Who Made NCR D1 and D1AA Finals?
Who Made NCR D1 and D1AA Finals?
We know our NCR D1 and D1AA finalists.
Kentucky fell behind 10-3 to a tough UMass team in the NCR D1AA semifinals, making mistakes—Head Coach Sam Enari said it was "shooting our own feet off one toe at a time," which certainly paints a picture.
But an intercept try got Kentucky into the lead just before halftime and the Wildcats controlled things n the second half, scoring four tries to lead 39-10 before UMass scored twice to finish it off 39-20.
"I was never scared of losing but I was very annoyed in the first half," said Enari.
Jack Phillips opened the scoring with a penalty goal before two UMass tries, one off a lineout and a nicely-executed move, and one off a loose Kentucky pass that was returned from 30 meters.
Lock Peza Abelardo scored for the Wildcats on a pick-and-go, and then Johnny Dardis intercepted a pass and ran 50 meters to score. Phillips converted both for a 17-10 lead.
Tries from Blaine Donlon, Joe Meehan, Mike Punzalan, and Luke Keough capped it off.
Kentucky will face Bowling Green as BGSU beat a tough Virginia Tech team 20-18.
With that victory BGSU will face Kentucky in the final in a week.
In the D1 semis, Brown just barely made it past St. Bonaventure 11-10, with a last-minute penalty goal being the difference.
Interestingly, St. Bonaventure defeated Walsh (made up mostly of last year's champs from NDC) and that score was also 11-10.
Queens University Charlotte, meanwhile, held off Wheeling 33-22.
So it is a rematch of the 2022 final with brown vs Queens.
