The undefeated La Costa Canyon Mavericks took on the winless Poway Titans under clear skies on an unusually warm February night Friday to finish up the Southern California Varsity Red regular season.

Both teams had numerous players missing due the long weekend, but to both team’s credit they were able to field full rosters of 23 players.

From the start, Poway opted to kick deep only to find LCC fullback and captain Patrick French, who took off on a hard counterattack and looked like he would go all the way. French was brought down on the Poway five-meter line, but LCC recycled the ball quickly, only to be penalized for obstruction, alleviating pressure for Poway. 

The Poway backline looked dangerous with ball in hand, especially inside center Michael Turlip, but unforced errors brought any attacking drives to a sudden halt.  LCC were missing their normal attacking threat in the center, Sean Lumkong, who was out sick, and Connor Bradic, so opted to run big Paul Newman, normally a front row forward, in the #12 jersey.  LCC played very structured and disciplined rugby using hard running forwards as ball carriers. When Newman got the ball at pace, he proved a handful for the Poway defense, and it wasn’t long before he punched through to go 40 meter upfield.  That led to a scrum-five for the Mavericks, and this time, after recycling possession, scrumhalf Nico Gilli found a charging tighthead Scott McElroy who was unstoppable from five meters out.  Gilli made the easy conversion. LCC 7-0.

Failure to kick a penalty into touch cost Poway when LCC countered back with interest through No. 8 Dean St. Martin. French then dotted down in the right-hand corner to mak it 12-0. St. Martin was also dominant at lineout time, winning opposition lineouts at will. 

Poor discipline and a string of penalties allowed Poway to advance the ball to the LCC five-meter line  Big loosehead prop Saeed Kodaimati sucked in numerous defenders, and when the ball was recycled it was No. 8 Padraig Madden Erdmann who crashed over.  12-7 to LCC.

LCC wasted no time responding when flyhalf Justin Petersen timed the inside pass to charging St. Martin, who again made meters up the field.  The ball was quickly recycled, and when Petersen challenged the line, it took two to bring him down, and he was able to make a good offload to hard-charging Newman, who went in under the poles.  Gilli kicked the extra two points 19-7 LCC.  Poway was frustrated by their inability to win their lineouts.  Replacement loose forward Tre Stigal made a good turnover, and fed St. Martin, who just kept running, and scored 70 meters later. This time, Gilli made the difficult conversion.  LCC 26-7 at the half.

LCC started the second half well in control, so Coach Reuben Spilkin opted to give most of his bench an extended run.  LCC was able to maintain the pressure and from a sniping run, scrumhalf Nico Gilli he was able to feed Newman, who refused to be stopped and score for the second time on the night. 31-7 LCC.  It became clear that LCC had an eye on the playoffs the following Friday, and finished the game kicking into the opposition half and applying pressure with committed kick chase by all players. Poway did produce some inspired play when Terlep chipped ahead from within his own 22, then regathered his kick and fed outside center Brandon Christensen, who combined nicely with fullback Alex Osmun to advance play into the LCC 22. 

LCC did well to repel a committed Poway attack but was reduced to 14 men when Newman was yellow carded for a high, no-wrap tackle.  LCC continued to control all phases of play and pin Poway back in their own half.  Gilli went blind from a breakdown and connected with St. Martin who had been timing his runs perfectly all night.  36-7 LCC.  LCC used the boot to take the game back into Poway territory. Feisty flanker Victor Epstein scored the final try in the dying minutes and the game ended 41-7 to LCC.

Dean St. Martin was clearly the MVP on the day, dominating lineouts, and getting through a tremendous amount of work while scoring two well-deserved tries.

LCC will now face a resurgent Torrey Pines who they beat in the first game of the season 40-12.  Torrey Pines has made great strides this season, and former USA Head coach Matt Hawkins has been seen at many of their practices over the past two months.   It will be an interesting battle as the two traditional rivals face off at 7pm at La Costa Canyon.  If the powerful running center Sean Lumkong is cleared to play, LCC should be favorites, if not, it's anyone’s game.