Saint Joseph’s and Pitt have won their first two Keystone Conference games easily, and now they face off against each other this Saturday to decide who takes the West Division.

Pitt shut out Lock Haven two weeks ago 57-0, and followed that up with a 64-3 defeat of Millersville. St. Joe’s has gone just a step better, beating Millersville 95-10, and Lock Haven 80-0. It’s clear they’re the top two.

“The team is playing well but we have big test this weekend against Pitt,” said St. Joe’s Coach Dan Yarusso. 

For the Hawks, freshman Noah Niu has been outstanding at flyhallf, and with Connor McAuliffe scoring tries out wide, they are putting together some big scores.

Sophomore forwards Colin Johnson and George Harris are having breakout years, while senior Ryan Stickno will likely be someone SJU leans on in this upcoming game.

Pitt is big and physical, and learned some crucial early lessons in tough non-conference games, said Coach Allan Murray.

“We started off shakier than expected against Penn State and Ohio State,” said Murray. “But the boys learned some big lessons and they put us on the right path.”

Murray said the key was his players didn’t get discouraged.

“What we did do was come together and owned those losses,” he said. “We got triple-digited. We will carry that. But those games were a wakeup call for our older players and we carry that memory and do our best in the future to prevent that from happening again.”

Those games were played without backs captain and try-scoring machine Matt Dunleavy, and forwards captain Tom Brunt, who is only a sophomore. With those players back, Pitt started to surge.

Dunleavy has scored six tries in the two conference games, and continues to be a brilliant player. No. 8 David Zimmerman scored four tries against Millersville, and flyhallf Christian Quiros has also played well.

Murray said his team was slow to get in support in the opening games, and slow to the breakdown.

“When you turn the ball over against teams of that caliber, you’re in trouble,” Murray said. “So maintaining possession and putting the phases in has been key for us. Against St. Joseph, maintaining possession limits their ability to score.”

The scores have been pretty lopsided in the Keystone, and that’s an indication of a competitive disparity in the conference at the moment. Yarusso said the teams have discussed the issue, and recognize that blowouts happen elsewhere, too.

“I think it may be the result of the creation of conferences as opposed to territory unions that had a relegation system from DI to II to III,” said Yarusso. “Initially conferences were set up with similar competitive teams but now some teams are struggling to keep up, be it numbers, recruitment, coaching, school buy-in, etc. Will these teams that are struggling bounce back? Only time will tell.”

In the East, Rutgers is 2-0, but that wasn’t an easy 2-0 as they edged West Chester 20-19. Now, Saturday, Rutgers can clinch the division with a win over Temple, which lost a close one to West Chester.