Bowling Green repeated as Mid-American Conference Champions Sunday, beating Western Michigan 48-15 in the final and making it six finals wins since 2014.

The only time Bowling Green hasn't won the conference outright was in 2018, when weather canceled the final and BGSU and Western Michigan were declared co-champions, and in 2020 when there was no tournament. Bowling Green have met in every final played starting in 2014 except in 2016 when BGSU defeated University of Cincinnati in the championship match.

This year BGSU met Cincinnati in the semifinal, and while the Bearcats lost to the Falcons 72-7 during the regular season, the playoff game was nowhere near as one-sided.

Cincy's Ryan Pierce put Bowling Green on notice with an opening penalty kick for a 3-0 lead. Bowling Green's forwards answered with a pushover try touched down by flanker John Stuhldreher, and then wing Griffin Black raced in for another for a 10-3 lead. But Cincinnati didn't wilt and instead scored tries from Gerald Bush and Jeremy Mason to retake the lead 15-10. Juliano Chesnick's try tied it for Bowling Green, 15-15 at halftime.

Bowling Green started to pull away in the second half with tries from Chesnick, Kyle Sikora, and Mike Capizzi and a 32-15 lead. A Cincy penalty try finished the scoring.

Support us! A small donation os $5 from everyone who reads this goes a long way to paying out hosting, travel, and IT costs! It's easy, just click here>>

"We knew they sat a few guys the week before, so we knew they'd be rested, but we weren’t expecting as a good a performance as they put in," said Bowling Green Head Coach Tony Mazzarella. "It was ... concerning. I felt during the game we would probably pull ahead but it was a little frustrating how we were not clicking. And our poor discipline is a theme that seems to creep in with us. We felt we'd escaped that game a little bit."

Western Michigan, meanwhile, got revenge for an earlier loss to Louisville, showcasing what Head Coach Mark Allen said was a much-improved defensive performance.

Louisville took an early lead then then Wester scored three straight converted tries to lead 21-5. Louisville answered to make it 21-10 at halftime. The Cardinals scored again the other side of the break and suddenly it was 21-15. But a 50-meter tour of the Louisville defense by Western center Luke Sutherland, followed by a 95-meter run by Western's Nick Pastore, and with Pat Collevy converting, put the match out of reach 42-20. Collevy's kicking was a big part of that win.

The Final

Louisville took 3rd over Cincinnati 34-5, and then it was time for the championship match. The cold, wet weather meant that as time went on the mud became a bit of a factor. That worked out just fine for No. 8 Nico LaBianca. The big forward had missed a large chunk of the season because of a shoulder injury, and he was also carrying a groin pull which prompted Mazzarella to keep him out of Saturday's game. 

The decision was a good one.

"He was not 100% but he had a monster game on Sunday," said Mazzarella. "By that time everyone had traveled back and forth over the field so it was a little slick. In the second half that definitely favored guys with some momentum, and that was Nico."

LaBianca scored an early try on a 35-meter gallop to get the Falcons going, and Ryan Niemiller converted to make it 7-0. Collevy answered with a penalty goal, but then lcok Zach Szepiela picked up at the base of the ruck and was over. Outside center Joe Johnson, who has had an excellent season, blazed through and past everyone for a 50-meter score that, with Niemiller's conversion, made it a 19-3 scoreline.

Western Michigan came back with a long kick downfield. Bowling Green couldn't control it and Luke Sutherland toed the ball ahead and soccer-dribbled it over the line before falling on it for the try.

But Bowling Green flyhalf Jake Kubicki was in from short range and converted to give the Falcons a 26-8 lead at halftime.

It didn't get any happier for the Broncos in the second half. LaBianca chugged in for his second, Johnson then got his second as well.

"Joe had a really good day," said Mazzarella. "He had a really impressive try in the first half, broke four or five tackles. We've moved him around in the backline from wing to center and then back out to the wing. But we saw that center works best for him and he's really relishing it. He and Tony Mock are really good, dynamic ball-handlers and they complement each other."

Nick Pastora clawed one back for WMU but LaBianca put an exclamation point on it all, scoring on a big forward push and then making a 50-meter break before feeding Johnson. Bowling Green 48 Western Michigan 15.

"In the final I didn’t expect that score to go our way so well," said Mazzarella. "We just clicked a lot more. We kept our discipline. We had some good contributions like Nico and Joe, but also Sam Hooper at lock who was really good on defense when we needed it, and Travis Riba started our first game at scrumhalf, then moved to the wing when Griffin Black was injured, did well at both, and then was back at scrumhalf at the end of the final."

The biggest issue for Bowling Green now? Discipline, said Mazzarella. The players have been known to chirp a bit and they can get themselves into a bit of a penalty whirlpool.

"It just can't happen at the wrong moment," said Mazzarella.

Next up for Bowling Green now is a bowl game against the SCRC winner, which will be Tennessee or Clemson. That will be during the CRAA Championship Weekend at the Matthews Sportsplex in Mecklenburg, NC.