IUP Holds On in Blistering DII Semi

12.08.2023College Men

In a game that really didn’t go to plan for either team, IUP weathered a tenacious University of Vermont side 19-6 to advance to the Men’s DII national championship game.

IUP opted to play into the wind during the first half and hoped to survive that (knowing UVM kicked quite well) they could use the wind in the second half to put the game away. The Catamounts, for their part, were looking to get some points early and make IUP chase them.

That’s not quite how it turned out.

Vermont did get the run of the territory for quite some time, but IUP showcased their pace, running out of trouble whenever they got a turnover. Wing Ryan Hornickel would be quite influential here and made some ground. And once IUP got inside the UVM 22 flanker Dylan McAnulty unleashed a monster stiff-arm and was in under the posts. Hornickel converted and it was 7-0.

The same formula worked again. IUP played fast and countered well. Finally a nice inside ball back to scrumhalf RJ Beach put him over for a 14-0 lead.

Vermont opted for points when they could and after a miss Rosenmeier was good on a kick. But IUP answered. After forcing a goalline drop, the Hawks blocked the dropout (which was low), and the forwards swarmed in. McAnulty was there to pick it up and get his second. Amazingly, against the wind, IUP was ahead.

Rosenmeier added another penalty and the half ended 19-6.

But IUP wasn’t happy and it’s true they had made some uncharacteristic mistakes—mistakes of being hesitant. Still Vermont had a lot of trouble playing an extended series of phases. They would get some inroads and then the IUP defenders would be over the ball quickly.

Here’s where an unfortunate injury for the Hawks in some ways made forcing holding-on penalties easier.

Regular fullback Blanton Tolbert broke his jaw this week (playing touch rugby). It was certainly a blow for IUP and involved a number of shifts.

Dominic Holmes moved from center to fullback. Lukas Massikas moved from inside center to outside. Trent Stalling moved from No. 8 to inside center, and Cam Taylor moved from prop to No. 8, opening up a spot for Vinny Scott at loosehead prop.

It seems like (and was) a lot of changes, but most of those players had played their new positions before. Stalling, who has played a lot of center, brought a loose forward’s approach to challenging for possession in the breakdown and that helped keep UVM’s continuity in check.

The game wore on and it seemed like the next score would make all the difference. Somehow both held off the other—UVM’s goalline defense was excellent.

Near the end of the game Vermont had a chance in the corner and somehow the ball fell to Holmes, the IUP fullback. He launched a massive kick that rolled and rolled to within a few meters of the UVM tryline. A tackle and a loose ball, and Hornickel picked it up and dove over. It was an astonishing play, but the try was eventually disallowed for offside and UVM escaped.

But they couldn’t get that try, no matter how hard they worked. As IUP players were felled by cramps (scrumhalf Beach and flyhalf Santino Fischio both had to come off) the IUP unity on attack suffered. But their tenacity on defense remained and they held on through a scoreless second half to win it 19-6.

No celebration; there is still work to do, and the Hawks were not happy with their overall performance. But they survived, and they will advance to the final.

IUP Holds On in Blistering DII Semi

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