Norwich University ran out to a big first-half lead and held on to beat Middlebury and move to 3-1 in Rugby Northeast's Men's DII league.

Leo Clayburgh, Josh Knoll, McKinley Nagel, and Kyle Clark, with Jeffrey Minicucci converting all four as the Cadets led 28-5 at halftime. Middlebury scored on the final play of the first half. But Nate Rolling answered early in the second half. Middlebury replied with a try and scored two more times. Minicucci added a penalty for 13 points on the day.

Rolling opened the second-half scoring to make it 35-5 before the Panthers added a converted try to cut the deficit to 35-12. Minicucci hit a penalty kick to make it 38-12 and then Middlebury scored two tries in the last eight minutes of the match to cap the scoring at 38-24.

Bentley took a forfeit win over New England College to move to 3-1, same as Norwich. UMass Lowell in 1st place is UMass Lowell at 4-0. Friday night Lowell overcame a solid early start from Providence to score five tries and win 31-10.

So it looks like the top four in the Rugby Northeast are set. There's one more week of conference games, with Lowell against Norwich and Providence against Bentley. Those four will be in the semis, and the results from next week will decide the matchups.