It’s the Small College Division that has kicked off the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) post-season, as the Upstate New York conference contested its semifinals last weekend. More conferences follow this weekend and next, and then fill a 16-team regional playoff bracket. Regionals are Nov. 12-13, and then the four victors report to Houston, Texas, for the Dec. 3-4 national 15s championships.

RELATED: Women’s Rugby Scores: Oct. 21-23

NCR also holds Division I and Division II national championships for its women’s teams, and their post-seasons begin at the quarterfinal stage. Their updates will feature in a forthcoming article.

SMALL COLLEGE PLAYOFFS

The NCR Small College Division begins with a Round of 16/8 weekend on Nov. 12-13 at four regional locations:

East – Beverly, Mass.
South – Culpepper, Va.
West – Wayne, Neb.
Central – Elkhart, Ind.

The bracket includes conference champions that were named either on season-ending standings or through league playoffs. There are also at-large berths for conference runners-up, independents and teams competing in less populated areas. The following are conference updates as they relate to regional playoff reps:

COLONIAL COAST

Conference championship is Nov. 6, and standings leader Endicott College is the favorite. The Gulls will face Salve Regina in the title match and the victor will head to regionals at Endicott. Possible that Colonial could get a second seed to regionals, but at a different location.

EASTERN PENN

The league did a good job of rebuilding its 15s competition after only a handful of teams were able to rally last fall. And there is still a robust 7s circuit providing field time to teams that are still rebuilding. This weekend is the league championship, with semifinals (below) on Saturday, Oct. 29 and final on Sunday, Oct. 30:

SF: Loyola (Md.) vs. York
SF: East Stroudsburg vs. Shippensburg

GREAT LAKES

Calvin College is the only small college in the otherwise DII conference, and played a full schedule. The team did beat DII Central Michigan and Oakland in the regular season and will take the at-large berth to regionals.

GREAT WATERS

It’s championship weekend for the Wisconsin-Illinois conference, and the Division II teams will also be in action in Oshkosh, Wis. It’s semifinals and final for the small colleges, and all teams are eager for the uptick that is the post-season. There have been forfeits this fall, but the playoffs bring the much-desired competition.

SAT OCT 29: Small College Semifinals
#1 Univ. Chicago v #4 Michigan Tech
#2 Northern Michigan v #3 UW Platteville

SUN OCT 30: Finals
3rd Place & Championship

MID-AMERICA

With Wayne State College now in Division II, Pittsburg State is the only team in this conference that wants – and has the assets – to compete at NCR regionals. Originally, three other small colleges were meant to build out a schedule, but it ultimately dissolved. So Pittsburg lined up two games with WSC and added in DI Southern Nazarene, all of which were big losses, but good field time nonetheless. The Kansas team will take an at-large berth to West regionals in Wayne, Neb.

NORTHERN LIGHTS

The conference holds its championship final on Saturday, Oct. 29 in Clearwater, Minn. At 10 a.m. the Small College title comes down to MSU Moorhead vs. College of St. Scholastica. The teams played each other last weekend to round out regular-season play, and the Saints triumphed 43-17.

OHIO VALLEY

Standings name the champion, but it’s been an anemic year. Baldwin Wallace Univ. leads the standings with an 85-7 win against Denison. Kenyon and Grace fell off the schedule and the Yellow Jackets will play Wooster this Saturday. The only other game was a 35-19 loss to Gannon in non-conference play.

RUGBY NORTHEAST

Conference names reps on standings, and Colby has posted three shutouts to lead the NCR small colleges. It’s also played two NIRA D3 teams to push its development, but curiously, is not ranked in the coaches poll. That should change this week, however, as Colby beat ranked Keene State 88-0 last Saturday. Colby plays Middlebury and DII Roger Williams to end the regular season.

SOUTH ATLANTIC

Lee Univ. and The Citadel are the only small colleges in SARC playing 15s regularly, so they’ll face each other in the conference championship this Saturday, Oct. 29 at Lander Univ. Winner advances to the South regional championship in Culpepper, Va.

UPSTATE NY

The conference held semifinals last Saturday. SUNY Cortland beat Niagara 60-0 and St. Bonaventure beat Hamilton 94-5. The two now meet at St. Bonaventure on Oct. 28 for the NCR Friday Night Lights series and conference title. Winner advances to the East regionals in Beverly, Mass.

MISC

Gannon College is the only Allegheny conference team playing 15s and despite some noteworthy games this fall, did not apply for an at-large berth to regionals. Univ. South Dakota did well to build a schedule in the somewhat desolate Prairie States, and did well against DII Wayne State College, but doesn’t look to be making a post-season push.