Rumor has it that around 3:30pm EST today, if you listened close enough, you could just make out the exasperated sounds of brackets being busted all across the nation as chaos reigned on day one of the Men’s Division II Regional tournament. Two of the top contenders in the division – both of whom played in last year’s national championship game – were upset by their round one opponents at the exact same time, injecting an element of uncertainty into the proceedings as the tournament carries on into the weekend.
One team that was certainly jumping for joy after seeing the afternoon results were the #1 ranked Vermont Catamounts, who were the first to play on Friday winning a catfight against #12 Villanova 65-11. The Wildcats kept it close early, with two penalty kicks by flyhalf Nathan Caruso sandwiching a converted try by Vermont scrumhalf James McGovern in the first ten minutes of the contest. From there, however, the Catamounts showed off their signature scoring ability, pouring on 38 unanswered points and putting the game out of reach before the end of the first half – before tacking on 20 extra points in the second half for good measure. Future New England Free Jack John Worobel had a hat trick for Vermont as did teammate Roman Legere. Flyhalf Matthew Tevnan went 7/11 on conversions.
After cruising to a first round victory, UVM was greeted with the news that the defending National Champions, #3 Indiana University of Pennsylvania, had been unceremoniously dumped from this year’s contest by a red-hot Big Red side 24-14. #7 Cornell came into the contest with a little bit of buzz after rampaging through the Liberty Conference, but very few pundits were willing to pick against an IUP team that had once again handled their business in the ARU under head coach Seth Erwin and always seemed to find a way to win come playoff time.
It looked for a while like the Crimson Hawks would be able to grit out another win over a tough opponent as they took a 14-10 lead into the halftime break. Malcolm Johnson continued the longstanding tradition of playoff dominance by IUP outside centers, scoring both tries for his side in the contest. But the loss of dynamic fullback Dylan Deasy to injury clipped Hawks’ wings in the second half, and Cornell’s stingy defense completely shut them out of the tryzone. At the same time, Big Red’s big loosehead prop, Tatenda Gonese, added two more tries to his team-leading nine-score total from the regular season to seal the upset and send the school’s a cappella groups scrambling to sing their praises.
Whether this upset makes Vermont’s path to Houston any safer remains to be seen as they will have to determine on Sunday whether Cornell’s victory was a fluke or fate. Even if the Catamounts are to make it through to Nationals, another contender on their side of the bracket, #2 UNC-Wilmington, also made a strong opening statement with their 50-7 demolition of a once-celebrated Salisbury Sharks team that was at one point ranked as high as #3 in the nation, but finished the year ranked #8.
The Seahawks’ Maxton Buckingham ruined Salisbury’s day royally by crossing the whitewash not once, not twice, but thrice to start the game. Three conversions and a penalty goal by inside center Danny Marsh put UNC-W up 24-0 at the half. Five different Seahawks would score in the second half, while Ben Ruby scored the only points for Salisbury at the 65 minute mark. Much like Thanos and the Soul Stone, whatever deal the Sharks made to give them two wins over their bitter rivals Towson during the regular season cost them everything as a promising season ended with a loss in the MARC conference championship and this ignominious playoff exit.
Facing off against the Seahawks in the South Regional championship will be the #11 Memphis Tigers, who won an absolute slugfest against #20 Coastal Carolina 39-38. The two teams traded blows for the first 30 minutes of the game, with scores by Tigers Tristian Parson and Dorian Girard answered in kind by Coastal’s Kevin Watters and Landon Wilson.
From there, however, Memphis began to pull away with three straight scores by Sehrab Baga, Harrison Hagan, and John Lomax putting them ahead 31-12. But a yellow card, followed ten minutes later by a red card for two Tigers’ players left the door open for a Coastal comeback attempt. The Chanticleers gave it their best shot, with scores by Hudson Fernari, Christian Powers, and Caden O’Keefe bringing Coastal back within striking distance with twenty minutes left to play. A late second try for Hagan, however, and a clutch penalty kick by Brett Battle, kept the Tigers on top until the end. But the same ill-discipline will be even more difficult to overcome against the high-flying Seahawks on Sunday.
At the same time that IUP flew the coup, their counterparts in the 2024 National Title game, the #9 UNI Panthers, were getting washed out of this year’s tournament by the Lakers of Grand Valley State who finished the year ranked #15 after winning what should probably be renamed as the Great Lake(r)s Conference for the fourth year in a row.
GVSU was firmly in control for the entire first half of this game, with scores by Josh Jenkins and Tyler Costello representing the only points scored by either team through 40 minutes. But the currents began to shift late in the second half thanks to back-to-back tries by UNI’s Mikey Santoiemma, who also nailed the conversion on his second score to put the Panthers up 12-10 with 15 minutes left in the contest. The Lakers remained calm on the surface and, with only ten minutes left on the clock, punched in back-to-back scores to take the lead for good. Four different players for GVSU scored their four tries in the match with Kyle Riter and Lucas Francis punching in the crucial scores at the end, which perhaps proves once and for all that still waters really do run deep.
For a while on Friday it seemed that at least one team would be able to withstand the Curse of the 2024 Finals. On the same pitch that UNI fell not even an hour earlier, #19 Norwich, last year’s third-place finisher, took a commanding 17-5 lead into the sheds at halftime over the #5 ranked Scranton Norsemen. Dylan Hoey, Hyan Mesa, and Brandon Smith did the early damage for Bob Weggler’s boys, who looked to be taking the first step on their redemption tour after losing twice to intrastate rivals Vermont during the regular season.
Number 8 Jake Peterson increased Norwich’s lead to 22-5 at the start of the second half, causing all three rugby writers in the country to rush to their laptops to start writing stories about the Comeback Cadets. But the Norseman – who have shown a remarkable ability this season to keep winning games that no one expects them to – summoned all the gods to this final battle by blowing on the Gjallarhorn and began to fight back.
What started as a potential blowout turned into a potential game of the year candidate, as Scranton slowly chipped away at Norwich’s lead. It began at twenty four to five. Then it was twenty four to ten. Then twenty four twelve. Twenty nine twelve. Twenty nine seventeen. Twenty nine twenty two! And so on until THIRTY TWO THIRTY SIX AND THE NORSEMEN WIN IT! The second try of the game for Scranton’s Ryan Wimmer came at the 75 minute mark and gave his team their first and only lead of the contest. Four other Norsemen scored during their epic run and Sean Comiskey hit three clutch conversions to send them through to the Regional finals where they’ll hope to drain the Lakers.
The last two games of the day were blowouts as #6 UChicago and #4 Colorado Mesa took care of business in their opening round matchups out West. Flanker Jack Allison led UChicago in scoring with three tries while teammates Mateo Rampaldi and Tomi Rossini had two apiece in the Maroons’ 54-14 win over Benedictine (KS). Chicago’s Jonas Grusnius also nailed an impressive 7 of 8 conversion attempts. James VanKirk and Nicholas Niewald scored the only points for Benedictine.
On the other side of the bracket, Colorado Mesa made short work of UChicago’s division rival, #10 Loyola Chicago, 51-15 out in Springfield, MO. Bergen Roth was the Top Gun for the Mavericks with four of Mesa’s six scores.
These two powerhouses are now on a collision course to determine who’s the Best in the West in a game that is sure to be decided by a much closer margin.
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