Two DIAA Conference held their semifinals on Saturday, and the semis mirrored each other somewhat.

In one game in each conference, the #1 seed won by a staggering amount. In the other, the #2 and #3 seeds were in a bit of a slugfest.

Sunday, we see which team was helped and which was hindered.

In the Gold Coast playoffs, top seed Cal State Long Beach thumped Cal State Fullerton 72-12. CSULB has been winning big all season, and would have been able to rest some players as they pulled away. Meanwhile, Santa Barbara City College had to work at it to beat University of San Diego 34-27.

The game was back-and-forth all afternoon, and was an exciting game with a nice playoff emotion about it.

SBCC Head Coach Kevin Battle said he was very pleased with the effort his tight five gave, especially in the scrum. SBCC is a two-year program, so all of the players are 20 years old or younger. 

"We're really young, but we've learned patience," said Battle. "They didn't try for the home run play every time, and that helped them."

Scrumhalf Espen Campbell controlled the game well, center Nolan Williams was a powerhouse, while lock Brad Chapman had a big game for SBCC. Earlier this year Long Beach beat Santa Barbara 23-0. In that game, said Battle, his players were too impatient. He expects them to approach Sunday's final differently.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific West playoffs, UC Davis hammered Sacramento State 81-0.

"It was just a really good team game - players playing unselfishly, playing smart," said Davis's Seve Woods. "If the offload wasn't on, we'd just go to ground and recycle. We executed really well and we were all really happy not only with the way the starters played, but how we were able to sub in all of our forward subs and they kept up the level."

Wing Brian Albin scored three tries for the Aggies, including two interceptions for tries. 

Pressed for something to be negative about, Woods paused, and then said "we were called for in from the side a few times, so we need to watch that."

While Davis was racking up the tries, Chico State was in a dogfight with Stanford. CSU came out on top 25-12, but it wasn't easy. No. 8 Charlie Brennan had a huge game, scoring three tries, while fullback Tommy Patton added a try, a conversion, and a penalty. It was 12-7 Chico State at halftime and it didn't get much easier in the second half.

"Stanford capitalized on our errors," said CSU Coach Lucas Bradbury. "But the guys worked really hard. This is the third straight year Chico State is in a championship game, and we're proud of that. But against Davis we have to be better. We have to score on our opportunities when we get them, because we know, if we give them possession, we will pay. They don't give up cheap ball, so we're going to have to work hard."

These Sunday games will confirm the final two DIAA playoff teams. The other teams are:

West Virginia

Yale

US Merchant Marine Academy

Central Florida

Western Washington

Arkansas