While Minnesota-Duluth is the #1-ranked Men’s DII college team, the rest of the Northern Lights Conference is looking for a pathway through the DII playoffs by finishing 2nd.

For Winona State and MSU-Mankato, that chase for 2nd might come down to Saturday. Both teams are at 3-1 in the Northern Lights, and both have lost to Duluth. The different is that Mankato lost to the Fighting Penguins 88-10, while last weekend Winona State lost 42-7. 

“Duluth is the gold standard for DII over the last 3-plus years,” said Winona Head Coach Jeff Noe. “Since I’ve started coaching at Winona in the fall of 2013, only a handful of teams have been able to keep Duluth within 40 points - Salisbury, Whitewater, JMU, and Winona.”

Duluth Head Coach Jeramy Katchuba was also very complimentary of Winona’s performance. In a fast and physical game, Duluth scored early but it was still close at halftime, despite a yellow card to Winona. The Duluth power did wear Winona down over time, although freshman scrumhalf Nick Zarembinski did run in a try.

It’s something to hold onto, and may well be enough. Winona boast some smart backs in seniors Tom Ellis at flyhalf and captain Sam Bastyr at outside center.

“Their familiarity with each other allows them to make the same reads and anticipate each other’s moves,” said Noe. “Sam has speed and vision for launching our outside attack.  He has a great work ethic and has become a vocal leader for the club and steering it in a positive direction.”  

Up front, Winona State moved junior Taylor Freund from prop to No. 8 and bolstered by plenty of 7s in the summer, he has expanded his game significantly. 

“He has become a threat all over the field,” said Noe.

Meanwhile, Zarembinsi has been a welcome addition at scrumhalf after the regular starter went down with an early injury.

“He is quick, understands the game and has been able to step in at a high level right away,” said Noe, who added that his team is looking to fix some things from last week.  “We are looking forward to the Mankato game as we didn’t end the final 30 minutes against Duluth how we wanted. We want to sustain the effort we had defensively in the first 40 throughout the match. And while we will be without a handful of starters, this is the deepest roster I’ve had in the 3 years here and expect to see no drop off.”

This game is for more than just 2nd place, as the Northern Lights Conference has in the past earned a play-in seed to the national playoffs. It's still in the cards that the winner of this game will play deeper into November.

Video: Winona State v UM-Duluth from October 10 (if you don't see the video, refresh the page)