Claremont Colleges rebounded from an opening-season loss to beat University of San Diego 31-5 Saturday and improve to 1-1 in the Gold Coast Men’s DIAA conference.

The Gold Coast has started slowly, especially since this past weekend once game ended in a forfeit and another was rained out. Only three results, then, are on the record at the moment - Grand Canyon 36 Claremont 10, Claremont 31 San Diego 5, and Grand Canyon 28-0 over Azusa Pacific in a forfeit.

While GCU might look to be the favorites in the conference at the moment, there’s still plenty to watch, from Long Beach State to Santa Barbara City College. Claremont Head Coach Scott Bracken believes his team has a ton of potential.

“GCU is a very good team, but we didn’t help ourselves,” said Bracken. “Our game against San Diego was a step in the right direction. We were at home, we took advantage of our opportunities, and we got a bonus point.”

Prop Spencer Drazovich had an excellent game for Claremont, while sophomore hooker Omar Rodriguez, who was a standout in high school for Torrey Pines and the San Diego Mustangs, was active all over.

Bracken, a former USA front-rower, was excited about his front row, and said that Drazovich “does everything well. He is good at the basics and is a leader.”

Claremont has brought in former Belmont Shore coach Ray Egan as the attack coach, and Egan has installed a 2-4-2 attack that, said Bracken, “has made a difference. It keeps everyone involved and the players love it.”

Claremont got an early penalty goal from scrumhalf Robert Chui, and the game remained 3-0 for much of the first half. Then fullback Spencer Swensrud raced in for one, and No. 8 Nick Urban scored another just before the break. Chui converted both and it was 17-0 at halftime.

Urban scored his second right after the break, again converted by Chui, and while USD did get a try in at the 64-minute mark, Chui capped it off with the bonus-point try, and the conversion, to notch 16 points all by himself.