IUP capped off a fairly dominant season in the Allegheny with a 46-0 shutout of Kent State in the conference final on Sunday.

With the Allegheny not having too many teams able to hang with the top echelon, the playoffs was one semifinal—Kent State vs West Virginia—on Saturday for the chance to play the Crimson Hawks on Sunday.

Kent State did well to get by WVU but it was always going to be a tough task against IUP. the Crimson Hawks entered the game 8-1, with two of those victories forfeit wins, and that one loss being against Wheeling University. They played Kent State twice, beating them 40-5 and 24-12, running out a younger lineup for the game.

But in the final IUP unleashed probably their best performance of the fall. RJ Beach and Barry Ashway both scored two tries, while Brian Arnold, Colton Moyer, and Dom Holmes also touched down. Ashway added eight points from the boot and Tyler Johnson added a penalty.

With the forwards controlling the tempo, the backs were able to break through.

"It was a total team effort start to finish," said IUP Head Coach Seth Erwin. "We came out looking to play quick phase rugby, move quickly, and it worked out to perfection."

So now what? Well it won't get any easier. IUP will enter the DII Round of 16 against #1-ranked Norwich. But with the way DII college rugby is organized, most of the teams in the playoffs haven't played each other, and probably haven't played a common opponent. So #7 IUP vs #1 Norwich? You never know.