Western Washington battled in a chippy CRAA D1AA semifinal to beat Millennia Atlantic
This game saw MAU play a very effective game at getting under Western Washington’s skin, while the Vikings probably had the better of the kicking game and field position, but struggled to be consistent.
Some unnecessary penalties from MAU led to an early George Pritchard penalty goal from right in front of the posts.
Right after the restart was kicked out on the full, WWU ran a classic 8-9-11 move to wing Eli Ashmann, who took off on the outside and then cut back to score under the posts.
That made it 10-0 after about 11 minutes, and moments later it was 17-0 and it was looking like a runaway. MAU was guilty of not rolling after a tackle on lock Lyndon Bailey. WWU took the lineout, ran a maul for a couple of steps, and then fed flanker Seamus Twohey, who was standing off.
The freshman crashed through the MAU tacklers and raced in under the posts. Pritchard was good on the kick and Western Washington looked in control 17-0.
Midway through the first half, with a Macaw player in the sin-bin, WWU ran hard off their lineout, and two big carries in traffic allowed for quick ball out to wing Tavoi Filiwaa, who finished well on the outside. Pritchard slotted that conversion, too, and WWU led 24-0.
MAU righted the ship, however. They ramped up their intensity and avoided real penalty trouble, finally getting down into WWU territory. They ran a maul, and after working off the back, big lock Nahuel Ricardes powered over.
It was a back-and-forth battle after that. The breakdowns were a constant source of contention, and for WWU, they were mostly concerned with getting the ball away from their tryline, which they did well.
