Two accomplished DIAA teams that know each other well are facing off Sunday in one of the fall semifinals.
Western Michigan, which just barely lost out to Bowling Green in the MAC conference final, defeated SCRC champs Tennessee 38-22 to move on. Fullback William Stanley was strong throughout for WMU, playing excellent defense and slotting in everywhere as a potent attacker. He helped organize the backline as well.
Hooker Manny Bravo and No. 8 Joey Backe were the go-to Broncos on defense, and with props Ivan Delgado and Mark Green making strong carries and locks Justice Delli Bovi and Sean McNamara running intelligent lines, WMU started to control the gain line. That all set up space for the backs, and outside center Kyle Williams scored two tries and set up two more after breaking through.
Wing Daniel Byrne,reserve Daniel Howard, Delgado, and Backe all scored tries for WMU.
At the same time, Saint Joseph's defeated NC State 29-15. This was a very close game until late. St. Joe's led by less than a try, 21-15, when in the final minutes Jonathan Ahern clotted a penalty goal, and then added a try to seal the deal.
"NC State is a quality team for sure," said St. Joe's Head Coach Dan Yarusso.
James Kinzer made some key lineout steals for the Hawks, while prop Nick Ballas was key as the smaller SJU forwards had to corral a powerful NC State forward group. They did that, andfound enough space to win.
Western Michigan plays St. Joe's Sunday at 1PM Eastern for a spot in the national fall final in two weeks.
| Gameday Rosters | ||||||
| St. Joseph's | NC State | Tennessee | Western Michigan | |||
| Truong, Phil | 1 | McClendon, Kelly | Couch, Creighton | 1 | delgado, ivan | |
| Sullivan, Andrew | 2 | Smith, Bradley | Giangiulio, Gregory | 2 | Bravo, Manuel | |
| Ballas, Nicholas | 3 | Robbins, Jonathan | Thomas, Kevin | 3 | Green, Mark | |
| Paulosky, Mike | 4 | Mancktelow, Peter | Janowick, Greg | 4 | Delli Bovi, Justice | |
| Viggiano, Joseph | 5 | Corkery, Brandon | Ring, Will | 5 | McNamara, William | |
| Kinzer, James | 6 | Good, Alexander | griffin, avery | 6 | Akins, Sean | |
| Leonetti, Phillip | 7 | Abrahamse, Michael | Andrew, Lloyd | 7 | gay, nathan | |
| Kelly, Gaelen | 8 | Gwaltney, Caleb | Beacom, Patrick | 8 | Backe, Joseph | |
| McIlrath, Tanner | 9 | Murphy, Darren | Davies, Luke | 9 | Chevalier, Nicholas | |
| Niumataiwalu, Noah | 10 | Stockton, Thomason | Dorflinger-Slee, Conrad | 10 | Drozd, John | |
| Riotto, Matthew | 11 | Carlton, Mende | McClain, Marcus | 11 | Leslie, Griffin | |
| Woods, William | 12 | Amaty, Gregory | Pelini, Thomas | 12 | Collier, Justin | |
| McGowan, Liam | 13 | Ogunmola, Olumayowa | Shetler, Joshua | 13 | Williams, Kyle | |
| Hoffman, Michael | 14 | mcpherson, luke | Dukes, Andrew | 14 | Byrne, Daniel | |
| Ahern, Jonathan | 15 | Lowe, Jack | Schwartz, Benjamin | 15 | Stanley, Willem | |
| Heffernan, Brendan | 16 | Williams, Augustus | Wallace, Philip | 16 | Ealy, Reginald | |
| lamb, timothy | 17 | Elyaman, Mohamed | Ensign, Tyler | 17 | Howard, Daniel | |
| Burdsall, Andrew | 18 | Simmons, Donavan | White, Austin | 18 | Holck, Paul | |
| Wolff, Timothy | 19 | Abele, Joseph | Moseley, Dwson | 19 | Phillips, Leo | |
| Martini, Daniel | 20 | cash, Clayton | Heard, Braxton | 20 | Avelar, Ricardo | |
| McDermott, Sean | 21 | Thompson, Steven | Porter, Chase | 21 | Kazmar, Cade | |
| Stine, Kyle | 22 | Dalton, Jordan | Eicher, Jacob | 22 | Smith, Patrick | |
| Paquin, Nicholas | 23 | Vaughan, Kameron | Moolman, Christian | 23 | Conway, Ethan | |
