D2 Playoffs Results and Notes

11.18.2023College Men

Author: Alex Goff

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.