December 8 - Top-ranked Babson and No. 3 Wayne State are set for the Small College national final, after Babson defeated Catholic, 52-0, and Wayne State eked past defending champion Cal Poly Humboldt, 23-20, in Friday's semifinals at SaberCat Stadium in Houston, TX.
In the opening match, Babson came out of the gates quickly and never looked back, scoring in the opening minutes through lock Brice Muller. Outside center Jack Byszio extended the lead in short order, scoring a pair of back-to-back tries. For the first one, he caught an offload from flyhalf Reed Santos. The second was a long-range individual effort, during which he shucked off multiple Catholic tacklers.
Kyle Wilson dotted down Babson’s fourth try, scooping up a grubber from Santos and touching it down. The Catholic wing was in position to field the kick, but slipped and fell, making way for Wilson. Santos converted three of the first four scores, putting the Beavers up, 26-0, going into halftime.
The second half was nearly all one-way traffic for the Beavers. Wing Yacine Ndiaye scored just 30 seconds into the second stanza after a Charles Price turnover at the breakdown. Byszio made it a hat-trick with another barnstorming run through the Cardinal backline after a deceptive dummy. Wilson scored his second try after a give-and-go from Byszio and Reed opened up the Catholic defense. Babson’s final score came off an ill-advised kick from the Catholic try line that traveled only about four meters before the Beavers scooped and scored.
In the second semifinal, Humboldt broke the stalemate after five minutes, with tighthead prop Logan Zampa finding space in the corner after a long series of pick and goes.
The LumberJacks committed a penalty directly off the kickoff, giving Wayne State a straight shot at goal. Vuyo Mdlalose missed, leaving the Wildcats scoreless, despite having several promising forays into the attacking end.
Humboldt scored early in the second half to extend the lead to 10-0. Wayne flyhalf Jayden James slotted a penalty kick to briefly cut the deficit to seven, before Humboldt regained the momentum when wing Wyatt Simision assisted by Nathan Riley on a long range score, taking the momentum back for the LumberJacks.
James chipped away at the deficit with another point-blank penalty, making it 15-6. Junior flanker Sean Munemo then scored Wayne's first try, punching over a pick-and-jam from inches out, leaving Humboldt up, 15-11, after 62 minutes.
Wayne State kept the ball in the attacking end and the pressure on. Despite set piece woes, the Wildcats crossed the line for the second time when hooker Banele Jiyane picked and passed on the goal line when the defense was expecting a run, setting up the go-ahead try. The conversion was no good, Wayne led 16-15 with 10 minutes to play.
Mpulelo Mathias kept the Wildcats on the front foot with a short range try two minutes later. James bent a touchline conversion around the posts, putting the Wildcats up two scores with under five minutes to play.
Humboldt went quick off a Wayne penalty, setting up Logan McDaniel for a try in the 79th minute. The conversion was no good, leaving the Wildcats up 23-20.
The Small College final will be played on Sunday at 12 pm CT at SaberCats Stadium.
