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."

Iowa Central had some chances but struggled to make them pay off. Mistakes and the Hokies' physicality saw Tech take a 12-8 with time winding down. That's when the Tritons finally put it together. Tony Robinson was brought on as a tactical sub, and his fresh legs carried around and through some Tech defenders to go in right at the corner. That nudged the Tritons ahead 13-12, and then center Rhys Smith slotted the touchline conversion to make it 15-12.

Iowa Central then ran out the clock with a series of pick-and-goes—not their normal approach, but the right tactic at the time.

"It was very proud of how they finished it," said Nelson. 

No. 8 Ezra Ulberg and flankers Alex Johnson and Dakota Southworth were immense for Iowa Centra.

Bowling Green meanwhile defeated Kennesaw State 29-21. Despite the fact that KSU was a bit shorthanded, the Owls managed to mount a bit of a comeback after falling behind 17-0.

Full game video here>>

"We had a decent lead and we let them get back into the game a little bit," said Bowling Green Head Coach Tony Mazzarella. "I thought we were in control, but I wish the guys would have finished it off better."

The Bowling Green pack, with the tight five of Connor Peterson, Kyle Sikora, Matthew McGrath, Mason Carriero, and Sam Ciancutti, were excellent, especially in tight. They orchestrated two eightman shove tries, and generally caused KSU problems. 

"At the beginning of the year we felt we'd be pretty strong in the scrum, and they've been working hard at it," said Mazzarella.

Center Mark Steinmetz also produced a solid effort, and a key try as he scooped up a loose ball and raced in to score.

So that sets up a clash of somewhat different styles, with the more freewheeling Iowa Central taking on a structured Bowling Green team with a big, powerful pack. With the weather expected to be marginally better, both teams will want to improve their success in attack. But neither got much chance to rest starters on Saturday.