NIU’s Michaela Young / Photo: Thomas Petit
The Midwest and Rocky Mountain DI college conferences began their respective 15s seasons last weekend. The leagues build toward the DI fall championship, which culminates the first weekend in December in a TBA location.
RELATED: DI College Fall Season Explained • Results: Sept. 8-10, 2017 • NIRA Round-up: Week 2
The MIDWEST season opened last Saturday, and Iowa State edged Iowa 30-26 for the win. The game was called after 60 minutes for darkness. Iowa State gets the full five points for the bonus-point win, but Iowa (which saw Jane Estes, older sister to GHSAA Grace, score three tries) will also gain two points for tries and loss within seven points.
Northern Illinois maxed out its standings points with a 63-5 win over Northern Iowa. NIU scored 11 tries and three of those went to wing Nia Pappas.
“We tackled superbly and did the little things correctly, winning our set pieces plus a chunk of theirs,” Northern Illinois coach Thomas Petit explained the keys to the win. “The most dominant features were the support and continuity in breakaway runs and our centers running strong into contact, allowing our wings the chance to exploit the outside.”
The conference’s seven teams play each other once throughout the fall and then season-end standings name the conference champion and post-season representative. Minnesota is the reigning conference champion.
“We are confident in a winning season, having lost two [games] last year, one of which was to UNI,” Petit looked ahead. “We are taking it week by week but are doing so in preparation for Minnesota on October 7.”
There are six teams in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN this year, and they were all active Sunday. Reigning DI fall champion Air Force defeated Colorado 76-20. Nine players scored 12 tries, with flanker Ashlee Salato, outside center Olufunmilayo Akinlosotu and reserve Jessica Beyer accounting for two apiece. Fullback Jacqueline Hamby added six conversions, while flyhalf Noelle Heiser kicked two and also scored a try for nine points. Air Force will play the lone league game this weekend, hosting Utah State on Sunday.
Taufoou (kneeling, second from right) with Tiger Cubs
Utah State’s Hallie Taufoou was incredibly influential in her team’s 81-12 win over Colorado State. The flyhalf spent the summer with American Rugby Pro Training Center, impressed during club 7s nationals, and then featured on the Tiger Cubs team that finished second at the Lupus Intus Women’s Elite 7s Tournament at Dartmouth College. She scored 49 points on seven tries and seven conversions. Fullback Kielee Kinghorn also contributed three tries.
Montana State in its first DI season beat New Mexico 40-10 in Colorado. The Bobcats shut out Los Lobos through the third quarter, while posting 40 points. New Mexico snapped the silence late in the game, getting two tries from Isabella Murphy and Brittany Salazar. Montana State wing Alexia Olson scored three of her team’s eight tries. Boise State, which has petitioned the DI Pacific Mountain conference for inclusion, will play Montana State in a friendly this weekend.
Like the Midwest, season-end standings will name the conference champion and automatic berth to the DI fall quarterfinals. Conference runners-up are typically eligible for a quarterfinal play-in match, but details about the DI post-season have been circulated yet.
