Cal Holds Off Army in First Game of West Point Coastal Tour
Cal Holds Off Army in First Game of West Point Coastal Tour
California defeated reigning national D1A champions Army West Point 31-14 on Saturday in Berkeley, behind two tries from wing Oliver Newall.
Now 10-0 Cal will next be playing Navy in Annapolis.in a game that has the potential to be a national final preview.
“Army was very good. They are hard young men,” said Cal Head Coach Jack Clark. “Overall, I think we did pretty well. Plenty to work on, but that’s to be expected.”
The Black Knights crossed the line first through fullback Jonny Haley, who had a very strong game in the #15 jersey, and he converted the score to take a 7-0 lead after four minutes. The Bears answered with a try of their own at the 18th minute by Max Threlkeld, and captain Max Schumacher converted to level the score at 7-7.
Taking advantage of opportunities proved to be the story of the game, as Cal got points about 50% of the times they entered the Army 22, while Army's conversion rate was less than half that.
Cal scored twice more in the first half, with Newall getting his first and Cal Liebowitz capping off a maul. Schumacher added the extras on the latter try for a 19-7 halftime lead. of the two to clinch the 19-7 lead at the intermission.
Penalties were a bit of an issue for Army.
"I think we had six or seven more penalties called against us and against a team like Cal you just can't do that," said Army Head Coach (and former Cal All American) Matt Sherman. "We held onto more territory and our set piece was good, but we weren't able to finish as well as Cal did."
Army got the first try of the second half with Dominic Tianga powering over and Haley converting to make it 19-14, and certainly that scoreline indicated how competitive this game was.
It wasn't until the final quarter that the Bears started to pull away. A break and run from Threlkeld allowed him to link with Mack Fell, who then fed Newall for the wing's second. Schumacher converted from the touchline.
Ten minutes later, Caleb Tomasin quick-tapped and stepped his way in for a try to seal the deal for the Bears. One of the rarities in Cal games is that even when the A sides are relatively close, the reserve-grade match is not. No such situation this time; while Cal won the second game, it was 24-17 over Army.
“I think the team made a good step in the right direction for a big upcoming month, and we’ll take some very important lessons forward,” Threlkeld said. “It felt awesome to win a big game with a great crowd behind us. The boys really wanted it, and I’m proud of our effort.”
"We improved on a lot of areas, especially considering it's been 112 days since we played a game," said Army's Sherman. "These were new lessons rather than re-learning old lessons like we had to against Navy."
Tianga and Haley stood out for an Army team that now heads north to face Central Washington on Wednesday. Cal, meanwhile, has Navy at Navy, followed by road games at Saint Mary's an BYU.
Cal 31
Tries: Newall 2, Threlkeld, Liebowitz, Tomasin
Convs: Schumacher 3
Army 14
Tries: Haley, Tianga
Convs: Haley 2
