The Road to Houston has been paved for the final four teams left in Division III. Winning back-to-back games over the weekend, Wayne State, Colorado School of Mines, Duke and Holy Cross have emerged as regional champions and punched their tickets to the semifinals, December 13 at SaberCats Stadium.
For Wayne State, winning the Midwest Region at Forest Park in St. Louis means three-straight trips to Nationals. The Wildcats won their Houston semifinal, but lost the final, each of the last two years.
In Saturday’s opening round, they defeated St. Thomas, 37-5. And the third-ranked Wildcats upset No. 2 Slippery Rock on Sunday, holding the Allegheny champs to just one score, 27-5. An incredibly contentious opening round win, 36-34, over Wisconsin – Eau Claire, could well have taken some wind out of The Rock’s sails.
Waiting for Wayne in the semifinals is the Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers won successive games at Western Oregon University to claim the West Region title, joining their women in the semifinals. With Sunday’s win, Colorado School of Mines is one of just two schools, alongside DI Wheeling, to have its men and women still in the national championship chase.
Sunday, the Orediggers knocked off top-ranked Cal Poly Humboldt, 2023 national champions, 29-27. Humboldt led, 22-12, after an hour, but successive tries from Mines’ flyhalf and fullback gave the Orediggers the lead, 26-22. The Lumberjacks scored an unconverted try in the 73rd minute to go up by one, but a walk-off penalty with no time left sent the tournament’s top seed packing.
Saturday wasn’t any easier for Mines, sneaking past New Mexico Tech, 18-15. The Miners won their opening round match against host Western Oregon, 39-17.
The East Regional final was a New England Rugby Football Union conference rematch, with Holy Cross defeating defending national champion Babson for the second time this season, 29-24, at Pine Banks Park in Malden, MA. The Crusaders were just as dominant Saturday, beating Roger Williams, 48-5. Babson advanced to the quarterfinals with a 22-17 win over Endicott.
At the South Region in Culpepper, VA, unranked Duke piled on the points, upsetting ninth-ranked Susquehanna Saturday, 45-33, and No. 4 Catholic Sunday, 51-45. The Blue Devils were dominant all season, amassing a 274-6 point differential en route to the Southern Conference title, and the offense wasn’t slowed much against top-10 opponents over the weekend. Duke managed nine tries against Catholic and seven against Susquehanna.
All four semifinal teams are chasing their program’s first-ever national championship.
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