GRR: Marian University
Wheeling University raced past Marian 39-30 to win their Big Rivers Conference semifinal Saturday evening in West Virginia.
Wheeling led almost the entire game, but it wasn't until the late minutes of the game that they had a cushion they could be happy with—Marian kept plugging away and would not be dismissed.
The Big Rivers Conference is decidedly underway with Thomas More, Marian, and, notably, Principia all winning.
Thomas More had started off with a couple of early-season, non-conference losses but won their opening conference game 52-21 over new member Rio Grande. The Saints were able to open up their attack a little bit more in this game.
The great experiment in NCR is hitting its stride this weekend.
The Big Rivers Conference was created this year to accommodate the new influx of varsity and school-supported teams in men's college rugby. The result was some teams were bumped up from D2 to accomplish this, but that really mainly served to keep D2 more D2.
Thomas More's 45-14 defeat of Marian in the MCRC final was a result very few saw coming.
Saturday’s Men’s D1 and crossover games provided a few on-paper upsets and close surprises as teams started to get moving after a long layoff.