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.”
