D2 Playoffs Results and Notes

11.18.2023College Men

Sunday sees eight teams remaining in the NCR D2 playoffs facing each other to knock it all down to four.

Northern Iowa cruised past St. Louis University 78-5. This was perfectly in keeping with UNI's habit of winning by large margins this season.

Memphis pushed aside UW=Whitewater 49-17.

The Tigers were very strong, with scrums and lineouts functioning nicely and the backs opening up. Conor Dempsey helped control field position with his tactical kicking. Despite a red card early in the second half, the Tigers continued to roll.

Montana State defeated Loyola of Chicago 34-10.

"We haven't played in almost a month outside of an intrasquad friendly," said MSU Head Coach Joe WIlliams. "We have a full developmental team that helped keep the skill level competitive. An extra day for travel and more practices to acclimate helped. The boys came out ready to play."

A red card hurt Montana State, to be sure, but their backs kept the tempo high and scrumhalf Holden Howe was a big part of that.

Georgetown cruised past Grand Valley State 66-20, showcasing a very impressive team approach and an ability to stymie any GVSU momentum.

As GRR predicted, the Villanova vs Maine game was a very competitive one and a tough pill for the losing team to swallow.

"It was a tough match versus Maine," said Villanova Head Coach Stephen Green. "They have some very talented players who play a very physical game."

It was tight for a while but once Villanova found some options out wide, they started to score.

As he has done all season long flyhalf Nate Caruso directed a balanced attack efficiently. Back rowers Matt Raine and Sam Schurr pressured the Maine inside attack with tackles on their big runners, but really it was a team defensive approach that saw the Wildcats through.

Vermont got by a tough Marist side 29-12, while IUP won 63-31 over Scranton. Dominic Holmes scored three tries, two from Blanton Tolbert-Owens and two from Luke Maasikas.

Norwich beat UNC-Wilmington 27-15.

So on Saturday we saw the consolation games.

Loyola beat SLU, GVSU came back from 18-0 down to beat Whitewater, Maine beat Marist 34-5, and Wilmington showed well in beating Scranton 50-22.

For Grand Valley State Calvin Schwant scored an astonishing five tries in the second half to complete the comeback 38-28 for the Lakers.

Sunday sees UNI vs Montana State, Georgetown vs Memphis, Villanova taking on Vermont, and IUP playing Norwich.