It’s been a weird year for the Northwest Collegiate Conference.

The NCRC is a group of hard-working club teams working toward some respect and success on campus - some offer scholarships, some have fancy new fields, and most are paying their coaches at least a stipend - but they all have had to genuflect before the mighty Central Washington, a full varsity program that averaged almost 78 points a game. And it would have been more if the Wildcats hadn’t scheduled the Seattle Saracens for a couple of game days, thus splitting their squad.

But CWU is now off to the Varsity Cup, leaving the next four team to battle it out, and it’s a very competitive #2-#5. 

Look at Washington, Western Washington, and Oregon. Those three teams finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively, but all had 5-2 records. Washington beat WWU 10-0, but lost to Oregon 25-24. WWU might have lost to UW, but bet the Ducks 18-15. The only thing separating them has been bonus points, of which UW has garnered the most. Meanwhile, Washington State, #5 at 3-4, is no slouch. They may have lost to those other three teams, but scores of 12-7, 31-23, and 28-14 show a Cougars team that’s right in it.

Officially the top seed is Washington, and Head Coach Kevin Swiryn, who learned self-deprecating coach-speak at the feet of the mast of the craft, St. Mary’s Head Coach Tim O’Brien, is not spinning a yarn when he says expectations were low.

“This was supposed to be a rebuilding year,” said Swiryn. “We were losing our captain and our flyhalf. We were losing some established players. But the guys just came together and played really well. Everybody emerged and everyone was a bit of a surprise.”

Washington developed slowly, working on defense first and getting the offensive side of the game, putting that 10-0 defeat of WWU behind them to log bigger scores against Western Oregon, Oregon, and Washington State. Their final two games were blowouts, and both said something. The Huskies played CWU tough 50-10 (albeit a CWU team that split its squad), and then hammered Boise State 51-3.

“It was good offensive game, but I was also pleased with the defense,” said Swiryn. “We didn’t defend poorly against Central. We did some good stuff and we were structured. Against Boise State we didn’t give them anything. It was our best game of the year.”

Western Washington is hosting Oregon and also coming off their best performance of the year, a 65-17 victory over Eastern Washington.

Coached in part by newly-inducted British Columbia Rugby Hall-of-Famer Paul Horne, the WWU Vikings will want to put a stamp on their season with a win over Oregon and a trip back to the national playoffs. Led by the try-scoring touch of Nick Bonovich and Anthony Fleck, WWU were national semifinalists two years ago, fell to Earth last year, and are back in the mix again. But Oregon was miffed at losing that close game in February. Led by a talented and hard-working Connor Crossley, with prop Connor Gerard providing grit up front, they do not shy away from a physical game, and that indeed could be their path to glory.