Santa Clara may have figured something out as the Broncos reeled off 52 unanswered points Saturday to overcome a 19-0 deficit and beat the UCSC Banana Slugs 52-19.
The win put Santa Clara at 2-2 in the California Conference North and is a nice turnaround from a rough opening series of games in which SCUTS had injuries and unavailabilities and, at times, just flat didn't play well.
Head Coach Paul Keeler moved Dante Black to fullback and self-deprecatingly pointed out that he probably should have made that move three years ago. Black, a former centerfielder in baseball, is athletic, fast, and responds well to being in space.
He returns kicks for tries on a regular basis and burned UCSC for four tries on the day. His teammates had a little fun with that:
With captains Pat Barnette and Jarrett Powell Odden leading smartly—Barnette at lock was especially vocal in urging his charges to work harder, Santa Clara showed some resilience.
"We just started to play some good rugby, and we've defended well," said Keeler. "When we were down we just said, really, stay calm and just keep playing. We had two yellow cards in still we put up 52 unanswered points in about 60 minutes."
With the win, Santa Clara is now 2-2.
