NCR D1 Playoffs Down to Final Four

Indiana Comeback

In a really weird game, Indiana ran out to a lead of 18-5, scoring off a wide kick that was somewhat misplayed bu Principia, and exerting their power in tight. But the game turned around completely after that, with Principia scoring three converted tries to take a 26-18 lead late in the game. Indiana was getting in penalty trouble and doing all the things that undercut their success, while Principia's speed and opportunism was causing IU problems, with their forwards finishing it off.

"We were playing not to lose—very tight," said IU Head Coach Luke Gross. 

Late in the game, IU opted for a kick at goal to get within a try, but missed. Still, they kept the pressure up and yet another perfect wiper kick from flyhalf Jack Ries bounced nicely once again and they had their try. Now it was 26-25 and time frittering away. Principia came very close to scoring in response. After getting close to the line ther lost the ball in the ruck, only to steal it back a couple of phases later and threaten the Indiana line. But the final pick-and-go didn't make the line—center Peyton Wall made the tackle and scrumhalf Keenan Makowski forced a holding-on penalty and Indiana got out of it.

After a long delay for an injury, about 17 minutes, the game resumed with just a few minutes left Indiana was stuck in their 22 and knew they couldn't afford to kick the ball away. Indiana found that going into contact and setting rucks was just pushing them back. So while they still went through a lot of phases they started to make offloads to keep the movement alive. They almost screwed it up, but a key athletic playfrom wing Matt Chevalier to keep a high pass away from touch kept the action going. Still, after 17 phases Indiana was still stuck in their own half. But a hands in the ruck penalty against Principia changed that. Some of the Principia opted to argue their position, but Indiana tapped quickly and made it to halfway.

There Principia was guilty of a high tackle but Indiana didn't worry about that and swarmed in to win the ruck; Wall picked up and sped on to the line and Principia was just behind the play. He was caught just before the line but flanker Wyatt Schrader picked it up to score near the posts. With the conversion Indiana had won 32-26. It was a wild moment and a testament to a team dedicated to not giving up on the play.

Bonnies, Brown Work For It

St. Bonaventure beat Wheeling 26-13, corralling a very speedy Cardinals attack and getting a strong game from wing Noah Edwards and continued hard work from lock Taman Singh. And Brown beat Kutztown 31-12. Brown scored early off a brilliantly-executed maul, but it remained 5-0 for quite a while. Kutztown equalized at about 14 minutes. Midway through the first half Brown got their maul going again and there was no stopping them. A charging run from Junior Gafa then made it 17-5, which is how the half ended.

In the first minute of the second half Henry Thomas fielded a Brown clearance kick and sliced right through to score his second try for Kutztown and it was a one-score game at 17-12. Brown settled it down after that, however. They worked their way down to the Kutztown line and eventually a strong line from Gafa put him over.

Up 24-12 the Bears were in solid position. At 65 minutes both teams got bad news. Gafa was taking the ball up into the line and was hit high. The referee and his team didn't have the luxury of replay, but replays show it to be a pretty dangerous hit. It snapped Gafa's head back and, reportedly, broke his nose. (He might have had a concussion too; we can't diagnose that, but he did leave the field.) Reserve front-rower Frank Carey received a red card for the hit. 

Brown didn't run away with it after that—having the guy who scored two of your tries on the sideline might have something to do with that—but they did maul one more over to seal it. It was a good win in difficult circumstances for Brown, but they will likely be without one of their best players for the semifinal against Bonnies in two weeks. Brown 31 Kutztown 12.

"From our video analysis, we knew they were a well structured team with some big attacking weapons," said Brown Head Coach David Laflamme. "They did well to fend off our scrum attack, but as the game wore on, we got the edge on them.  Our lineout maul was an issue for Kutztown to contend with and having the punching power of Junior Gafa in the centers, they had to respect that area as well. The thing I was most proud of was the patience that we used, particularly in the second half of the game. There were phases of play that were well strung together and went on for minutes of play.  We just hung on to the football and continually worked the opposition. Defending is tiring."