It’s serious playoff time now in Men’s DII, and one wonders if anyone can catch Wisconsin Whitewater.

 

The Warhawks have dominated what is a pretty strong WIIl conference, a conference that has three teams in the top 16, and there’s a reason for that. Despite graduating some excellent talent, including captain and flyhalf Eric Pachowitz, UWW is actually playing with essentially the same team that won it all in the fall of 2016.

 

“We lost some leadership last year,” said center Levi Van Lanen. “But we’re doing the same things that we did all last year, and we have shown that we able to get through some tough games. Against Illinois State we were down in the first half and were able to recover. We know we have players we can rely on to get us through.”

 

Tim Grams has moved from scrumhalf to flyhalf, basically putting his hand up to say he wanted that responsibility. The move has worked brilliantly, and was helped by the fact that Van Lanen, Robby Sindic, Alec Treuthardt, and Garrett Shibilski have all helped nail down a threatening backline. But Grams moving to flyhalf was helped by the fact that a) the Warhawks needed a flyhalf, and b) freshman Joseph Ponte has grabbed hold of the position and not let go.

 

In the forwards, Shay Haase has been a danger at flanker and he partners nicely with John Grams in the back row. Grams moved from No. 8 to flanker because Jeremiah O’Brien joined the program this year and is a beast from the back of the scrum. 

 

“We’re pretty confident,” said Van Lanen. “Everyone’s healthy. We were able to rest some guys who had injuries. We are just happy to have all of our players available.”

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Norwich may well be in the best position of any team to face Whitewater in the championship game. The Cadets, led by the halfback combo of Tom St. Pierre and Keegan Frick, and with a powerful pack anchored by prop Taualupa Tau and lock Ryan Wagner have been pretty dominant, too. Norwich has not lost to a DII opponent all season (although their 35-33 win over SCSU in the Rugby Northeast final was a bit scary), and four times they won by more than 50.

Still, there are 16 teams in the bracket now. Here’s how we see this weekend going:

 

Cincinnati Bracket

UW-Whitewater v Pitt State

Whitewater comfortably.

 

Grand Valley State v UW-Milwaukee

We’re going to go with GVSU, but this will be close.

 

Cincinnati Bracket QFs:

Whitewater v GVSU

Whitewater, probably by a lot because they will be able to rest guys.

 

 

Lamont Bracket

North Dakota State v Furman

This is a really, really good NDSU team. ND State.

 

Montana State v Illinois State

This is another close one. Montana State might be a bit isolated, but we think they’ll take it.

 

Lamont Bracket QF

NDSU v Montana State

We’re thinking North Dakota State

 

 

Kutztown Bracket

Norwich v NC State

Its a tough NC State team, but Norwich should win.

 

Hartford v Oswego

No idea. Pick ‘em. Could go to either team.

 

Kutztown Bracket QF

Norwich over someone. This is the rightest of the brackets.

 

 

Annapolis Bracket

RPI v VMI

Two schools that were ahead of their time when they were founded over 170 years ago. Hey RPI, you know we love you, for personal reasons, but we’re going with the Keydets.

 

UNC Charlotte v Bloomsburg

Ouch, another tough one. Charlotte.

 

Annapolis Bracket QF

It’s not easy to win the South. You have to be very good. We’re going with UNC Charlotte.