NCR's Men's D1 playoff picture is clearing.
This article will be updated as results come in.
Here's what's going on right now:
Big Rivers: Marian defeated Aquinas 18-12 in the conference final Saturday in Chicago, winning their second-straight conference title.
It was a solid defensive showing from the Knights and it earns them Marian a bye to the quarterfinals. Aquinas will be the #2 seed and have a spot in the first round of the playoffs. The question is whether Indiana Tech, 25-22 winners over Iowa Central, will ge an at-large bid.
Atlantic Rugby Conference: St. Bonaventure garnered revenge for their regular-season loss to Walsh, beating the Cavaliers 29-19. That gave Bonnies the conference title and a better chance at repeating as NCR D1 champs. They will take a bye into the quarterfinals.
Walsh will have to play a first-round game.
SBU Head Coach Danny Neighbour said his team missed scoring chances in their regular-season loss to Walsh, and this time they did again, leaving 11 points unclaimed.
However, "we showed better patiences and composure wiht ball in hand and we were on the same page when it came to field mapping. All-in-all a good performance. Once again our defense proves to be our backbone and I love that."
Koen Webb was excellent as a playnaker and kicker while Kegan McCallum led the forwards at hooker and was a major reason the SBU lineout was effective.
Queens won convincingly over Kutztown 43-7 to dispel any lingering doubt about them being worthy of a playoff spot and the Royals should almost certainly claim an at-large bid.
Big Ten: Indiana was another team that lost in the regular season to a team they beat in their conference final. In this case a strong IU defensive effort saw them past Ohio State 21-14.
Center Mikey Cabreros got IU on the board first with a nice outside run where he fended off three different defenders. Ohio State answered, taking the lineout off a penalty and working it close before the forwards worked it over from short range.
Both teams worked hard to get back on defense when the other side made a break, and it remained 7-7 until just before halftime when freshman lock Avery Thomson s cored off a pick-and-go.
IU kept the momentum going and a snipe from freshman scrumhalf Jimmy Reis, with flyhalf Andrew Arbes good for his third conversion, made it 21-7 early in the second half.
OSU threw everything they had at Indiana, and with a Hoosier in the sin bin, Buckeye scrumhalf Mark French sold a sidestep and was over. Tommy Kilbane added his second conversion.
But for the final 27 minutes neither team could score. Indiana's defense held and the Hoosiers are Big Ten champs. They already had the top NCR D1 spot from the Big 10, but the trophy is nice, too.
In the Liberty, there is no playoff so it was about clinching the conference title with the overall record. Brown and Dartmouth came into the final weekend both 5-0, and also were competing for top spot in the new Scholars Cup challenge competition NCR had developed.
In the end it wasn't close as Brown rolled 55-7.
