BYU enjoyed a torrid opening to the second half of their clash with St. Mary’s and came away with a 32-28 victory between the two high-ranked college programs Saturday in Moraga, Calif.

Neither team backed away and it was a classic clash between the two - BYU using their size superiority to punish St. Mary’s tacklers, and the Gaels exploding for unexpected attacking moves.

The Cougars started off the better on the scoreboard, slightly against the run of play. After flyhalf Jonny Linehan opened the scoring with a penalty goal, the Gaels stormed back. Kingsley McGowan sliced through traffic inside the BYU 22. But his pass bounced off a teammate’s face, and into the hands of BYU scrumhalf Luke Mocke. The smart player that he is, Mocke thumped the ball deep downfield. The chase was on and BYU’s chase was better. They turnd the ball over in the ruck and it was a simple case of a couple of passes and fullback Ryan Blaser was in for a try under the posts. The conversion was good and BYU led 10-0.

But after that, St. Mary’s held sway. They mounted attack after attack, often on the perimeter. One earned a penalty that was a little too far for Dylan Audsley. The kick fell short, but BYU kicked to touch, and from that lineout the Gaels spun it wide, where fullback Cooper Maloney dummied away the defense and scored. 

St. Mary’s would continue to force penalties, including one after they stole a scrum put-in and counter for about 60 meters. Audsley was good on two kicks to give his side the lead 11-10.

Near the end of the first half, BYU was on the attack. But a turnover allowed St. Mary’s scrumhalf Holden Yungert to pop a high ball. McGowan was clearly offside in the chase, but lucky for him, Audsley put him onside, caught the ball on the fly, and passed to Maloney for the captain’s second try and, with Audsley’s impressive conversion, an 18-10 St. Mary’s lead.

St. Mary’s were probably wishing the half would never end at that point, and certain the break seemed to help the Cougars, as BYU stormed out of the gates in the second period. A lineout ball was spun quickly to the wing where sub Josh Whippy was waiting, and he exploited some iffy St. Mary’s tackling to go in at the corner. 

That made it 18-15, and then Linehan hit a penalty to tie the game.

Right from the restart, St. Mary’s pushed to regain the lead, and perhaps tried to do too much against a dense BYU defense. They turned the ball over and Linehan kicked ahead for Whippy. Maloney couldn’t control the rolling ball and Whippy grabbed it. He looked to be caught just short of the line, but stretched over to score. Nine minutes into the second half, the game had been turned on its head and BYU led 25-18.

Much of the rest of the game was a titanic struggle in the middle of the field. Both defenses picked up, and both forward packs found themselves in multiple scrums.

St. Mary’s inched closer with another Audsley penalty, but BYU put the game seemingly out of tech when they pressured down the left side, and then spun the ball through the hands to Hoseki Kofe on the right wing. Linehan hit the touchline conversion and it was 32-21.

But St. Mary’s didn’t give up and they put in a furious final attacking surge. BYU got a yellow card, and St. Mary’s knew they had a little time to get the job done. At one point, after repeated penalties near the BYU line, the Gaels seemed to be over, but the officials were unsighted. Eventually, though, the Gaels scored, with Mike McCarthy slicing through a gap at short range. But the denial of that earlier try may have cost them. Audsley quickly kicked the conversion as St. Mary’s ran to halfway, but referee George O’Neil played a sweet tune (for Cougar ears) on the whistle and the game was won 32-28.

It was an impressive performance from both teams, with goalkicking, as expected, a key element, and both teams scored tries from deep in their own territory thanks to turnovers and smart kicking.

St. Mary’s will rue the first ten minutes of each half, and BYU will be thinking again about how they finish each half.

BYU 32

Tries: Blaser, Jo Whippy 2, Kofe

Convs: Linehan 3

Pens: Linehan 2

St. Mary’s 28

Tries: Maloney 2, McCarthy

Convs: Audsley 2

Pens: Audsley 3