Games ran to form this week at the Keystone Conference playoffs as both Western Virginia (66-0) and St. Joseph’s (42-7) won big.

West Virginia got their say last week (see the article here), while the Hawks look ahead now to their rivals in yet another big game.

“This has got to be a pick ’em game,” St. Joe’s Head Coach Dan Yarusso said of the upcoming final. “Two good teams … [coach] Rich Glover is doing a good job there. The last time we played was really close.”

St. Joseph’s has been steadily improving and will need to as WVU’s defense is tough to get through. Saturday the Hawks ran out to an early lead, were stymied somewhat for about 15 minutes, and then rolled in three more tries to win over Pitt.

“When we did well we were moving the ball in the backs,” said Yarusso. “Our kicking game was good and out ball movement was good. Pitt did a good job of countering our rucks, and they certainly came to play.”

Jimmy Wolfer remains a key component for St. Joe’s at flyhalf, kicking points, distributing, and scoring tries. But more players are stepping to the fore. Thomas Cuddihy is “an animal” at lock, said Yarusso. Tyler Kelly at No. 8 has been exceptional, while Adam Dulgnan and Ryan Deal have been scoring tries.

It seems all fall that these two teams have been on a course to meet each other. Now it’s happening. St. Joseph’s brings exciting offensive weaponry, and West Virginia has been almost impregnable defensively. Now we’ll see which one works the best.