GCU Upset, Cal, and Saint Mary's in Big Wins This Weekend

02.07.2026 - 02.08.2026College Men

Photo J. Dalton Photography.

Author: Alex Goff

Major D1A action included some out-of-division special events this weekend, but maybe it was the all-D1A game that was the biggest.

Cal vs UBC

Cal defeated longtime Canadian rivals University of British Columbia 38-7 in Vancouver. Cal opened the scoring in a fairly methodical way, pressuring off the kickoff and working the forwards in close.

They followed that up after a turnover at midfield by chasing a Solomon Williams box kick down to the tryline. The Thunderbirds were unable to get out of trouble and a snappy pass to the middle put them in under the posts. After 12 minutes it was 14-0. Stuck in their own end of the field UBC did defend well in phase play, but it was tough sledding to get into Cal’s half.

But a long kick deep into Cal’s end of the field almost produced a try for the T-Birds. And when Cal failed to execute on a lineout UBC was knocking on the door. But the Birds knocked it on, providing Cal a letoff.

It wasn’t until 33 minutes that any more points were scored. UBC was attacking when a loose ball was fly-hacked into midfield. The Birds went back to cover but were called for holding on; the UBC players turned their backs on the play and Williams saw that, tapped, and raced 42 meters to the corner.

Conversion good, and a penalty goal right as halftime approached made it 24-0.

The second half saw Rand Santos find some space in broken play and scamper through from 30 meters out.

Then a long period of pressure testing the UBC tacklers finally resulted in the forwards getting it over—Byron Finley staying low and getting over the line. Filip Edstrom completed a perfect day kicking and it was 38-0.

UBC kept at it and did get a try over—center Alastair Marshall bursting onto a pass from close-in.

But that was it. Cal won the kicking battle here and their defensive pressure forced UBC into errors. The Birds also were on the short end of the field position battle.

This was a good showing for Cal and the first time they have played the World Cup rivalry match (so named as the Vancouver World newspaper used to sponsor the match) in Vancouver since 2020. This rivalry is a special one and this is the 100th anniversary of the series.

Saint Mary's vs Life West

Saint Mary’s is back from a successful tour of New Zealand and they beat Life West 69-22 Saturday.

This was pretty close through most of the first half, with Saint Mary’s holding a 14-5 lead after about 30 minutes.

But a very well-taken play off a scrum in the middle of the pitch allowed Sosaia Pongi to free up Mario Storti, who took it down the line and then passed inside to center Dom Besag for the try.

Strong ball handling and some powerful carries from the big men started to extend that lead. Off set piece the Gaels were deadly.

Grand Canyon vs UCLA

But the biggest all-D1A game was Grand Canyon at UCLA, and the ‘Lopes came away with a somewhat startling 31-24 victory.

GCU started on the front foot and a nice wide pass from flyhalf Luke Neely to Jackson Gray saw Gray flip the ball back to Neely, who passed quickly to wing Camille Becker, and the Frenchman was over in the corner.
Marcus Terzoli’s kick from the touchline bounced off the crossbar.

The ‘Lopes were back on the front foot. Terzoli burst onto a flat pass from Neeley. He gained meters, found Gray, who took the offload, committed the last defender, and put Becker into space for the try.

Now it was 10-0. UCLA responded with a lineout-and-maul, with flanker Freddy Jobber doing the honors.

Midway through the first half the. forwards did the work close-in and GCU lock Keaton Draeger picked up and stayed low to make it 15-5. Terzoli slotted the conversion and it was 17-5.

With halftime approaching UCLA closed the gap when replacement forward Oscar Shamis Jordan took a pass six meters out and four would-be tacklers later he had worked his way to the line. Halfitme score GCU 17 UCLA 12.

The Bruins tied it up five minutes into the second half when hooker Christian Castro Vonk took a pass and fought his way over in traffic.

Neither defense was giving up much until a counterruck from Harry Cluff forced a turnover. Scrumhalf Max Griffiths popped a kick that rolled and rolled until it bounced up for a hard-charging Sam Reade. The fullback was tackled just as he was sliding over the line. The ball rolled free but referee Wesley Livesey ruled that Reade had grounded it before the ball squirted free. Conversion good and it was 24-17.

After that Grand Canyon spent a long period in the UCLA half only to come away with no more points. UCLA was defending well but with about eight minutes to go they were guilty of bunching too many players around the ruck, and failing to cover their right side. A pass from hooker La’au Maka set up center Lachlan Jackson to just take an angle to the corner, which he did. Neeley converted this one and we had a tie ballgame once more.

Both teams of course wanted to get that win, but it kind of fell in GCU’s lap when the UCLA restart didn’t go 10 meters. From the scrum at midfield Grand Canyon went to the right and flooded the zone, allowing Gray a chance for a long run. However, after a couple of phases UCLA induced a knock-on and had a chance to get out of trouble.

After a long delay for an injury to a UCLA player, which, hopefully, isn’t serious, UCLA was able to kick clear, but they were still under some territorial pressure. A lineout, a scrum, and then a penalty later, the ‘Lopes had an attacking lineout seven meters out. Their maul was stymied, and so were some surges to the line.

Passing out wide was covered, too, as GCU’s execution was not quite clinical enough and UCLA worked hard on defense. Finally, with time up on the clock, GCU got their short yardage pattern working and hooker Danny Sanchez gave a ltitle second effort and touched down on the tryline.

Try Grand Canyon, conversion good too, and it was 31-24.

Referee Livesey said there was time for the restart but GCU was able to win the ball and kick to touch to close out the game.

This was a massive step forward for Grand Canyon, following as it did a close loss to BYU. UCLA will be licking their wounds, but they don’t have much time to do that, as those same BYU Cougars come to town this coming week.