GRR: RPI
Marist pulled off a very big Tri-State Conference win early in the season, beating RPI 25-12.
RPI came into the season with a big roster and some experience, and certainly plenty of potential. Marist also has bolstered its numbers and looked fairly polished on the day.
William Paterson has won the Tri-State Conference, defeating RPI 34-19 in Sunday's championship match to vault WPU into the national playoffs.
Paterson came back from a 16-10 halftime deficit to defeat a very intelligent and savvy RPI team.
"They came at us very hard," said WPU Head Coach Kisset Chirengende. "RPI is a really good team."
RPI shocked pretty much everyone with a 30-19 defeat of the US Merchant Marine Academy Sunday to move on to the Tri-State Conference Men’s DII final.
This past weekend saw William Paterson University Men defeat USMMA, Kings Point Men convincingly 69-5 in a semifinal match-up. The home team earned a place in the final this year and will face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Men who defeated Marist College Men 36-24 in the other conference final 4 match-up.
RPI defeated Sacred Heart 32-27 to win the Tri-State Conference for the second time in three years.
"We were able to prove what we thought, which is we're able to play at a top level for a full game," said hooker Ray Lanzillo, who led a strong forward effort, especially in the lineouts. "We always come out really hard, but in this game we played hard for a full 80 minutes."