Well you don't often see a #8 seed beat a #1 seed in a conference playoff, but we did this past weekend.
Towson beat Scranton in a 37-26 on Saturday to move on to the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference semifinals, and this year Towson's #8 seeding is perhaps a little harsh. First of all, they were actually the #7 seed in the conference, but Virginia was brought in as the #4 seed from the Cardinals Conference, bumping everyone else down a spot. Second of all, Towson was 2-2 with 11 standings points but ranked below Drexel because Drexel finished 2nd in their division and Towson was 3rd thank to two close losses to Salisbury and Georgetown. Third of all, they also were ranked below Bucknell for the same reason as with Drexel, and also because of their points difference. But the points difference situation is because the MARC DII South has Georgetown, Salisbury, Towson, and Maryland, which is close to a DIAA league in terms of quality.
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So one could argue that really they should have been a #5 seed, which would have put them against Salisbury, who also beat a team seeded higher (Virginia).
"We had some very close losses to Salisbury and Georgetown," said club president Sean Cornell. "We knew coming into the game that Scranton is a great team, but we also weren’t afraid of them. And also, they took us out of the 7s last year and we wanted some revenge. All season we'd been looking for that statement game and we felt like this could be it."
And it was. The attitude of, in one sense, throwing caution to the wind and not caring who they play helped Towson get to the MARC semis, as well. The team, said Cornell, knew they were in a tough division.
"We came into the season saying to ourselves that whatever happens, happens," Cornell told GRR. "We've got nothing to lose. And now, we're still in it."
