It was an absolute smorgasbord of excellent rugby on day one of the Men’s Division III Regional playoffs as spectators were treated to upsets, blowouts, and overtime thrillers up and down the bracket.
The tastiest treats on Saturday had to be the two 2024 playoff rematches that were just as, if not more, compelling than last year’s contests. In the South, #6 Catholic and #11 Duke – who erupted for 96 combined points when they met in last year’s regional final, a game that resulted in a 51-45 Duke victory – played a thriller this year that was so good it couldn’t be contained in the regulation 80 minutes.
The Blue Devils jumped out to an early 14-0 lead after scores by Michael Erenbaum and potential DIII Player of the Year candidate River Hanson. Erenbaum, Hanson, and fly half Gabriel Downes were the only three players to score in the contest for Duke.
But Catholic kept battling back, erasing three double-digit Duke leads over the course of the game. Dylan Esser, Lawrence Davis, and Aidan Buchanan were among the Cardinals who kept their team’s hopes alive with scores. But it was winger Chibundu Edozie who dotted it down with zeroes on the clock and set up John Skelton to nail yet another clutch kick this season with time expiring and send the game to OT. It was not Skelton, however, but Downes who hit the most clutch kick of the game, drilling a penalty at the very end of the first sudden-death, ten-minute overtime period to send the Blue Devils through to the Final.
The second playoff rematch took place out West between #2 Cal Poly Humboldt and #15 Colorado School of Mines. Last year’s contest resulted in the second of three improbable wins that sent the Orediggers through to the 2024 National playoffs, after James Gabriel split the uprights with a penalty kick at the death to give Mines the 29-27 win over the Lumberjacks. 2025’s contest wasn’t quite deja vu all over again, as Mines jumped out to a big early lead over Cal Poly, but the end result was the same as the Orediggers held on to win 23-19 despite a late comeback effort by the Lumberjacks.
The win sets up yet another rematch for Mines, this time against conference rival New Mexico Tech, in the Regional Final. Tech survived a nail-biter of their own on the other side of the bracket, escaping 32-31 against surprise contender Montana. The Orediggers triumphed over NMT in their 2024 playoff matchup and will surely hope that history continues to repeat itself in 2025.
Back down South, the #7 Franciscan Barons are in the midst of a bit of a miracle run of their own, following up their play-in victory over Susquehanna with a convincing upset win over the VMI Keydets. It was the second time this season that the Barons took down a team that was ranked #1 in the country, having bested conference rivals Slippery Rock in the regular season when they were perched atop the rankings. Lex Lang earned Player of the Match honors for Franciscan thanks to an all-around stellar effort in the contest. Dom Grecol and Abe Schmiesing crossed the whitewash in this one. Chris Ascough also scored a try and went 3 of 4 on conversions while Joe Bob Moleski added a drop goal to the Barons’ point total. The Keydets attempted to mount a late comeback, with scores by Rafe Clendenin and Caleb Chandler cutting Franciscan’s lead to 3 points with ten minutes left to go. But Augustine Wright scored late for the Barons to seal their 29-19 victory and send them through to the Regional Final against Duke.
In the East, #3 Nichols continued their run of dominance over New England foes with a 61-5 disintegration of the #17 Endicott. Ten different players scored tries for the Bison as they easily cleared the first hurdle on their way to a potential Championship. Quentin Carroll was the lone try scorer for the Gulls.
The win set up a NERFU Conference Championship rematch between Nichols and #7 Holy Cross after the Crusaders pulled off an epic comeback win over #14 Springfield. Luke Primrose and Kyle McLoughlin had already put Springfield on the board with scores of their own when HC conceded a penalty try with four minutes left in the first half to go down 22-0. That moment was the turning point in the game for the Crusaders, however, as they exploded for 45 unanswered points. Hooker Christopher Dalton had three tries during the stretch while teammates Liam Travis, Lew Manning, and John Cox added one score apiece. McLoughlin would dot down two more tries in the final five minutes of the game as Springfield furiously tried to recapture their lead. But the effort would be in vain as Holy Cross held on to win 45-34.
In the Midwest, both of the top teams took care of business in round one. #5 Slippery Rock improved on their 33-0 regular season victory over conference foe Xavier with a 48-0 win in the regional round. Both Zach Herrington and Roman Police had hat tricks for Slippery Rock and the team played some of the best defense that it has all season.
On the other side of the bracket, #4 Wisconsin Eau-Claire put an end to trendy upset pick Richmond’s season with a dominant 53-5 win over the Spiders. UWEC went up 31-0 in the first half, gave up a score to Richmond’s Matthew Lynch to start the second half, and then scored 22 straight points to put the ultimate exclamation point on the win. Luke Pugh and Thomas Moessenthin had two scores apiece for the Blugolds. The physicality that is sure to be on display in Sunday’s Regional Final between Eau Claire and Slippery Rock will be second to none.
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