Weekender: Rumblin’ Rockies

(Photo by Lance Wendt)

by Jac Coyne | MCLA.us

LA CROSSE, Wis. – Chris Kelley knows he’s going to get everything and the kitchen sink thrown at him on Saturday morning.

That’s when Kelley, the head coach at Montana State, and his defending Division II national champion Bobcats square off with Air Force in Denver at the second annual Rocky Mountain Rumble.

“We’re going to be facing a team that, honestly, is probably going to try to embarrass us,” Kelley said.

He’s not wrong.

Montana State’s defenestration of the Falcons in last year’s national semifinals, 21-4, that ruined Air Force’s perfect season is likely a sore spot in Colorado Springs. But it’s just one of the excellent contests that will be on display at Broncos Park in Englewood, Colo., this weekend.

The event kicks off Friday night with a pair of games, followed by three more on Saturday and then culminating with a five-game marathon on Sunday (schedule below). The event features three teams who participated in the 2024 MCLA National Championships presented by New Balance and four others who have big aspirations this spring.

“This is a good early test to see where you program is at,” said Kelley, who came up with the Rocky Mountain Rumble concept. “I’m excited to see where the competition is at this early in the season. It’s a good barometer for who is looking good in Division II.”

The one obstacle in place in this year’s version is the facility. Broncos Park has been exceedingly generous by providing its indoor practice field for MCLA use, but it is currently in the midst of an upgrade, meaning space is limited and it will be a tough ticket for fans.

Basically, if you haven’t received an invite, you’re not going to be able to attend the event. There is no parking on the premises and those fans with the magic ticket will have to be shuttled in from a satellite lot. Fortunately, all of the games will be streamed on MCLAtv.us.

With any event of this size, there will always be winners and losers. Last year, Cal State San Marcos lost to Montana State (12-7) and Air Force (21-6) before needing a furious rally to down NDSU, 12-11. The Cougars didn’t lose to a D-II team the rest of the season, parlayed the experience into an SLC championship and earned a bid to nationals.

“We are just pleased to be invited back for our second year out in Denver,” said first-year San Marcos coach Tim Puls. “We had an incredible time last year, played some great competition and that's what made us want to come back this year. We have a great group of guys that are fully bought in and ready to make a run this year.

“I think Chris Kelley has done a great job getting this put together last year and this year and we just can't wait to get out an compete against some high-level teams and see where we will stand coming out of the gate this year. There are some great teams coming to Denver and we are ready to put on our gear, face some great competition and play lacrosse.”

Four of the teams are no stranger to the postseason, but this weekend will allow several programs – MSU Denver, Denver and Utah State – a glimpse of what the tournament grind entails. It’ll be a net gain for everyone involved.

Whether Air Force is able to avenge its only loss of the ’24 campaign will certainly be the centerpiece of the Rumble, but all of the games will be good Division II viewing.

2025 Rocky Mountain Rumble Schedule

Friday
Air Force v Utah State, 6 p.m. (AFA -9 / 29)
MSU Denver v Cal State San Marcos, 8:45 p.m. (SM -7 / 24)

Saturday
Montana State v Air Force, 10 a.m. (AFA -2.5 / 25.5)
Utah State v Cal State San Marcos, 12:45 p.m. (SM -4 / 21)
North Dakota State v Air Force, 3:30 p.m. (AFA -6 / 19)

Sunday
Utah State v North Dakota State, 9 a.m. (NDSU -3.5 / 18)
Cal State San Marcos v Denver, 11:45 a.m. (SM -8 / 24.5)
Montana State v MSU Denver, 2:30 p.m. (MSU -12 / 27)
North Dakota State v Denver, 5:15 p.m. (NDSU -4 / 19.5)
Montana State v Cal State San Marcos, 8 p.m. (MSU -3.5 / 22)

The Remnants of a Lost Civilization

This weekend also features the Bruins Lacrosse Classic, the artist formerly known as the PAC-12 Shootout. There are six games total featuring half of the former traditional members of the once-great league.

I wrote previously about the direction that lacrosse could be potentially heading in, and a lot of that happened with the dissolution of the PAC-12 and the scattering of its teams to some truly absurd geographical footprints, featuring midweek basketball games between Oregon and Rutgers along with Stanford against Florida State.

The MCLA’s PAC-12 Shootout was never able to get everyone in attendance, mostly because Colorado’s timeline was later than everyone else’s. But even though it crossed over four MCLA conferences, it was a great event. The opportunity for an ACC, SEC or Big 12 Shootout is still out there, but for how long?

Schedule for the Bruins Lacrosse Classic

Saturday
Utah v. USC, 11 a.m. (UTAH -2.5 / 20.5)
Arizona at UCLA, 12 p.m. (UA -8 / 27)
Washington v. Stanford, 1:30 p.m. (UW -4.5 / 25)

Sunday
Utah v. Arizona, 9 a.m. (UA -5.5 / 24.5)
Washington v. USC, 11:30 a.m. (USC -4 / 28.5)
Stanford at UCLA, 2 p.m. (UCLA -2.5 / 23)

Games I’m Following

Cal Poly at Chapman, 7 p.m. – Friday (CHAP -4.5 / 19.5)
The Mustangs are out of the gate with a pair of pedestrian wins – no offense – and now they get to test a Chapman team that would naturally be looking ahead to a pretty stiff schedule. Ryan Sanders is a baby-faced assassin on attack for Poly and Lucas Chu has the potential to steal a game in net, so this is no easy opener for the Panthers.

Tampa at Tulane, 9:30 a.m. – Saturday (TAM -2.5 / 24)
The Spartans did just fine in their first run in the MCLA, but now they are trying to amp it up a notch. Tampa heads to the Bayou and (Drew) Brees Family Field for a clash against defending LSA champ Tulane. Tampa has a pair of wins under its belt while this is the season opener for the Green Wave.

Montana State vs. Air Force, 11 a.m. – Saturday
Hoooooo, boy. What a February treat this is. We’ve kind of been over this game above, but it’s not hyperbolic to call this a potential national championship preview.

Northeastern at Georgia Tech, 1 p.m. – Saturday (GT -4.5 / 24)
The Huskies shake off the offseason cobwebs and start the defense of their CLC title against a Georgia Tech team that appears to be on cruise control. With that said, the Wreck are giving up a lot of goals in their 4-0 start, so if Northeastern can play its usual brand of defense, anchored by Sam Bellomy, the upset potential is real.

South Carolina at Georgia, 1 p.m. – Saturday (UGA -5 / 21.5)
It would probably be too dramatic to call this a critical divisional game as the loser still has ample time to finish in the top three in the SELC North (although Alabama is looking frisky so far). If you want to get caught up in the comparative score fallacy, UGA and the Cocks have Florida as a common opponent with disparate results. I’d be wary of going all in on that.

Virginia Tech at Florida, 5 p.m. – Saturday (VT -2.5 / 30)
The Hokies are riding high after handling Liberty on its own field, and should feel good heading into Gainesville. Especially considering Florida’s inability to get its offense going against Georgia, mustering just six goals. With the rise in stature of both of the conferences over the past five years, these ALC-SELC crossovers can be hugely important in May decisions.

UC San Diego at Loyola Marymount, 6 p.m. – Saturday (UCSD -7.5 / 24.5)
These two teams somehow avoided each other last year, but now that the SLC has dropped its subdivisional format, we’ll get to see Loyola Marymount’s maturation process is coming. The overtime loss to Miami stings, but LMU would get back on track with a win.

UNC-Charlotte at Coastal Carolina, 1 p.m. – Sunday (UNCC -3 / 29)
Which team will grab the top seed out of the ALC South this spring? The winner here will have a big leg up in the race for the first-round bye. UNC-Charlotte has obviously been the class of the league, but they only managed to beat the Chanticleers by one last year and now the game is Conway. Throw in Florida Gulf Coast as the third team in the mix this weekend and this one should be tight.

Slides & Rides

- Brigham Young has opened up its title defense as the road warriors, and that continues this weekend. The first three games were in the Pacific Northwest and the next two are in the desert against Arizona State and Grand Canyon. Throw in the March 1 contest against Chapman in Las Vegas, and it’ll be six straight games away from home.

- Still wrapping my head around Iowa State defeating Minnesota. What a win for the Cyclones…on the flip side, St. Thomas annihilating Iowa State has me thinking St. Thomas is primed to end its five-year (three in pandemic years) championship “drought."

- As usual, nominations for Warrior Player and PEARL Goalie of the Week honors are due by noon on Monday to info@mcla.us.