Cal, Cal Poly Emerge 3-0 at Storer Classic
Cal, Cal Poly Emerge 3-0 at Storer Classic
Cal won the Storer Classic, giving up zero points through the weekend and beating UCLA 45-0 in the final game on Sunday.
Flyhalf Nate Salter dummied his way into a gap in the second minute for a try where he'd be the first to say was set up by the forwards. UCLA made some key cover tackles and put themselves in position to score a few times in the next 10 minutes or so, but Cal held them out. A massive shove from the Cal pack won a tighthead they needed, and a rather calm little left-footed soccer kick from Cal center Reed Santos prevented a charged-down clearance kick from becoming a Bruin try.
Santos acted like he swooped in to save his team's bacon every day of the week.
As often happens, if you don't take your chances against Cal, you don't get too many more. A superb 50-22 put UCLA in with a chance again, and that later led to a penalty and a Bruin lineout seven meters out. But Cal's forwards did the work to get the ball back. (UCLA may have thought they were over the tryline but the line they saw was not the tryline.)
A couple of big runs from lock Tom Dixon helped the Bears switch the field, and after UCLA was able to clear, the backs got to work. A grubber from fullback Max Schumacher and a nice chase from wing Max Clark allowed Clark to gather the ball and feed Salter in support—he dummied again and was in, capping off a try started by a Sacramento Jesuit product and ended by a Xavier HS (New York) talent.
No. 8 Alex Aguero capped off a try that owed much to runs by Santos and Clark. and Schumacher's second conversion made it 19-0.
In the second half of the 40-minute game, Aguero returned the favor with a nice run around the outside and a well-timed pass to Clark, who took off for 30 meters.
Moments later simple hands down the line, with Santos and Schumacher in the middle of it, set up Joe Kirsten on the wing. Freshman Solomon Williams (whose former HS team, Thunder Rugby, was busy going 3-0 at the same tournament) scored a classic scrumhalf's try, spotting a tiny gap on the left side of a ruck and diving over. That try was started thanks to another scrum win against the head and the Santos-Clark connection.
Finally, with time almost up, smooth hands across the field put away Griffin Rudy. Schumacher converted four and Kealan O'Connell converted the last one.
“Pretty solid start, I thought we played together quite well for the first time out,” said Cal Head Coach Jack Clark. “Lots to work on, but a solid start.”
Also unbeaten over the weekend was Cal Poly. After winning 7-0 over UC Santa Cruz in the rain on Saturday, and scoring big on Loyola Marymount, the Mustangs got to play in sunnier, drier conditions on Sunday.
It was Cal Poly's defense that really shone. Because of the rainy weather in Southern California, the Mustangs had not been able to practice much at all. Even when they could, they were forced to change practice times in order to get time on turf fields. Players who had scheduled their classes based on their original practice times were sometimes now unable to train.
So Head Coach Chris O'Brien simplified things a little and concentrated on the defensive side of the ball.
That showed in the opening minutes on Sunday against 2-0 Utah. It was defensive effort that produced a holding-on penalty, and a kick to the corner, from which they sent it wide for wing Nate VanderKlugt to finish off. The big play there was a superb wide pass from flyhalf Jack Marchant.
Some simple but effective running put the second try in, which lock Ryan Wenstrom bouncing a pass off his shoulder, regathering, and setting up fullback Luke McKernan. Unfortunately, McKernan hurt himself on the touchdown.
The next try was a bit of luck as a loose ball ended up in the recovered McKernan's hands, and inside center Coby Baker looped around and took the pass to score. Baker converted his own try and it was 19-0.
Utah was on the front foot for much of the remaining first half, but as O'Brien had hoped for, the Cal Poly defense held firm.
The Mustangs still looked to go wide quickly, and after winning an attacking scrum, probed the right edge, got stopped, and slung it quickly to the left. An excellent wide pass from openside flanker Jack Zelligan landed right in the hands of his back row mate Michael McPherson and the #6 was over. Baker converted and it was 26-0.
Scrumhalf Will Nogrady picked up from the base of the ruck from close-in for the next one. Utah responded with a well-worked try right off the restart that was helped by a smart quick-tap on a penalty and a lot of work from the forwards.
But the game was Cal Poly's at that point and the Mustangs ran in three more tries—prop Quinton Tindel on a powerful charge where he tried to sell a dummy, failed, and ran over the guy instead; Tyler Roberts (we think), capping off a movement sparked by Baker's massive run; and then McKernan from long range.
Baker was very solid, distributing well, defending, and logging points, of which he scored 17. The forwards worked hard, and the 52-7 scoreline impressed.
For Utah, it is very early days yet. They logged good results on Saturday, but Sunday may have been a day too far this early in the winter/spring season.
UC Santa Cruz pushed both Utah and Cal Poly on Saturday, while UC Santa Barbara lost big to Cal and UCLA. But Sunday was a slightly different tale, as the Gauchos beat the Banana Slugs 17-12. Both teams are improved, and that close contest was a good one.
For Cal Poly, "this was a step forward for sure," said O'Brien. "We played a lot of freshmen last year and so we have a lot of returners. This is my second year with them and they're picking up the terminology and we're starting to play the pattern."
Storer Final Stack Ranking
Cal: 3-0, 165pf 0pa
UCLA: 2-1, 68-45
Cal Poly: 3-0, 113-7
Utah: 2-1, 79-57
UCSB: 1-2, 17-82
UCSC: 0-3, 17-41
Loyola Maryland: 1-2, 12-109
UC San Diego: 0-3, 0-130
(Cal Poly did not play UCLA and it is certainly possible the Mustangs could have beaten the Bruins. As it was, UCLA did a little better against, overall, stronger opposition.)
