Grand Canyon, Mary Washington Advance to Challenger Cup Final
Grand Canyon, Mary Washington Advance to Challenger Cup Final
The new CRAA Challenger Cup has its finalists as Grand Canyon and Mary Washington won their semifinals by wide margins.
GCU beat a tough Utah State team 72-6 to advance. USU took an early lead with a penalty from Franco Tellechea and stayed on the strong foot for quite a while. However, GCU's defense was up to the task.
Twelve minutes in the 'Lopes put the ball through the hands to set up Luke Neely for a 30-meter run. GCU kept up the pressure from there and eventually the forwards drove Vince McKeefery over. From the restart Brennen Boyle broke through and fed Nigel Johnson for another try.
They kept up that desire to move the ball and as a result Ben Saunders, Jackson Gray, and Boyle (twice) were over to make it 36-3 at halftime.
It was the same scoring for the second half. Tellechea again kicked an early penalty and GCU again scored six tries with three conversions. McKeefery's try near the midpoint of the second half kind of opened it up and then Gene Kendall, Boyle again, and three from Lewis Case capped it off.
"That was not an easy 70-point performance today," said 'Lopes Head Coach Sean O'Leary. "That was being unselfish and using what we had. The pleasing part was we played away from contact. We knew they were big, and once USU knew they couldn't win the game, they tried to win the war, and we wound up winning that, too. It's a sign of maturity. I've known for a while what our potential is, and we're coming good at the right time."
Mary Washington blew past Ohio State 71-0 in their semifinal. The big difference here was speed. UMW was just faster in almost every position—certainly a few players were just significantly quicker that their counterparts.
The Buckeyes started the game on the front foot but weren't able to get points out of the pressure. Once UMW got out of trouble, fullback Will Lindsay weaved his way deep into Ohio State territory, and the ball eventually was sent wide to center Sebastian Schefermann, who raced to the corner. Ohio State fullback Tommy Kilbane and wing Jayden Garnes got him into touch, but UMW got a penalty on the play, took the lineout, and mauled it over.
A loop move in the backline set up wing Ben Peters for a run in. Another move wide got UMW close and a strong, hard line from hooker Nick Sydorowitz put him on the ball and over the line.
Mary Washington forced a turnover in their end and put flanker Aaron Juma on a run before he slipped on the wet grass. The Eagles recycled and the ball was chipped ahead for flyhalf Jack Joyce. Schefermann put away wing Yann Aubert for a run into the corner, and then Juma was put away for another try.
These were almost all long-range tries. Mary Washington went on breaks with multiple players in support. That's why Ohio State could make some cover tackles, but couldn't stymie the attacks.
This sets up an excellent matchup May 3 in Indianapolis.
