Life University and Cal both impressed as they won D1A semifinals Saturday to set up a repeat of the championship matchups from 2018 and 2019.
Cal and Saint Mary’s saw almost 100 points scored between them the last time they played. This time it was different. Cal took the lead 12 minutes in, capping off a long period knocking on the door with lock Huge Schreuder picking up and stretching over.
Saint Mary’s answered with a penalty goal from Ollie Cline. But Cal came back, punishing a penalty and working a maul off the lineout. Saint Mary’s stopped the drive but scrumhalf Solomon Williams ran a switch move with wing Joe Karsten, and Karsten raced through the gap Williams had created. Now it was 14-3.
Saint Mary’s capitalized on a Cal error to get into the Bears’ 22, and after a couple of big forward carries the ball was sent to Dom Besag, who shouldered his way over.
That closed the gap, but not for long.
A superb catch-pass from Schreuder put Masi Koi down the sideline to make it 19-8, and center Filip Edstrom slammed over the difficult conversion to make it 21-8.
That’s how the first half ended. Saint Mary’s had threatened to score before the break and clearly needed to score right after the break, but it was Cal that did the scoring. A lineout-and-maul was followed by a couple of carries to the line before flyhalf Rand Santos saw a gap and was through.
Saint Mary’s was just not seeing the ball, and found themselves backed up into their 22. Backed up against they had to defend the scrum, but Cal sent the ball easily out to the wing and Koi was in at the corner.
Going out wide after a maul worked for Saint Mary’s, too. They got a penalty, ran the maul, and with a penalty advantage the ball was sent to fullback Mario Storti for a crucial try. Cline converted and it was 33-15.
Williams then scored off a long range run highlighted by a brilliant sidestep and dummy to beat Storti and go in at the corner. That made it a four-score game at 38-15.
