Cal defeated UCLA 17-5 to win the PAC Conference 7s Sunday in a tournament shown live on the Pac-12 Networks.

Cal defeated Arizona State in the semis while UCLA got by Utah to make the championship game.

It wasn’t pretty, with many of the teams suffering from handling errors or decision-making mistakes. Cal Head Coach Jack Clark voiced his own assessment: “We’re pleased to win, but it wasn’t picturesque,” he said. 

Cal’s first try came off a quick lineout after both teams had had scoring chances that they let slide away. UCLA was trying to get out of their 22 and Pierre Courpron was tackled into touch. It wasn’t clear if more than one Cal player touched the ball after the in-touch call was made, but the quick throw-in was allowed and quickly Cal worked the ball straight ahead for Andrew Battaglia to go over for the try.

UCLA had all sorts of trouble getting past the stiff Cal defense, and the next Cal try was a perfect defensive score - Niall Barry was chased back into his in-goal, and Thomas Robles, a talented transfer from Santa Rosa Junior College, forced the ball to be dropped and fell on it.

Up 12-0 Cal had better opportunities to score in the second half. Robles capped off a period of pressure to score his second, and Anthony Salaber, who had a strong tournament, went over on a nice team break, but was held up.

UCLA finally was able to score right at the end of the game - Seb Sharpe finishing off the movement - but Cal’s defense, even when the game was won, was tenacious and precise.

In the Plate Final, Utah missed some key scoring opportunities early and a snappy early try from former HS All American Nate Short and a try from Connor McRae put Arizona State up 12-5 in the first half.

Utah tied it up and had a shot to equalize again at the end of the game with the score 17-12. But Ryan Spiwak intercepted a Utah pass to score under the posts and end the game 24-12 ASU.

“I got lucky,” said Spiwak modestly.

In other action, Arizona weathered a red card for a tip tackle at the beginning of the game to defeat Colorado 17-5 and win the Bowl. Stanford won a sloppy Shield Final 7-5 over Oregon. Southern California took 9th over Oregon State with a 12-10 game that desperately needed someone to use the width of the field.

It was an enjoyable tournament overall, but one where most of the teams were still coming to terms with how to use space in 7s. Far too many kickers were asked to kick 11-meter restarts, and as a result often those kicks were too short.

Battaglia’s assessment that his Cal squad “played as a team,” was spot-on, as Cal was clearly the outfit that used every player.