The Men’s D1AA bracket at the USA Rugby Collegiate 7s Championships is rounding out, with more than half the field of 12 teams settled ... mostly.

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Chesapeake

Mary Washington made it a clean sweep of tournaments in the Chesapeake, winning the championship tournament over the weekend.

UMW beat Salisbury 22-17 and Maryland 26-10 in pool play. Salisbury got by Maryland 19-17 to take 2nd. In Pool B, James Madison beat Georgetown, Mount St. Mary’s, and Virginia Tech to win the pool, with MSM taking 2nd.

In the semis, Salisbury once again pulled out a close one, this team beating James Madison 17-12. UMW took care of the Mount 31-12.

That set up the final between Mary Washington and Salisbury. The Sharks didn’t back down from the UMW attack and held strong for a few minutes, but eventually Joseph Callery found a hole and was through. Freshmen Aidan Gallagher and Seamus Brennan, who were teammates in high school, have been playing well together and worked a move to set up Callery for his second, which Gallagher converted for a 14-0 lead.

Salisbury hung tough and score to make it 14-5. But then Brennan made a key play, stealing a ball and setting up Harry Masters for a long run. Gallagher converted and that sealed it. Behind 21-5, Salisbury needed to score three times to overcome UMW and couldn’t do it. Finals core 21-12.

Man of the Tournament can go to none other than Harry Masters. His leadership and tireless effort throughout the day and the season makes him well deserving.

Ivy League

As expected, Dartmouth won the Ivy League, but it wasn't exactly a runaway, as Harvard pushed the Big Green 19-12 in the final.

The DRFC is your 2019 Ivy League 7s champions! ?? #gobiggreen @IvyRugby pic.twitter.com/2AW6XaXNmp

— Dartmouth Rugby (@dartmouthrugby) April 13, 2019

Dartmouth is a fixture at the CRC, which will be held the first weekend in June, and will play in that tournament and bypass USA Nationals. 

MARC

The Mid-Atlantic Series is a group of three tournaments with points garnered for placement and wins and losses. The total points from the series decide the champion, not one tournament.

The 2nd tournament was full of tight games, with both Saint Joseph's and West Chester coming back from deficits to win games on the final play. It's been that sort of season.

So wouldn't you know it, it was down to the final game. This past weekend, West Chester and St. Joe's met in the last game, but it wasn't winner-take-all. With St. Joe's having lost a game earlier in the day, it was going to come down to points difference. If West Chester won or tied, WCU would win the MARC. St. Joe's they needed to win by 11 points to take the title.

They won by nine. Now comes the problem. After WCU was handed the MARC trophy (see photo) and celebrated, somebody re-did the math. The thing is, if you are 11 points behind your opponent in points difference, then you don't need to beat that opponent by 11 to overtake the opposition, because if you win by six, that other team loses by six, so you only need to win by six.

So after the fact, organizers realized that St. Joe's having won by nine points, actually had finished 1st in the series.

It's all been figured out now. The teams have been named co-champions. West Chester's Jake Klecko was the MVP of the final tournament—he was superb on winning ball at restarts and also scored 64 points in the tournament. WCU captain Ryan Morley led the team with 142 points in the series, while Nick D’Angelo and freshman Josh Wileczak were also solid for the Rams.

WCU retains its title and the trophy. St. Joe's gets the spot at nationals. WCU could be in line for an at-large bid, but it will be tough to get. 

SCRC

Kentucky took the SCRC title, beating Kennesaw State in the championship match. The Wildcats won Pool B with victories over Ole Miss (forfeit), Alabama (10-7), Georgia (17-10), and Mississippi State (20-5). Kennesaw State won Pool A by beating Tennessee 14-5, South Carolina 17-5, Auburn 19-12 and MTSU 21-12.

The pool winners went straight to the final, and there Kentucky emerged 26-14 winners.

Eight of the 23 games were decided by a try or less, with three of the placement games being that close. This was an ongoing theme in D1AA 7s—few conferences have seen one team dominate.

Heart of America

Not to be confused with the CRC qualifier of the same name (which was won in March by St. Bonaventure), this was the HOA Conference tournament, and Iowa State built on their undefeated league 15s season with a run through to win and qualify for Tucson.

Qualified So Far

Florida International, Stanford, Mary Washington, West Chester, Kentucky, Dartmouth (who aren't going), and Iowa State have all booked a spot in Tucson.

Still To Qualify

MAC, Lone Star, NCRC. All of those tournaments are on April 27. That leaves two spots open for at-large bids.