scorers from the 2019 Fall College finals weekend:
DII Women Semifinals
Winona State Holds Of Coast Guard In A Wild Semi
Colorado School of Mines 29
Tries: Oglesby 2, Walls, Lucero-Schnell, Other
Convs: Kruger 2
Vassar 15
Tries: Lynch 2, Mousley
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Winona State 42
Tries: Schneeberger, Becker, Rabideau 2, Birk, Tapia Alverado, Lutzen
Convs: Becker 2
Pens: Becker
US Coast Guard Academy 36
Tries: Sims 3, Jurkowski 2, Roush
Convs: Roush 3
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There It Is: Iowa Central Wins Fall DIAA
The Iowa Central Tritons started the 2019 fall season as a Division II team, and now they are DIAA fall champions.
The Tritons defeated Western Michigan 36-21 Sunday in Matthews, NC.
The story, of course, has been told, but it comes down to this: Iowa Central was invited to join a conference, and took some time deciding. The conference didn’t want to wait, and so Iowa Central was without a conference for the second year in a row. The Tritons had a schedule, made up of almost all DIA and DIAA teams, and so USA Rugby, through committee and appeals decisions, said they were a DIAA team.
The good news for Iowa Central was that they’d done enough to garner an at-large invitation to the DIAA playoffs, and then it was just a case of performing on the field.
Queens, Whitewater On To DII Final
The #1-ranked Norwich University Cadets were brought summarily down to earth Saturday as Queens University Charlotte hung up 73 points on the top-ranked team.
Queens unleashed a ton of speed and added to that some power in the breakdown to put Norwich on their heels early.
Royals Chase For The Throne
The quickness of ruck ball for Queens meant Norwich had all sorts of problems getting aligned on defense in time to check the Royals’ advance.
And add to that some determined defense from Queens, which kept Norwich away from the tryline and built on their frustration. The only points Norwich came away with were from a penalty goal in front of the posts with no time left. Clearly they are least wanted a try, but were denied even that.
Finals Time For College Men
The fall comes down to this as Men’s DIAA and DII college teams crown champions.
For the Men’s DII, this is the national championship—there is no spring playoff. For everyone else, it’s a fall championship with a spring championship for those who finish league play in March and April.
Men's College Historical Champions
Here’s how it looks:
Saturday, December 7
2PM Eastern Time: Queens University Charlotte vs Norwich University (DII Semi)
Warhawks Scrape And Scrap To The Semis
Wisconsin-Whitewater is used to winning rugby games.
The Warhawks have been in seven of the last nine DII final fours, winning it all three times and making the final three more times.
So when you hear that Whitewater didn’t even win their conference, you’ve got to wonder.
But Whitewater captain Scott Derbes isn’t too shaken up about it.
“It’s not been a struggle or anything,” Derbes told Goff Rugby Report. “When we lost to Illinois State [in the Great Midwest final] the conditions were really bad. In the first two rounds of the [national] playoffs the conditions were much better. It allowed us to play our game more.
Well, a little bit more. Even though the conditions were “much better,” it was still wet and muddy, and Whitewater just got by 19-17.
Men's College Historical Champions
Here are the historical men's college champions of major playoffs in the USA.
As of December 4, 2019
Time To Knock The Door Down: WMU's Joey Backe
Western Michigan club president and mechanical engineering student Joey Backe tells us why his Broncos are in the DIAA fall final.
They’ve Been Getting Closer
“We’ve been knocking on the door,” said Backe. “My freshman year, a couple of years ago, we made it to nationals. We got beat pretty bad by Kentucky in the first round. Last year we made it to the semis; lost by one try to St. Joe’s, a very good program. And then in sevens, we made it to the national championship [game], only to lose to Lindenwood-Belleville. So we’ve been knocking on the door. It’s time to kick it down.”
Inch-by-Inch, Iowa Central Chases Title
The story now is well-known; Iowa Central Community College was bumped up from DII to DIAA in the middle of the season—late in the middle of the season—and the Tritons still managed to win through, get an invitation to the DIAA playoffs, and make this weekend’s final.
It’d be no surprise that the players have a bit of a chip on their shoulder.
But they are just worried about playing some rugby.
“Being moved up halfway through the season was tough,” said Iowa Central flyhalf/center Rhys Smith. “But we couldn’t do much about that. We’ve received so much support, we’ve just fed off that. All we can do is let the coaches deal with those issues; our job is to get an education and play rugby, so that’s what we’re doing.”
This week the Tritons can do something special, and win a national title as a two-year school.
Rocky Mountain DII Conference Names All-Conference Players
The Rocky Mountain men's DII college conference has named its All-Conference team.
The list, not surprisingly, includes several players from the top three teams in the conference, Montana State, Northern Colorado, and Colorado Mesa. Those three produce 13 of the 15 All-Conference players.
Prop: Jacob Lunsford, Montana State |
Prop: Anthony Ibara, Northern Colorado |
Hooker: Finn VaughanKraska, Montana State |
Lock: George Puamani, Colorado Mesa |
They've Seen It All Before: Tested Norwich Ready For Semis
At first glance it appears that things have been a bit of a knife edge for Norwich University, but ask the players and they say it’s all been a bit more chill.
The Cadets did indeed lose their first game of the season, and were in two very different kinds of dogfights in the Men’s DII College playoffs, but through it all, says captain Will Rambin, Norwich has been smart, patient, and in control.
“Losing that first game against Bentley was tough,” said Rambin, who had missed the warmup games due to a broken nose. “It was our first conference loss in three years, but it also showed us that we were not invincible, that we needed to work harder.”
NYAC Rugby Foundation-Supported Collegiate Team Wins NY 7s College Bracket
The New York Athletic Club Foundation collegiates dominated the opposition to win the Men's College bracket at the New York 7s.
As reported earlier on Goff Rugby Report, the NYAC Foundation team grew out of the Pelham HS alumni team. Players who used to play at Pelham formed a team two years ago, and then that expanded to include some athletes who played against Pelham in high school.
This year, the NYAC Foundation, which supports several youth and college efforts in the New York region, sponsored the team, and the team responded. They shut out Rogue Samurai 38-0, beat Canadian Tsunami Misfits 41-17, and shut out Stars 7s 31-0 to win their pool. In the semis they beat the Jets Piranhas 33-17, and then in the final beat Roots 41-10 to win the championship.
That's five wins on the day, with an average score of 37-9.
Major Developments In DIA Says Official
D1A Rugby vice president Teshay Flowers sat down with Goff Rugby Report to discuss the latest developments in the competition.
Flowers discussed the development of the College Rugby Association of America, 7s, the deal with For The Fan, and how women's college rugby fits into it all.
The entire interview can be seen here>>:
But here are some of the highlights:
1. For The Fan is a non-paywall service that can be seen on television, online, and through streaming apps and will show a minimum of one DIA game a week, plus a weekly show, starting in the New Year.
Rugby Thanksgiving Feast On FTF
D1A Rugby's new broadcast partner For The Fan will run a rugby marathon Saturday as part of its promotion of its rugby coverage.
For The Fan, which shows on regular TV as Eleven Sports, and on device and TV apps as For The Fan, will be showing DIA rugby games (no paywall) most of the day on Saturday.
The games will be what FTF has been showing this fall, including the Red River Conference 7s, Liberty Challenge games, and Big Ten Championship.
The broadcast starts at 9AM ET Saturday, November 30.
Go here for more: https://www.ftfnext.com/
Chuckanut Rugby Starting HS Teams In Local School District
Bellingham, Wash.–Varsity high school rugby is coming to Bellingham, Wash.
The Chuckanut Bay Athletic Association (CBAA) has reached a formal agreement with the Bellingham School District to develop new girls and boys rugby teams at each of three high schools in the Northwestern Washington city—Bellingham HS, Squalicum HS, and Sehome HS.
This is a huge step for the game in Whatcom County and in Washington. CBAA has run the Chuckanut age-grade teams for boys and for girls for several years. Those club teams will continue to exist, but will not draw players from the three high schools listed above. It's a risk for the Chuckanut clubs, in that they might see a dip in performance spreading the talent around like that, but, said club president Craig Brown, it's worth it.
