The Final Four for the Men’s Division II National Championship is locked in after a rousing Regional round, the results of which set up a clash between the top two teams in the country in one National semifinal, while the other side of the bracket features two surprise contenders who will duke it out in Houston for the right to play spoiler in the championship match.
On the contenders side, two high-flying offenses are set to collide after #1 Vermont and #2 UNC-Wilmington punched their tickets with wins on Sunday.
Vermont had the easiest time of it, dispatching a talented Cornell team, who were riding high after knocking out the defending champs a day earlier, 43-16. The Catamounts cruised behind scores by Roman Legere, William O’Shea, Zan Rice, Seamus Rohde, and flyhalf Matthew Tevnan. Tevnan also hit two conversions and a penalty goal in the match. The hero for Cornell in round one, prop Tatenda Gonese, scored again for the Big Red on Sunday. But his try, plus three penalty kicks and a conversion for fly half Flynn Kelleher, were not nearly enough to keep pace with the juggernaut that is Vermont.
The Seahawks looked like they were on track to have as easy a day as UVM when they went up 21-0 on #11 Memphis in the first 15 minutes of their quarterfinal match. But the Tigers never allowed UNC-W a chance to take their foot off the gas, hanging around long enough to tie the score at 43-43 with under ten minutes to play. When the going got tough, however, Xavier Arrington got going for Wilmington. The winger scored his fourth try of the weekend in the 78th minute of this contest, his third score of the game, which put the Seahawks ahead for good and sent them through to Houston. Daniel Marsh’s seventh successful conversion so far in the postseason made the final score 50-43 ‘hawks.
It’s a shame that only one of these two incredibly dominant teams will get the chance to play for a National Championship in December, but the match to decide which one of them is most deserving of that chance is guaranteed to feature plenty of fireworks.
Out West, the University of Chicago Maroons continued to prove the validity of their contender status with a tight 43-38 win over the higher-seeded Mavericks of Colorado Mesa. Sophomore Nico Roth scored twice for #6 Chicago, who overcame four yellow cards to win 43-25 over #4 Mesa. Tom Gauweiler went 5 of 5 on conversions for Colorado, but it wasn’t enough to put them through to the semifinals.
And in the final game, #15 Grand Valley State cemented their status as the ultimate cinderella story with a 34-26 victory over #5 Scranton. The Norsemen showed how adept they were at winning throughout the MARC playoffs and in their quarterfinal match with Norwich two days ago. But their powers failed them on Sunday as GVSU breached the dam for multiple scores.
The Lakers will now turn their attention towards the Maroons for their December matchup, with the threat of a potential finals matchup against either Vermont or UNC-Wilmington looming on the horizon.
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