Every team in the California D1A has now won a game.
At the beginning of the season the inside info on the teams was that two rebuilding teams—Cal State Long Beach and San Diego State—would struggle. And they did, at first. But over the weeks these teams were the most likely to improve markedly, too.
We already saw Sacramento State get their first-ever D1A win. The Hornets haven't followed up on that but they've been pretty close. Long Beach State won their first game a couple of weeks ago and then this week beat UCSC 47-21 behind two tries from Nick Signorelli and tries from Ethan Moxler, George Beattie, Jackson Cantelme, Ethan Ruiz, and Brady Morrow.
That win actually vaulted Long Beach State to 4th in the California Conference.
San Diego State won a shootout with Sac State 45-43. This produced two bonus points for the Hornets, and the first win of the season for the Aztecs. How did they quadruple their points-scored for the season?
"Just sticking to the structure," said Head Coach Ryan Matyas. "And we stopped silly offloads, stopped trying to run out of our own 22, and kicked for a reason or a purpose."
Hmm ... sounds like a plan. Kenneth Kimbrough scored four tries for Sac state.
And then there's UC Santa Barbara. After winning two games last week to jump to 4-1, UCSB is now 5-1 after an impressive 54-12 victory over Santa Clara. The loose forward trio of JL Moore, Henry Minturn, and George Grant was outstanding for the Gauchos. Santa Clara has talent but again the UCSB defense was good.
