December 7 - The fall season all boils down to this weekend in Houston, with four national champions set to be crowned at SaberCatsStadium. Friday features the Division II and Small College National Semifinals, with the champions being crowned Sunday. Saturday, national championship trophies will be lifted in Divisions I and I-AA. All the action will be streamed live on The Rugby Network, and tickets are still available.
Division I
Rugby East rivals Notre Dame College and St. Bonaventure are well familiar with one another heading into Saturday’s national championship game. They met in South Euclid, OH November 4. The Bonnies led late, 19-13, before the Falcons scored back-to-back tries in the final few minutes to win, 28-19.
The Bonnies are 6-2 all-time against NDC, the November win snapping NDC’s five-game losing streak dating back to 2018.
St. Bonaventure won the Division I national title in 2021, defeating Penn State in the final. Last fall, the Bonnies were bounced in the semifinals by eventual champion Brown. They avenged that loss Saturday, besting the Bears 15-13 in Reading, PA thanks to a walk-off penalty kick from Noah Edwards.
The Falcons also have a national title under their belt, winning the Division I-AA championship in 2017 over UC Davis. This is the closest NDC has been to a championship since moving up to DI, though the Falcons felt hard done by not making the postseason last fall. They booked their ticket with a 26-13 defeat of Indiana Saturday.
Division I-AA
The stage is set for a dynamite finish in Men’s DI-AA, with in-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville squaring off for the national title. In every sport, when the Cardinals and Wildcats meet, it means more. On the rugby pitch, they haven’t met much recently, despite parallel ascensions to the top of their respective conferences.
Kentucky won its first Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference title in 2017, backing that up again in 2018, before claiming a third this fall, going undefeated in league play. The Wildcats have sat atop the DI-AA rankings since October, beating N.C. State in the quarterfinals and Boston College in the national semifinals.
The Cardinals won their first MAC 7s title in 2017, and they overcame a pair of midseason upsets to claim a second-straight MAC 15s championship this fall. They were No. 1 all through the early part of the season, before back-to-back losses to Western Michigan and Bowling Green made way for Kentucky to take the top billing.
Louisville has been on a revenge tour ever since, exacting vengeance against Western Michigan in the conference semifinals and Bowling Green in the MAC final. Louisville came painfully close to a national championship last fall, falling to Virginia Tech, 24-22, in the title game. The Cardinals avenged that loss in Saturday’s semifinals in Reading, beating the two-time defending champion Hokies 29-22.
Division II
All season, IUP has been on a warpath back to the national final. One hurdle remains in the Crimson Hawks’ way, and it’s Saturday’s semifinal against Vermont. The Catamounts gave the Hawks their closest game of the 2022 postseason, a 27-24 IUP quarterfinal win, before IUP was bested by Principia, 47-16, in the national title match.
Despite starting the season ranked No. 1 and not losing all fall, IUP was twice jumped in the rankings, first by Norwich and then by now-top-ranked Northern Iowa. The Cadets were defeated by the Crimson Hawks, 46-26, in the quarterfinals, while the Panthers are still in the hunt, drawing SCRC champion Memphis in the other national semifinal.
UNI has been utterly dominant all fall, beating four-time national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater, 93-5, in the Great Midwest conference championship. The Panthers then exploded for 78 points in their opening round win over Saint Louis University and for 42 in their quarterfinal victory over Montana State.
Memphis is also attuned to piling on the points, outscoring opponents 383-34 through league play this fall. In just two games against Ole Miss and Mississippi State, the Tigers outscored the state of Mississippi 222-6.
Memphis had to prove it could win a close game to advance to Houston, scoring a converted try in the 77th minute to beat Georgetown, 17-15, in the quarterfinals in Knoxville, TN. The Tigers and Panthers do have a common opponent in Whitewater, Memphis having beaten the Warhawks, 49-17, in the Round of 16.
Small College
One semifinal is a rematch of last year’s national championship game, and the other is a meeting of two juggernaut conference champions. Saturday, defending champ Cal Poly Humboldt takes on Wayne State, the LumberJacks having beaten the Wildcats in last year’s final, 20-15.
Humboldt went unbeaten in Northern California this season, and Wayne State’s only blemish is against Division I Iowa Central Community College. The Wildcats also registered wins over Colorado School of Mines and DI-AA Iowa in September. The LumberJacks and Wildcats were ranked second and third, respectively, all season.
Despite missing out on the 15s playoffs altogether last year, and Humboldt and Wayne State returning strong squads, Babson has spent the entire fall ranked No. 1. That’s due in part to the Beavers claiming the 7s national title in April, and in part to the scoring prowess of All-American flyhalf Reed Santos and Canadian first-year back row Charles Price. Santos paced the Beavers with 28 points in their last two playoff wins, over Springfield and Endicott in Malden, MA. Price led them in tries with six.
Catholic comes in as champion of the highly competitive Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference. The Cardinals beat second-place Susquehanna head-to-head, but dropped their final league match of the season to third-place American. Catholic handled Christendom in the opening round, 52-14, and escaped Southeastern Louisiana in the quarterfinals, 28-24.
The winners of Friday’s semifinal play for the national championship Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CST.
