It's Rutgers v St. Joe's for the Keystone Conference title as both teams won games Saturday.
Both teams had to work for it in today's semifinals. St. Joe's beat West Chester 44-22, but West Chester led early and it was 17-15 well into the game. But tries from Ryan Stickno and Greg McTiernan put the Hawks ahead by 14, and Noah Niumataiwalu and Jimmy Wolfer closed it out.
For Rutgers, ranked #40 by Goff Rugby Report, the semi against #44 Temple at Temple's home ground was a tough one. Temple scored early, but Rutgers replied with tries from Ethan Mabilog and Mike Nezgoda to take the lead. Temple replied and then started to pull away, leading 26-15 at halftime.
In the second half, Nezgoda slotted an early penalty, and then Peter Wargo powered through for a key score. Rutgers started to take control of the game, and when Mabilog set up Jake Whitaker for a try, they took the lead. Wing Nolan Soto made it 37-26, and while Temple got one more in, time was up and Rutgers had held on 37-33.
It should come as no surprise that Rutgers held on in the clutch. After all, they beat West Chester by a point and Temple by two earlier in the season. Temple, which upset Pitt in the quarterfinals, finished off a good league season in which they beat Villanova and Pitt, and lost three, but by an average of four points.
Rutgers faces St. Joe's on Sunday.
