York College edged Scranton 26-19 Saturday to lock up a place in the Mid-Atlantic Men’s DII college conference semis.

Led by an excellent performance by the forward pack, and with a smart tactical approach, York came out strong and scored early.

The game slowed down after a long stoppage due to an injury, but York did a better job securing ball, and countered Scranton’s approach.

“We’d seen that they like to use the box kick, and we saw how they set up and call for it, so we were able to pressure that,” said York’s Zackery Booth.

The result was less-than-optimal distance for Scranton’s kicks, and late in the game York even got a try from a blocked kick.

“We incurred to many penalties and didn’t take enough care of ball coming into contact,” explained Scranton Head Coach Quinn Conaboy. “York did well on set pieces and maintained more possession.”

Booth credited the forwards.

“Every single forward played his best game,” said Booth. “We won almost every scrum, on their put-in as well, and that was a big advantage for us and allowed us to play our type of offense.”

Hooker Jack Doordan was in the middle of all of that, securing tightwads in the scrums, making tackles, and playing hard all day.

The result is that York takes 2nd in the MARC West. York and Scranton both ended up with 14 points in the standings, but this result gives York the tiebreaker. Shippensburg slammed Millersville to finish 3-1 and take 1st in the West.

In the East, Villanova was idle this weekend and had already won that division with a 5-0 record. Lehigh edged Moravian 23-22, but already has 2nd wrapped up.

So the semis will be Villanova vs York, and Shippensburg vs Lehigh.