The #1-ranked Norwich University Cadets were brought summarily down to earth Saturday as Queens University Charlotte hung up 73 points on the top-ranked team.

Queens unleashed a ton of speed and added to that some power in the breakdown to put Norwich on their heels early.

Royals Chase For The Throne

The quickness of ruck ball for Queens meant Norwich had all sorts of problems getting aligned on defense in time to check the Royals’ advance.

And add to that some determined defense from Queens, which kept Norwich away from the tryline and built on their frustration. The only points Norwich came away with were from a penalty goal in front of the posts with no time left. Clearly they are least wanted a try, but were denied even that.

Ben Clipstone scored the opening try for Queens, and then wing Rylee Ellsworth added two and with Carson green slotting the conversions, Queens led 21-0 after 23 minutes.

In the end, Queens ran in ten tries, two from Ellsworth, and one each from Clipstone, lock Decon McCarthy, flanker Benji Hund, center Zion Thomas, center Stanford Johnson, hooker Marshall Frank, No. 8 Decor Davis, and back John Williams. Green added 21 points with the boot, and Williams also added a conversion.

“We’ve been doing this all year,” said Queens Head Coach Frank McKinney. “Our league wasn’t down, we’ve been playing really well. “We talked all year long we were going to put the work in after last year losing in the semifinal. We were prepared for what Norwich brought. We got to watch them in their game against Furman and that helped us.”

Fitness and defense was a huge part of the victory.

Warhawks Fly Through Second Half

Queens will face a very intimidating Wisconsin Whitewater team which beat Missouri S&T 59-15. This game, despite the scoreline, was much closer than the other semi. S&T actually scored first with flanker Logan Gallagher finishing off a long period of pressure.

The teams traded scores, with S&T working their pattern nicely and standing brave on defense. Scrumhalf David Laffoon’s try actually put S&T up 15-10 with just a few minutes left in the first half. But veteran Levi Van Lanen tired it up for Whitewater right before the break.

That somehow signaled that Whitewater was not going to get frustrated that the game wasn’t easy.

And then the toll started to tell on the S&T defense. The much bigger Whitewater runners, led by inside center Dakote Biefeld, flanker Shay Haase, lock Nick Hammel, and prop Dominic Swanson, started to push through tacklers.

On defense far too much, S&T faded, and that was all the Warhawks needed.

Wing Alan Hermann scored his second moments into the second half, Haase pounded through for one, and in the final 15 minutes it was a track meet, but that score didn’t quite reflect how hard S&T battled.

Along with Gallagher and Laffoon, S&T got a try from lock Kyle Halter.

For Whitewater, Biefeld scored three, while Hermann, Haase, and Van Lanen each scored two. Hammel added the tenth Whitewater try, while flyhalf Joshua Wetherall converted three and added a penalty.

This will be a hugely physical and fast-paced final on Sunday, and both teams have a lot still to prove.