(David Hatwell photo)

The Exiles came out of the blocks fast and raced to a handy 31-10 halftime lead.

Maryland had worked on a game plan overnight aimed at shutting down the Mystics where they are the strongest, in the set pieces, and it paid dividends.

"We matched them evenly in the scrums, we beat them in the lineouts, and our mauling was outstanding," Maryland president David Hatwell told ARN. "Defensively we were on top of our game."

The Mystics, who concede that the Sunday game is a problem for them in the current playoff format, turned up in the second frame and played a much better 40 minutes of football.

However, they’d spotted Maryland too much of a head start and couldn’t peg back the difference. Getting on the board for Mystic River were Carrick Pell (2) and Bill Dow.

“We didn’t really show up with the same attitude that we had yesterday,” the Mystics’ Brett Willis told ARN. “We let them score a bunch of tries in the first half. It was a good wakeup call for us as we get ready to go to Austin.”

In the consolation game to decide the #3 and #4 seeds, White Plains beat Long Island 41-17. The Long Island team was missing a few key players due to a variety of reasons, but put in a decent effort nonetheless.

CR4 final seedings (unofficial):
1 Maryland Exiles
2 Mystic River
3 White Plains
4 Long Island