The playoff picture in the Northwest Collegiate Conference is clearing up a little as the four teams in contention confirmed spots this past weekend. Now it's just a case of figuring out who is seeded where.

Central Washington defeated the University of Washington, as expected, but the scoreline was a little closer than some of the other Wildcat games. That's in part because CWU fielded their 1st side against the Seattle Saracens men's club, losing 47-14 in that game. What was essentially CWU's 2nds beat UW 50-10, paced by Cameron Marek's two tries. CWU is 5-0 and should finish the season 7-0, but they will not be in the NCRC playoffs, opting instead for the Varsity Cup, so the next four teams will fight it out for a place in the DIAA playoffs.

UW dropped to 4-2 and 3rd in the standings (#2 in the playoff seedings). They host Boise State for their final league game next week. Moving past Washington was the University of Oregon, which got by Eastern Washington 24-12. The Ducks face Central Washington in their final league game next week, and so it's likely that the Huskies will edged past Oregon for the #1 seed.

Washington State beat Western Oregon 43-14 to move to 3-4 and clinch the 4th seed in the playoffs in their final game. 

Western Oregon is an athletic, talented group but WSU was more cohesive, and while WOU was able to disrupt some of the Cougars' first-phase ball, WSU showed more poise and discipline. Center Riley Haub-McElrath, wing Aaron Ferrell, and scrumhalf Joey Malloy all played well for WSU, which has an extra week to prepare for the playoffs.

The big question-mark team, then, is Western Washington, which defeated Boise State 51-24 to move to 4-2 and, with a win over Eastern Washington on March 15 could conceivably jump to the #1 seed, although #1 is more likely.

Nick Bonvich and Gio Trujilio both were strong attackers for the Vikings against the Broncos, and they scored a total of four tries between them. Anthony Fleck had his best game as WWU's scrumhalf, wile the Western forwards played well as a unit, and held strong over the ball.

Nate Muir, Winston Chen, and Mac Stone were all central to the pack effort and Eric McDaniel was an attacking force, scoring one try for WWU.

And so, looking ahead, Washington has a good chance of winning next week and finishing 5-2 with 26 points. Oregon will be expected to lose to CWU, and should finished 5-2, with 23 points. That leaves the door open for Western, who, if they beat winless EWU, could end up 5-2 with 24 points in the standings. 

The semis are set for April 4, with the final on April 11. The playoff winner will enter the USA Rugby DIAA national quarterfinals.