Dartmouth, Nevada To Vie For D1AA Spring Title
Dartmouth, Nevada To Vie For D1AA Spring Title
Nevada Reno and Dartmouth won playoff games this weekend.
Dartmouth will play Nevada in the D1AA Spring Championship final April 21 after both won their semifinals Sunday in different regional playoffs.
Dartmouth hammered Central Florida 83-0 in the East Regional, while Nevada beat Cal State Long Beach 20-17 to in the West Regional.
In the win over UCF, the Big Green's Patrick Sheehy had a huge game with the boot, while Gyorgy Breznov, Ollie Engelhart, and Luke Bienstock all scored multiple tries in a game that was 46-0 at halftime.
Central Florida, which had an excellent season, might be breathing a sigh of relief, as the additional travel needed to play in the spring final was going to be a hardship for the Knights. Still, it was a tough way to end it all.
Meanwhile, it was a much closer battle for Nevada in its three-point victory over Cal State Long Beach.
Aodhan Downey’s penalty goal was the lone score of the first half until right before the break, putting UNR up 3-0. As halftime approached, flanker Logan Delwiche scored and Downey converted to put the Wolf Pack up 10-0.
Long Beach State got three back with a Steven Bodley penalty, but midway through the second half, Nevada scrumhalf Christopher Stevens scored to make it a 15-3 UNR lead.
CSULB stormed back. Prop Evan Morff scored, and Bodley converted to cut the lead to 15-10. Wing Jacob Bourgault, a breakout player for Nevada this weekend, raced over to double his team’s lead to 20-10. With seven minutes to go, Long Beach scored again on a try from center Anthony Simeone and conversion by Bodley. But Nevada held on 20-17.
These two teams will face off April 21 at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.
The winner will advance to play Mary Washington, which won the fall D1AA title. That game is slated for May 5 in Fullerton, CA.