The men’s Division DII national championship will be decided this weekend, with the semifinals kicking off Friday and the final Sunday at SaberCats Stadium in Houston, TX. All matches will be streamed live on The Rugby Network with a TRN+ Ticket.
Great Midwest champion Northern Iowa faces Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference champion Towson in Friday’s first semifinal at 4 p.m. CST, and defending national champion Indiana University of Pennsylvania duels with North Atlantic Rugby Conference champion Norwich at 6 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal. The winners advance to Sunday’s final at 2 p.m.
Northern Iowa was at this point last year, where they lost a heartbreaker to Memphis, 43-39. All-American center Nick Marker was lost to a nasty injury in that game, but he’s back and as lethal as ever, as is fellow All-American Jentry Staack.
The Panthers were dominant all fall, outscoring regular season opponents by an average of 50 points a game. That continued with a 74-10 defeat of Gateway champion Saint Louis University in the opening round of the playoffs, but the Panthers found themselves uncharacteristically fighting from behind in the quarterfinals. UNI trailed Montana State, 31-10, at halftime, but clawed back to force overtime at 36-36, where Elliott Sinwell scored the game winner.
Towson has been to this point before, but not in over a decade. The Tigers entered the MARC playoffs as underdogs, finishing the regular season 2-2 and in third-place in the conference’s South Division. They ripped off three-straight playoff wins, avenging a regular season loss to rival Salisbury in the semifinals and upsetting Villanova in the final.
Towson continued the streak with a 43-26 opening round win over Loyola Chicago and a 40-17 defeat of Grand Valley State in the quarterfinals. Flyhalf Aidan Parsons is Towson’s magic man, scoring four tries against the Ramblers.
Defending national champion IUP is looking to win its fourth national title in three seasons, the Crimson Hawks having won back-to-back 7s championships in 2022 and 2023, followed by the 15s title last fall. IUP’s roster is stacked with veterans from all of those championship teams, including returning All-Americans Cam Taylor, Dylan McAnulty, RJ Beach and Dom Holmes.
Norwich draws the tall task of trying to unseat IUP Friday. The Cadets fell to the Crimson Hawks one round earlier last year, 46-26, but have won eight-straight games to punch their ticket back to the final four for the first time since 2021. The Cadets are led by talented senior No. 8 Marius Edwards.
