USAR College NCS Fall Series 2018

D1AA Playoff Watch: Sharks Circle In Chesapeake

D1AA Playoff Watch: Sharks Circle In Chesapeake

A breakdown of the always intriguing Chesapeake Conference.

Oct 16, 2018 by Alex Goff
D1AA Playoff Watch: Sharks Circle In Chesapeake

The battle to get noticed in the Chesapeake Conference is getting even hotter.

While the defending champion, the University of Mary Washington, looks to be the conference frontrunner again, who might play for second place is anyone's guess.

This week, here's what happened:

Virginia Tech got tries from Trevor Bruley, Robert McDonnell, Michael Williams, and Logan Emery, with Emery converting three of those tries, to beat Georgetown 26-21. That was not an astounding result for Tech, who you might expect to win this game by a larger margin, but it did the job, as it vaulted the Hokies to 3-2 and into second place in the conference.

Watch The Fall D1AA Final LIVE on FloRugby Dec 2

Salisbury produced its second straight upset of the season, beating Towson 40-22. Towson hooker Colin Stiller scored in the first two minutes, and added another later, but Salisbury has a hooker who can score, too, as Eddie Testa went over to help spark a comeback in the latter part of the first half.

Still the game was back-and-forth for 70 minutes. Only then did Salisbury go ahead to stay — fullback Jordan Bakouche did the honors, and converted his own try. That made it 26-22, and as Towson pressed, Diontre Thomas and Colin Costigan (his second) touched down to put the game away for the Sharks. Backouche scored 15 points.

"Colin played a great game," said Salisbury coach Bill Creese. "He started at flanker and played great, and then we put him out at the wing and he was great there, scoring a try and setting one up."

The big change for Salisbury was shifting freshman Keagan O'Connell to flyhalf. His experience as an accomplished high schooler has raised the pace of the Salisbury attack. Creese made a commitment to go with some younger players because he has a solid freshman class, but the veterans, such as Alexander Seymour, who moved to scrumhalf to make room for O'Connell, have helped, too.  

That win put Salisbury at 3-2, as well. Both Virginia Tech and Salisbury are looking carefully at Mount St. Mary's, who sit at 3-1.

Five teams are within a game of second or third (the second and third team play each other for second in the conference). Virginia Tech has 15 points in the standings, MSM 14, Salisbury 13, Maryland 13, and Towson 12.

Maryland hit James Madison hard, with league points leader Robert Zvitkovitz kicking well again. Cole Wilson and Will Armstrong both scored two tries for a blistering Maryland backline attack.

So what does this mean for the playoffs?

At 3-0, UMW has four games left, with only the November 3 Mount St. Mary's clash even a question. What's more important to note is which contenders have the Mothers left on their schedules.


Salisbury does not, and in fact faces 1-2 JMU and 0-4 Georgetown. MSM has UMW and Towson, which won't be easy. Tech takes on Maryland and then UMW. What that indicates is that Salisbury could easily end up 5-2 with 23 standings points. Maryland could equal that (despite a worse record, currently 2-3, Maryland is tied with Salisbury in standings points thanks to a ton of bonus points, including two for close losses).

But to do that, Maryland will have to beat Virginia Tech, which won't be easy. 

Watch The Fall D1AA Final LIVE on FloRugby Dec 2

Mount St. Mary's can absorb a loss to UMW and still get to the top three, but will have to beat JMU and Towson to accomplish that. This essentially makes every game left in the schedule as a must-win.