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."
