It’s been two months since the fall club rugby season began and the divisional playoffs are upon us in two regions. While the rest of the country are still trading blows in the middle of their campaigns, teams in the Atlantic North and Midwest are playing for their postseason lives and championship dreams.
Atlantic North
Men's
Week 7 of the American Rugby Premiership saw the South travel to the North, and the home teams showed their mettle with dramatic victories. First up was Life at Mystic River. The Running Eagles made their presence known racing out to a 17-0 lead braced by a pair of Harley Davidson tries. Mystic slowly worked back into the game with ten minutes left narrowing the lead to three points. After a Zachary Mizell try extended Life’s lead to 25-17, a combination of tries from Chris Newcomer and Mani Young and a pair of conversions from Karl Rempe in the last three minutes completed the 31-25 comeback for Mystic.
Much like the first game, Old Blue was looking for revenge against 404 Rugby ATL under the lights. Things got interesting in the last five minutes when a try from LaRome White built up Old Blue’s advantage to 17-10, but 404 responded immediately to tie at 17 all. Old Blue gathered itself to make a last-ditch offensive and it accomplished its goal with a game-winning try by Alex MacDonald, 22-17.
In the next to last week of regular season play in the DII Empire, the four playoff spots are pretty much determined. With the Fairfield Yankees already securing a bid and idle, the big matches were White Plains versus New York and Buffalo at the Montclair Norsemen. Each club is still in contention, but one will be left out next week. In a hard-fought defensive struggle, White Plains’ Callum Bean scored first and his team would not relinquish the lead ending in a 17-12 win to grab a playoff spot. The second game was much more contentious. Montclair came out firing on all cylinders while Buffalo appeared to be slumbering. The sleeper was awakened in the second half as Buffalo battled back from a 26-7 halftime deficit. In the final 15 minutes, Colton Kells (2) and Grant Currey scored and Simon Honig tacked on two conversions to tie up the game. With less than a minute left, Buffalo had a penalty kick to win the game but Honig's kick bounced off the upright and the game ended in a 26-26 tie.
Based on the results, Fairfield, White Plains, and Buffalo are in while New York and Montclair will have to face off against the divisional leaders next weekend to earn the final spot. All top three teams still have a lot to play for as home-field advantage is at stake on Saturday.
The South Shore Anchors capped off its undefeated season with a 54-27 defeat of Newport to get one step closer to securing the top seed in the DII New England playoffs. The Boston Irish Wolfhounds trail by three points in the standings after doubling up Boston, 54-21. The last two spots are up for grabs between Mystic River, Boston, and Newport. Saturday’s match between Newport and Boston will likely to determine the fourth and final spot in the DII spring playoffs.
The DII playoff picture in the Empire was settled, as the Rochester Aardvarks remained unbeaten taking down Genesee, 61-33. Buffalo DIII, battling for its playoff life, beat KenTon, 41-5. However, with Danbury beating Saratoga 51-17, Bayonne knocking off Morris 27-21, and Lansdowne taking down Gotham 46-29, Buffalo fell just short of the #8 spot. For the upcoming quarterfinal weekend, #8 Lansdowne travels to #1 Rochester, #7 Old Blue goes to #2 Danbury, #6 Morris plays at #3 Brooklyn, with #5 Greenwich at #4 Bayonne.
It was the first weekend of playoffs in the DIII NERFU. The undefeated Boston Maccabi dominated MIT 71-0 and all of the high seeds beat the lower seeds in the sub-division crossovers. Second-ranked Amoskeag cracked #7 Mad River/Stowe 74-29, #4 Charles River beat #5 North Shore, 63-24, and #3 Albany overwhelmed #6 Providence 53-22.
Women's
There’s a nice battle occurring in the top half of the Empire GU, and the top-four teams all earned standings points last weekend. Leader Monmouth defeated Long Island 57-17 and Brooklyn beat Danbury 38-12 for the five standings points apiece. Brooklyn wing Margaret Ewen continues to be the team’s most effective finisher, logging another three tries in the victory.
Morris took a 17-point lead over the Village Lions, earning a penalty try near the 20-minute mark and then sending flyhalf Wytnee Riley across for a brace of tries. Lions flanker Michelle Dimitri scored immediately after Riley’s second try to build some momentum and then two quick scores from hooker Katie Hopkins and Rachel Elson tied it up at 17 with more than 10 minutes to play. Neither side broke, and the draw held for two standings points a piece.
Last weekend marked New England’s final regular-season round, and three teams ended up 3-3 and vying for those berths to the GU semifinals. Hartford did its job in beating second-place Worcester 19-14; however, the Roses didn’t get the bonus point it needed to overcome Albany for fourth in the standings.
“This was definitely a peaking-at-the-right-moment situation for us,” Hartford forwards captain Meg Hann explained. “We started the season off with a lot of new players who had talent and experience, so it took some time to integrate all the different playing styles to come together and be on the same page. We've progressed each week and we're happy with our success as the season wrapped up. Unfortunately, it may have been a little too late. Overall, it was a successful season for us with continued growth and team continuity each game.”
Providence locked up first in the standings with a 38-19 win over Portland, which is also heading to playoffs as the third seed.
In DIII, the South Shore vs. North Shore match took center stage, and the Sirens took home a 31-15 victory. The teams were within a conversion of each other in the first half, and then South Shore’s Serena Amado, Madison Reilly and Kelly Kryzak finished tries in the final 20 for the more comfortable win.
Frontier
Men's
The unpredictable state of the Rocky Mountain Men’s Premiership (DII) continued on Saturday as the Denver Misfits pulled off a one-point 36-35 win against Boulder and the Denver Barbarians beat the Denver Highlanders, 47-17. The division is up for grabs as two teams are 2-1, one is 2-2, and two are 1-2. The Misfits will play the 'Barbos' in the Eastern Rockies Cup (DII/DIII hybrid cup tournament) fall championship on November 9.
With the St. Louis Ruggerfest on the Mid-America schedule this past weekend, only two games were played in the region. In DII, Little Rock began its season with a 74-15 defeat of the Oklahoma City Crusaders and the St. Louis Hornets outlasted the Kansas City Blues, 24-17.
Women's
The Utah Vipers played its first league match in the expanded Frontier Red River competition and hosted Glendale, which has defeated Black Ice and Houston Athletic so far this season. An absolute thriller with multiple lead changes evolved, and both teams scored six tries apiece: Malissa Tabbey, Justine Wypych (2), Elizabeth Dominguez and Allison Schrenker (2) for Glendale; and Mary Fisi, Ana Perez, Hannah Makasini (2), Sophia Karlsson and Dallas McKee for Utah. Justine Perl’s three conversions, however, afforded the 36-32 win to Glendale.
The Kansas City Jazz and St. Louis are both 2-0 in DII Mid-America and both posted big bonus-point wins over opponents last weekend. The Jazz beat Queen City by 95 points, and inside center Hannah Reid led all try-scorers with five, while scrumhalf Alex Zupan added 27 points on a try and 11 conversions. The Sabres took down the Boulder Babes 73-10, and spread the scoring throughout the forwards and backs. Fullback Kate Closter and hooker Kayla Hernandez had multi-try performances. KC Jazz and St. Louis play each other this weekend.
Mid-Atlantic
Men's
The marquee match-up in the DI Mid-Atlantic saw Rocky Gorge and the Potomac Exiles square off in a battle of 4-1 squads. Gorge dominated possession in the first half and its aggressive defense did the rest in the second for the 31-22 victory.
Gorge is in transition from its championship core to a new crop of players. “We were fortunate to have a core group of guys play together for such a long time,” head coach Nick DiMichele said. “The exchange of players was overdue and it gives younger players the opportunity to step up. It’s the same system just new to the players so there is a learning curve. Today was our best performance this season: the forwards figuring out where they need to be, our centers running with authority, and our back three making line breaks. You could see a light bulb go off today and it just clicked for the boys. We got to see a glimpse of our potential and we are excited for these next few weeks.”
The only other DI match on the schedule was Baltimore-Chesapeake at Northern Virginia in Washington, D.C. Both teams have had their struggles this season, but NOVA banded together for the 55-31 win. NOVA crossed the whitewash eight times in the contest with Brian Mulloy and Nicholas Ross each scoring a pair each.
In DII, Doylestown won its fourth game in a row to lead the EPRU with Philadelphia-Whitemarsh and Old Gaelic in tight pursuit. Down in the Capital, Washington dealt James River its first loss after dominating the opening frame, 25-3. James River made it a match after the break by scoring three straight tries, but John Webster’s try in the 79th minute sealed the 37-25 win for Washington. Virginia is right behind the leaders in the South division after its 17-14 edging against Richmond.
The big dogs in DIII won out on Saturday. North leaders Media, Northeast Philadelphia Irish, Harrisburg, and Reading each held serve while Schuylkill River and Lehigh Valley kept pace at 3-2. The South saw the Norfolk Blues beat Virginia Beach 48-19 and Blackwater outwork Roanoke for a 29-17 win. Lastly, Severn River and the Washington Irish remain at the top of the standings in the Central and NOVA picked up its second win with a 75-28 victory over Baltimore-Chesapeake.
Finally, the Patuxent Lions, Prince William County and West Potomac each scored over 70 points in blowouts in DIV.
Women's
Philadelphia has played the most games in the new Division I East and improved to 2-2 after defeating visiting Atlanta 32-17. The teams went into the break tied at 12, as Rebecca Silver and Jessica Leggett dotted down and Kate Hallinan added the conversion for Philly, and then the Harlequins evened up through Carolyn Mackey and Janay Peacock tries and a Hannah Twilley conversion. There the scoreboard sat for the third quarter, and then Philly put down four-straight tries through Katie Cardone, Lucy Dawson and Taylor Wuerker (2). Laketa Sutton ended the game with a final Atlanta try.
There are two more weeks of regular-season play for the fall portion of DII, and Doylestown (4-0) and Harrisburg (3-0) remain undefeated. Severn River was undefeated until last Saturday, and then an away trip to Harrisburg produced a 35-7 decision to the Pennsylvania team. The Harlot center pairing of Nikki Snyder and Michelle Kirk was particularly effective and accounted for four of the five tries, the fifth coming through prop Maddie Brenner. Flyhalf Lauren Schissler connected on all five conversions as well. Harrisburg will round out the fall against 2-1 Phoenixville and then Doylestown on Nov. 2.
James River remained in striking distance of Doylestown through the first half, but then the Dragons opened it up in the second half for six unanswered tries through Rachel Dayton, Nicole Fairman, Morgan Stiffler, Sarah Ross, Alexandria Dowdy and Britta Gamache. With Elyse Garcia’s conversions, Doylestown won 58-13.
Similarly, Brandywine’s game against Northeast Philadelphia did not get away from the Riot until the second half. Northeast Philly established its lead two mintues into the game through Victoria Crosier, and its most efficient finisher on the day was Hannah Bratzler, who collected five tries in the 68-33 win. Three second-half tries allowed Brandywine to collect a bonus point in the loss.
For Division III, it was a good day for the Philadelphia club, which added a 73-5 win over Wilmington to its DI success. Coryn Rank and Gillian Gehri featured often in the box score, while Remy Bremner and Ariel Blanding also had multi-try days. In the South competition, the Maryland Stingers improved to 3-0 with a 59-7 win over NOVA. Prop Diana Roman and wing Celestine Pere scored a brace of tries a piece.
Pacific Northwest
Men's
The fifth week of DII in the Pacific Northwest featured the Boise United winning its second straight match with a 74-8 demolition of ORSU and the Eastside Tsunami capitalizing on Tacoma's mistakes to beat Tacoma, 52-12, on the road. In the match between the Portland Pigs and the Valley Kangaroos, the Pigs’ pack kept Valley on the back foot which allowed their backline to find holes in the defense especially with pace on the outside. Portland won in a landslide, 83-5.
In DIII, Portland improved its record to 3-1 with a 38-29 win over Eugene and ORSU forfeited its match to Boise.
Women's
The DII Pacific Northwest produced two competitive games. Tacoma held off Portland in a 19-14 victory, getting its points from try-scorers Emily Pitman and Blaine Martin (2) and kicker Shannon Parker. And Budd Bay logged its second-straight victory with a 29-14 decision over Eugene. The league will now enter its winter break and resume in the spring.
Midwest
Men's
With only two games left in the Midwest Rugby Premiership and the division leaders facing off on November 9th for the DI championship, the competition for first is furious. After Saturday’s 39-17 win against Cincinnati, the Chicago Lions leapfrogged Detroit for first in the East and Kansas City stretched its undefeated streak to six games with a 22-14 victory over Metropolis in the West. The Lions need to come up big against the Griffins and Columbus in the last two weeks to hold onto first while a perfect season is in the Blues’ sights with Milwaukee and Palmer left on the schedule.
The DII regular season concluded this past weekend and the playoffs matchups are set. All of the postseason bound teams, except one, won on Saturday as the Pittsburgh Forge, the Green Bay Celtics, the Chicago Blaze, and the Eastside Banshees each scored more than 50 points. Saturday’s playoff match-ups in the East are Lincoln Park at Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Crusaders at the Chicago Blaze. In the West, Wisconsin will host the Eastside Banshees and Milwaukee travels to Green Bay. The winners of these games will face one another in the conference finals on November 2nd, and the victors will play in the Midwest Championship on November 9th.
The DIII conference is only one week away from determining its postseason entrants. With eight spots available for the playoffs, each league champion will receive a bid and a wildcard side will be selected as the club with the best overall record who did not win their league. Four of the seven leagues have decided their winners as the Fox Valley Maoris won the Chicago Area, Akron prevailed in the East, the Bremer County Bucks emerged from Iowa, and Oconomowoc reigned in Wisconsin.
In Minnesota’s inter-league playoffs, St. Paul hosted the Banshees D3 side and controlled the match from the get-go to win 43-17. In the other semifinal, it was a rematch of the 7-5 thriller between St. Cloud and Rochester from earlier this month. The game was tight in the first half with Rochester leading 6-5 at the break, but St. Cloud opened it up in the second following a yellow card to win 29-13. St. Paul and St. Cloud are lined up for the final and it should be epic as the Jazz Pigs only triumphed by two points in their earlier victory.
As for the North, Fort Wayne beat Detroit, 43-12, and Grand Rapids defeated the Tradesmen, 38-15, to advance to the league final next weekend. The Queen City Rams are in the driver’s seat in the South as they only need to earn one standing point versus White River on Saturday to win its league. The wildcard will be decided after next week’s results.
As for the DIV playoffs, the Westside Outcasts and Columbus are your #1 and #2 out of the Buckeye, and the Chicago Blaze with the Kenosha Mammoths advance from the Central. The Findlay Scars earned the 1st seed in the North, while Grand Rapids and Fort Wayne are battling for the 2nd spot. In Iowa, the Northeast Barbarians and the Cedar Rapids play on Saturday to see who the #1 seed is.
Women's
With their victories last weekend, the Chicago Lions and Metropolis Valkyries have secured the top-two spots in the Division I standings. The Lions bettered Chicago 36-12, while the Valkyries topped Wisconsin 76-14. There is still one more week of the regular season, but the aforementioned have the standings points to withstand a week-eight loss.
Heading into last weekend, the Cincinnati Kelts and Columbus Squirrels had also secured their spots to the DII Midwest East playoffs, but last Saturday’s game still had major stakes.
“The rivalry with Columbus has become ‘The Game’ for us in our season,” Cincinnati Kelts veteran Gina Fanelli explained. “It is always the truest test of where we stand and what we need to work on. [Saturday] didn't go perfectly for us, but showed that we are willing to dig deep on defense, keep calm and trust in the game plan and each other.”
After multiple lead changes, the Kelts came away with a 21-12 win and home-field advantage for the first round of playoffs against East Gold’s Pittsburgh Forge.
“At this point the team is extremely well gelled with the majority of the roster having played together for four-plus years. We have a lot of trust in each other and that translates positively on the field,” Fellow Kelts vet Monica Christian noted. “We generally have a field of 26 to select from on a game-to-game basis, which allows us to pick a roster that will be most competitive against who we are playing, and we know that we will have no drop-off when substitutions come on.”
Columbus will now travel to Buffalo, the East Gold leader, which finished its regular season with 40-15 win over South Buffalo. Pittsburgh also had a solid outing against Akron, winning 65-0, before heading into playoffs.
The DII West saw Milwaukee Syclla shut out County Will Morrigans, while the Minneapolis Menagerie and Chicago Sirens drew at 17. There’s one more week of league play and then the post-season scenario will become clear.
South
Men's
The local derby between Asheville and Greenville was the only DII match in the Carolinas this past weekend. The contest is always filled with intensity and this weekend’s match did not disappoint. After Greenville took an early 15-0 lead, Asheville didn’t panic and climbed back to go up 17-15 at the half. Making four changes to the lineup at the break, Asheville’s fresh legs made an immediate impact to grow the advantage to 43-15 after 55 minutes. The rain followed making the game more even and Asheville held on for the 43-27 victory.
DIII in the South kicked off only a couple of weeks ago and some teams are playing their first games now. In the Carolinas, Charlotte were road warriors against Raleigh, 36-22, for its first win and the Columbia Olde Grey won their second straight by shutting out Fort Bragg, 53-0. The Clarksville Headhunters took their prize from Nashville in the form of a 93-0 blanking and Huntsville notched its first home win against Chattanooga in the True South.
Women's
Savannah is the only undefeated team in the Carolinas-Georgia GU, but it looked like Eno River was going to serve the Shamrocks its first loss as it ran out to a 19-point lead after 30 minutes. Savannah then rallied with six tries from Leandria Ates (2), Katherine Smith, Erin Schwenning, Rebecca Floto and Danielle Deshaies to take an 11-point lead. Eno River scored once more through Jasmine Griffin, but a final try from Heather Mazur afforded the 40-29 win.
Augusta hosted Southern Pines and took the first lead through Owen Crosland (who scored all three of the team’s tries). The visitors then answered with two Tatiana Rubow tries and a penalty kick from Stephanie Taylor to jump ahead 13-5. Augusta kept chipping away at the difference, but two more tries from Rubow and Taylor afforded the 25-15 bonus-point win.
In the DII True South, Battleship and league newcomer New Orleans were tied at 10 heading into halftime, and then the Alabama squad posted seven unanswered tries in the second stanza for a 51-10 win. Inside center Nine Henricksson scored five tries to lead.
