Grand Canyon edged defending Gold Coast conference champs 31-28 in an early marquee matchup in the DIAA conference.

With the victory, GCU moved to 3-0 in conference play and put themselves in superb position to be the top team in the league.

GCU opened the match quickly with a try by fullback Brent Williams inside the first five minutes to take a quick 5-0 lead.  Showing solid structure in the early going, GCU extended the lead to 12-0 on a try by outside center Maceo Brown and a conversion by halfback Avery Longrie.   

Long Beach State steadied after the initial quarter of play and chipped away at the lead with a penalty kick.  Just before the halftime whistle Long Beach State halfback Roland Blakston dotted down a try to close the lead to 12-8 at the break.

The second half was a see-saw affair as the teams traded tries and momentum until Long Beach State secured its first lead, 23-19, off a try by wing Larry Casados.  The lead swing seemed to jolt the GCU Antelopes back to life as GCU responded within five minutes with a second try by center Maceo Brown and a conversion by halfback Nimer Munakash to retake the lead, 26-23.  GCU extended its margin to 31-23 with a nice multi-phase sequence finished off by 8-man, Nick Heinrich.  

Long Beach State scored an unconverted try in the final five minutes to close the score to 31-28 but could not equalize to close the match.  

“As we suspected, Long Beach State was a tough competitor. We had some good moments and plenty of things to work on.  We look forward to another tough D1A match-up next week at the University of Arizona,” said GCU Head Coach Ryan Kelly.

Next up for GCU is an away match at D1A University of Arizona (who beat UCLA Saturday) on Feb. 11.