Dartmouth and Nevada have had vastly different journeys this season, but both are on a collision course for the D1AA spring final this Saturday at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.

For Dartmouth, the path to the title game was fairly simple as the first two rounds of the playoffs got underway in Lawrence, KS, two weeks ago. 

First, the Big Green knocked off Missouri 37-10 on April 7 in a quarterfinal game in which the Ivy League team led 27-3 at the break. A day later,  Dartmouth faced a Central Florida squad that was expected to give the Big Green a tough semifinal game. However, it didn't happen.

The Knights cratered rather distressingly as Dartmouth won 83-0, led by fullback Jack Badenhausen's three second-half tries and flyhalf Patrick Sheehy's 16 points from the boot. Center Luke Bienstock also scored three tries, as did scrumhalf Oliver Engelhart. it was an old-fashioned drubbing, but one Willocks isn't putting too much stock in.

"I don't think that the scoreline reflected how good UCF are as a team," Willocks said. "Conditions did favor us. It was tough on the Florida men to play in snow and wind, which helped our cause. Much like Saturday, we managed the game well and played a majority of the rugby inside UCFs 22 in the first half, which allowed us to capitalize on any mistakes and turn them into points."

Having basically rolled through to the spring final, Dartmouth has to feel confident.

"The guys are doing well," Willocks acknowledged. "Travel is always tough, so managing the academic workload and class has been a priority. We will have a couple of key guys back from injury who missed the first weekend, so that will give our leadership group some tough selection decisions which is a great problem to have."

Meanwhile, Nevada won two games in Long Beach, CA, to get to the spring final, but they were both by close margins: a 40-34 win over Western Washington and a 20-17 victory against Long Beach State.

Trailing 34-20 to WWU in the quarterfinals, Nevada got tries from scrumhalf Christopher Stevens and wing Jacob Bourgault to get back into contention. Lock Aodhan Downey converted both to secure the tie, and then added two clutch penalty goals to win the game.

On day two, it was even closer, as the Wolf Pack, down to 20 players, eked out a three-point win over Long Beach State. This time it was Nevada worrying about the comeback. Logan Delwiche, Stevens, and Bourgault all scored tries, and Downey added a conversion and a penalty to seal the victory.

It was a hardscrabble weekend, so head coach Nelo Lui has eased back on the team's workload in the leadup to the title game.

"Last week was a recovery week," Lui said. "This week we going back to basics and work on our lineout and scrum. We had some injuries, so it was good to see those players back in training."

Defense has to be a priority for the team after giving up 34 to Western Washington, but holding Long Beach to 17 was critical for the Wolf Pack.

"We're not working on anything special," Lui said. "We focus on our offense and keep up the strong defense and just need to minimize our mistakes from two weeks ago. My boys are well prepared and ready for this weekend."

The winner of Saturday's game will play fall champion Mary Washington on May 5 in Fullerton, CA, in the all-D1AA final.