Mary Washington will face St. Joseph's for the D1AA fall championship in two weeks after both swept their quarterfinals and semifinals this weekend.

For UMW, the road to the final wasn't a massive shock — the Mothers have dominated a very competitive Chesapeake Conference all season — but far fewer expected St. Joseph's to make it to the title game.

Mothers Know Best

UMW defeated SCRC champion Kentucky 38-7 in Sunday's semifinal, holding off a fairly potent Wildcats attack in wet conditions in Oxford, Ohio.

Kentucky reached the final by beating Western Michigan 59-25 on Saturday, showing off an offense that had already dispatched the likes of Tennessee (twice) and Alabama.

Mary Washington, meanwhile, used five new starters on Saturday in defeating MARC runner-up Rowan 43-12. The Mothers ran out to an early lead and never looked back. No. 8 Matthew Gordon scored three tries, but the UMW coaches weren't happy with the team's handling errors and expected a tougher test against Kentucky in Sunday's game.

When that day came, the Mothers retained possession far more successfully and kept up the pressure on the Wildcats.

Mary Washington hooker Tom Williams scored a try three minutes in after the forwards slogged through the mud to set him up. Six minutes later, fullback Bradlee Nicholls took a short pop from flyhalf Michael Sacks and streaked through for a try. After many phases, wing Mattson Bueche touched down in the corner. Tom Williams converted from the touchline to give the Mothers a 19-0 lead midway through the first half.

A bit shocked, Kentucky was dealt more of the same as scrumhalf Harry Masters scooped up a loose ball, dummied the UK defense, and ran 20 meters for a try, which was converted by Williams.

UMW played some solid defense, despite giving up a high number of penalties — leading to the Mothers being, at one point, down two players due to yellow cards. That was when Kentucky worked the phases to score the Wildcats' only try.

Mary Washington's defense, led by flankers Tucker Chewning and Jack Levine and centers Terence McPhillips IV and Daniel Northwood, pushed up fast and shut down any momentum UK had gained.

With 10 minutes to go, Jack Levine capped off a nice forwards' try, and then Tom Williams burst up the middle to set the final margin at 38-7.

"I can't say enough good things about our coaches, parents, and managers' selfless dedication to winning the right way," UMW director of rugby Tim Brown said.

Meanwhile, in Bowling Green

While the two playoff brackets were supposed to be divided regionally, this group of four teams also played in Ohio — at Bowling Green State University — and also dealt with adverse conditions in the rain and mud. The host Falcons have been at or near the top of the D1AA heap for a while and were expected to challenge for another place in the fall final, but instead it was MARC champion St. Joseph's that emerged from the field with a 29-10 win over BGSU.

The Hawks weren't given much of a chance by FloRugby, and St. Joe's managed to prove these prognosticators wrong. On Saturday, the Hawks did enough to hold off a furious Tennessee onslaught to win 13-10 in the quarterfinals and set up a meeting with Bowling Green.

The Falcons were hoping to have a runaway game against James Madison on Saturday to rest some players, but instead BGSU had to eke out a 10-7 win.

Bowling Green's Mike Powell set up Phil Bryant for a try and then scored one of his own for a 10-0 lead. But the Dukes countered with a converted try, and it remained a tense 10-7 scoreline until the end.

In the semifinals on Sunday, St. Joe's ran out to an early lead, but once again the more favored team came back. Ahead by a slim 12-10 margin, the Hawks got tries from Chris Curcio and Matthew Lydon, and then Mike Hoffman sealed it with a third second-half try for a 29-10 victory.

For a St. Joe's team that's had its share of near misses, this was proof that the Philadelphia-based program is not only getting better, but also that its conference, the MARC, is solid.

In two weeks, Mary Washington plays St. Joseph's for USA Rugby's D1AA fall championship. The winner gets the right to play the spring champion in an all-D1AA final in May 2018. Last year, which was the first time USA held the game, fall champion Notre Dame College beat spring champion UC Davis in the final. Both teams then joined D1A.