Colorado State, Air Force Find Winning Weekend in Rocky Mountain
Colorado State, Air Force Find Winning Weekend in Rocky Mountain
Colorado State won their opening Rocky Mountain Conference game and right now it looks like, again, there's a hot chase for 2nd in the conference as BYU remains the front-runner.
BYU is the front-runner even though they haven't taken the field yet, but it's pretty clear the Cougars are the favorite. Still, other Rocky Mountain teams are looking to stake a claim to a spring D1A playoff spot.
CSU beat Wyoming 74-7 to open things up. Four players scored two tries each: wing Jared Wade, outside center Maciu Ramaqa, hooker Rylan Palmer, and inside center Sam Masterson. Flyhalf Kyle Jones and scrumhalf Arnaud Agasse added tries as well.
Masterson continued his outstanding goalkicking form slotted nine conversions out of 10 attempts, and also two penalty goals to log 34 points all on his own.
It actually took a short while for CSU to work with their new combinations and eventually they were able to piece it all together. Strong defense and hard running from No. 8 Aiden Wilson led the way while Wilson's younger brother, lock Breen Wilson, and flanker Brock Scanlan, were very difficult to contain.
Masterson wasn't the only player kicking well, as fullback Harry Kelly was a good counter-attacking runner and also a smart kicker from the hand to pin Wyoming back.
Next up for CSU is Utah State, which opened their season with a win over Utah. USU had a bye while the Utes lost a close one to Boise State.
Meanwhile Air Force moved to 2-0 in-conference, backing up last week's 34-21 win over Utah Valley University with a 45-29 defeat of Colorado.
"Air Force plays a solid game; they are much improved over the last two seasons," said CU Head Coach Chris Hanson. "They have good structure, good size, and are fit, as usual. We are a young team but we've got a great group and a very good freshman class."
So it is early days for Colorado, while Air Force seems to have some things working for them.
"The team lived up to their motto of 'Relentless Pursuit'," said Air Force Coach Jeff Burrows. "They never game up in a hard-fought, close match against a very skilled and well-prepared CO team. This match, I think, was a statement to the increasing strength of rugby in Colorado. We felt we worked through our structure very well and felt our pack had a strong match in both set piece and open play."
Captain and No. 8 Jack Brown leads from the front and he has been in excellent form. The team's lineouts-to-maul, and their scrums are very good.
"Jack is arguaby one of the best No. 8s in D1A," said Burrows. The captain scored two tries.
"The structure connection between our forwards and backs continues to improve and we have two weeks to polish the things we did well and fix the areas where we want to be better.
Right ... next match? Navy in Glendale.
Next up in the Rocky Mountain Utah is at Utah Valley, and Utah State is at Colorado State. BYU takes on Utah State a week later.
| Rocky Mountain | W | L | T | PA | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Air Force | 2 | 0 | 0 | 79 | 50 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Utah State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Colorado | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 45 | -16 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| BYU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Colorado State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Utah | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 30 | -12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Utah Valley | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 34 | -13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
