Cal Holds Off West Point in Cross-Continent Clash
Cal Holds Off West Point in Cross-Continent Clash
Mack Fell scored a try midway through the second half to put Cal ahead 24-12 and the Golden Bears held on to beat Army 24-19 Saturday in Berkeley.
“We appreciate Army visiting us and we will look forward to returning the fixture at West Point next spring,” Cal Head Coach Jack Clark said.
Cal struck early and, in fact, would never trail in a close game. Hooker Cade Crist spotted a gap in the Army defense and dotted down a try just eight minutes in, with junior flyhalf Rand Santos kicking the conversion.
Four minutes later, the Bears capitalized off their strong set piece to send the ball through the hands to wing Masi Koi, who touched down in the corner.
Army worked their way into Bear territory and Gerge Engels blasted over to get the Black Knights on the scoreboard. Howard Heller added the extras to make it 12-7.
After the restart, a perfectly-placed 50-22 from Santos put the Bears back into scoring position. Cal won the ensuing lineout and sent the forwards to work on the goalline, eventually seeing lock Tom Dixon muscle his way in. Santos converted and it was 17-7 for Cal.
Army threatened to score once more as the first half expired, but Cal held on and the teams entered the break with the score still at 17-7.
Army scored quickly after the second-half kickoff, with Noah Sanchez going over. About nine minutes later, Fell ran a good line just a few meters out and went in under the posts. Santos converted to make it 26-12.
Army needed to score twice, now, and they battled on. Jacob Battarini's try and Heller's conversion made it 24-19 with 13 minutes left. Neither team was able to score after that—Army was knocking on the door late and Cal held on with a good goalline stand.
"I was proud of our boys' commitment," said Army Head Coach and former Cal All American Matt Sherman. "This is the hardest of places to win, and while we were gutted not to do enough to finish in the end, we almost did enough. There is lots we can build on, as well as great lessons to improve on as we move forward."
"Not what we wanted at all," added Army's Bottarini. "Time to learn our lessons and improve. This was not our best performance of the season but we're nowhere close to what we're capable of. On to the next."
Cal 24
Tries: Crist, Koi, Dixon, Fell
Convs: Santos 2
Army 19
Tries: Engels, Sanchez, Bottarini
Convs: Heller 2
