Sac State, Fresno State Win California DIAA Semis
Sac State, Fresno State Win California DIAA Semis
Sacramento State and Fresno State will meet in the California Conference DIAA final after both won semifinals in convincing fashion Saturday.
Sac State defeated San Jose State 63-14 scoring an early try from center D'Maurier McKenzie. SJSU hung tough and it was still 5-0 midway through the first half. Flyhalf Kellan Fisch's try made it 10-0 but SJSU answered with a converted try to close the gap at 10-7.
The Hornets blew the game open over the next 20 minutes—the last 10 minutes of the first half and the opening 10 minutes of the second half. During that period Fisch, center George Fountain, wing Andrell Cooper, and McKenzie all scored tries. Fisch converted two of those, and while San Jose State did score their second, by the 60th minute it was 36-14 Sac State.
Tries from lock Miles Brown, Jonathan Stewart, Fisch again, wing Odin Moody, and lock Ryan Maves capped it off.
Fresno State handled a very tough Chico State team 60-24 to make the final.
"It was a little tough in the beginning but we started getting into our game late in the first half," said Head Coach Stepan Antameysan. Once the Bulldogs forwards started to take more of the game under their care they got better go-forward.
A more direct approach opened things up. Scholz Award nominee Isaiah Kruse was outstanding again, while hooker Kaden Sherrell was excellent. First-year player Carson Odneal scored two well-taken tries and freshmen Roberto Chaves and Ruben Ramirez played solid games at flanker. Sherrell's work rescuing bad ball and running good, hard lines probably made him the player of the game.
These two teams will play for the conference championship, but they will also both travel to Houston to take on the top two teams from the Florida DIAA Conference. That will be South Florida and Florida State. South Florida, Florida State to FCC DIAA Final
