BYU Beat Cal 50-14
BYU Beat Cal 50-14
BYU beat Cal 50-14 Friday in a snowy Provo Friday.
In a game that was moved from Saturday to Friday to avoid the LDS Conference, BYU controlled a large amount of possession and won several of the physical battles in the victory.
Cal actually looked to score first and did well to keep the ball alive and avoid getting dragged into a slog to get over the BYU line. The Bears were held up, however, and BYU was able to clear. Still Cal had the majority of possession and territory in the first 10 minutes and seemed to be on the front foot.
It was then BYU that got the first points. A solid kick to touch on a penalty from Cole Semu and a maul took it methodically 15 meters to paydirt. A big break from wing Connor Olvera, aided by Gabe Mahionga set up a ruck deep in Cal territory and the ball was sent quickly to the right for wing Tielu Sagala to score in the corner for the second.
Another long break, this one by Wyatt Parry along with flanker Brook Vaitohi put BYU in the Cal half and after a series of phases hooker Lilo Clark picked up from a ruck and dove over.
It remained 19-0 into halftime, but BYU made it 26-0 pretty quickly after the second half kicked off with a nice break from scrumhalf Strider Fountaine and a good finished in traffic by flanker Carter Beck. The restart produced a worrying collision as BYU lock Kyle Klintworth reached for the ball and Cal flanker Jon Puckett leaped for it. It could have been bad for Klintworth, but in the end Puckett seemed to get the worst of the exchange—he was escorted off the field and Cal was penalized for good measure.
Soon thereafter Cal flyhalf Nate Salter sliced through and Cal supported well enough to send it wide. But Cal's ballhandling in the cold let them down and BYU escaped trouble again. About three minutes later two long passes put Vaitohi away on the wing and fullback Lyle Matthews kicked the conversions to make it 33-0.
Cal finally did get on the scoreboard. An excellent kick to touch on a penalty from Salter set up a lineout. While Cal was stopped there, when BYU tried to run out of their own 22 Salter made a tackle, center Mack Fell stole the ball and he sent it out wide to wing Alex Brundage, who did well to finish. Salter converted the tough conversion (the ball must have felt like a rock for kickers) and it was 33-7.
In the 15 minutes after that BYU ran in three tries. Olvera charged down the left sideline to score one. Matthews sidestepped his way through the line and beat his opposite to go in from 50. And finally Fountaine orchestrated a movement that ended with No. 8 Ben Austin scoring on the wing.
Salter, Fell, and reserve back Kealan O'Connell combined for a nice try for O'Connell as time wound down. But for Cal it was a big learning experience, and the cold conditions didn't seem to suit them. Still they worked their way to some good scoring chances—unfortunately for the Bears they couldn't make enough of them pay off.
BYU lives and breathes through their front row and their halfback combination, and they showed they have plenty of weapons.
BYU 50
Tries: Tenney, Sagala, Clark, Beck, Vaitohi, Olvera, Matthews, Austin
Convs: Matthews 5
Cal 14
Tries: Brundage, O'Connell
Convs: Salter 2
