The Men's Small College scene is undergoing some adjustment even despite the fact that through all the changes in college rugby, the small-college world hasn't changed that much.

Small colleges still run their competition through the same oversight group (now called NCR) as they always have. But new programs are springing up ruffling the traditional order of things. Here's a bit of a look at what's been going on.

Nailbiter Weekend

In the Great Midwest, University of Chicago faced off with Wisconsin-Stevens Point for the small-college final, and it was a wild game. Chicago ran out to a fairly comfortable lead and were up 25-12 with very little time left, but then Stevens Point went to work, scoring a try, and then another, making it 25-24. There was time for more, but somehow Chicago remained poised and ran out the clock.

In the West, the University of Denver and Colorado School of Mines were on a collision course. Denver had enjoyed a solid season, losing a close one to Air Force 36-31, and beating Mines 31-14, Wyoming State 28-17, and Regis 37-19. But this past weekend, Mines rebounded to edge Denver 20-19. Wyatt Brinkley was a powerhouse at No. 8, made over 15 tackles, played with a broken nose, and ran the lineout nicely.

Flyhalf Finnbar Norman was excellent on the day and kicked a 48-meter penalty goal to nudge his side ahead 13-12. He also made the game-winning conversions. Scurmhalf Kameron Bell and flanker Lee Begin were also strong, and had to be. Interestingly, all 15 starters played the full 80 minutes.

GRR does not rank small college programs, but NCR does. Here is their ranking from last week.

Major Players

Varsity and school-supported teams are making their mark in the Small College divisions too.

Rio Grande won the Allegheny Conference to move to 9-0. Coach Corey Momsen's squad is undefeated (seven wins and two forfeit wins) but most of those games were competitive, with four games where the opposition scored at least three tries. In the final against Franciscan Rio Grande started slowly and was behind early.

But a surge sparked by freshman Dean Brits and with Hunter Collins, Christopher Gates, and Holden Fritz touching down put Rio Grande into the winner's circle 34-24. John Thibault scored two tries for Franciscan. While Rio Grande's goalkicker, Caden Harden, is a senior, all of the try-scorers except Fritz are freshmen.

Siena's rugby program took a big step in 2019 in the hiring of a Rugby Coordinator by the College and moving the men's and women's teams under the umbrella of the athletic department. The change has been marked, as Siena, competitive but not dominant in the Tri-State DII conference, has rolled through the NERFU West. Two of their five regular-season wins were forfeits, and the three games they played were by scores of 99-3, 81-0,and 118-0. Meanwhile, Babson has been having a very good season in the East. The Beavers had one forfeit win and five other wins by an average score of 76-9. 

In Sundays final Siena won 53-3. It's been a sea change for Siena since they got athletic-department sanction.

Another team with school backing is Christendom. They won the Cardinals Conference and have lost only one game, against D2 Cardinals winners Virginia—after which the Virginia players said Christendom was the toughest team they'd faced. On Saturday Christendom dismissed Washington & Lee 76-0 in the semis and on Sunday they beat VMI 36-26 (a vastly improved showing for VMI since they opened the season losing to the Crusaders 74-7).

A try from Owen Kennedy and then two from John Ascough got Christendom going. Ascough also scored three tries in the semifinals.

This year's small-college playoffs will certainly see some of these school-supported and varsity programs go deep into the bracket. That doesn't always sit well with other participants. What might sit less well with Siena as they are in the Challenge bracket—they aren't even pushing for a championship, but going into the lower tier of the NCR playoffs; this for a program that was D2 until recently.

NCR Announces Postseason Regionals Dates, Venues 

Also Contenders

Middlebury is in the Champions bracket of New England and looked hardly touchable until the playoffs, where they had to work hard to fend off Holy Cross 20-17.

Salve Regina and Endicott met up in the Colonial Coast final. Graham Lynch was named player of the game; he scored a try and added three conversions.

"While this was a true team win, Matthew Gash-Gilder and Riki Kanamaru had huge contributions offensively, each with a try, and in the ruck, as well as on defense with great tackling and poaching the ball," said Endicott Head Coach Dave Kenkel. "Matthew Hicks) also had a great performance in his first-ever start at fullback, including a try and great awareness on defense in regards to the kicking game."

In the MARC, it's not over yet. The conference has welcomed some new teams from the DC area and now it's time for a playoff weekend. Susquehanna hosts Loyola and Catholic hosts Widener. Despite being 6-0 and the only undefeated team in this playoff, Widener travels as the other teams have been in hybrid leagues where they play D2 teams as well. Susquehann, led by captain Ben Nicholson who has been massive at No. 8 or lock, and with freshman prop Joey Olive and the experienced Jadan Moor anchoring a tough pack, the River Hawks have lost only once, to conference D2 runners-up Bucknell. They have a pretty good backline too with Sean McPherson, Ty Kirkner, and Adam Morrow, along with freshman Kani Green, testing defenses. 

But unlike many of the teams listed here, Susquehanna has been tested in a competitive conference, which is what they were looking for.

Catholic also has only one loss, to D2 conference champions Georgetown. Loyola actually beat Georgetown, but lost to Catholic.

And in the New England Wide, Springfield has dominated, and maybe that's not such a great thing as the tougher playoff games loom.