The regular league season came to a close for Southern California and Grand Canyon Universities this past weekend as the two teams met in Las Vegas.

Although they had already secured a playoff spot in the Gold Coast Conference, USC needed to achieve at least a double-bonus-point-loss in order to maintain their hold on a first or second place finish and a home playoff match.

At one point, it seemed as if neither bonus point would be forthcoming, but a wold comeback from 21 points down secured victory for the Trojans. 

With both teams playing in a foreign environment, USC and GCU spent the first 10 minutes of the match feeling each other out and playing for field position. USC sophomore flyhalf Adam Bushell’s penalty kick in the 13th minute gave the Trojans an early 3-0 lead, but that was USC’s only points of the first half as penalty trouble hurt them.

Freshman hooker Oliver Daabo received a yellow card for a swinging arm tackle, and freshman prop Kian Azizirad got pinged several times for pulling down the scrum. Playing with the man advantage, Grand Canyon used their forwards to batter away and scored two tries - both from lock Adam Maynard - to take a 12-3 lead. 

USC looked to respond five minutes later but Daabo’s pick-and-drive after a maul was stalled ended in a knock-on as he was touching down. then, from a GCU scrum inside their own 22, the Antelopes opted to run instead of kick. Flyhalf Ben Pensyl passed to center Ryan Canino, and USC’s defense was caught off guard. The Trojans rush up, but not together, and Canino exploited the gap that created. Trojan sophomore fullback Mitch Suzuki made a superb cover tackle, but Canino offloaded to wing Dru Pelter, who took it the rest of the way for a coast-to-coast try.  With the conversion the Antelopes increased their lead to 16 points.  USC tried to strike back before halftime but an errant pass went to ground and Canino swooped in to pick it up and score in the corner.

The teams entered the break with GCU up 24-3.

“We played poorly in that first half; very uninspired,” said USC Head Coach Loa Milford. “My speech was pretty simple: I urged the boys to up the tempo in the second half as it was the only way we could get back in the game.  We had so much riding on the outcome of the game (a home playoff match) so it’s not like I needed to remind them.  I wouldn’t say that we needed to dig deep and find something extra, we just needed to play with more urgency.”

And play with urgency, they did. From the opening kick, freshman flanker Michael Cesar took the game over and made line break after line break. The first came from a turnover near the halfway line. Cesar dashed through the Antelopes pack and sprinted for the posts. GCU’s Canino attempted to make a try-saving tackle but came in too high, and Referee Kevin Holmquist awarded USC a penalty try and Canino a yellow card. With the Bushell conversion, USC trailed 10-24.

 Minutes later, Cesar made another break from deep inside USC territory. He made it to midfield, and while the Trojans recycled, scrumhalf Guido Scassellati pass was intercepted by Dru Pelter for GCU and the wing raced in to score. Pensyl converted and GCU led 31-10.

“That play should have crushed us,” said Milford.  “We finally started getting some momentum and looked like we were going to get to within seven; then their winger swept in and gave us a dagger. That was literally a 14-point swing.” 

Undeterred, the Trojans answered back with a converted try from freshman center Dmitry Veremeenko. Cesar then tallied his second score in the 60th minute. With the conversion, USC found themselves only seven points down with a quarter to play. They still needed to score another try and keep Grand Canyon from scoring if they hoped to hold onto a top spot in the league. 

The teams both had scores go begging in the next 10 minutes as goalline defense beat goalline offense.  Veremeenko finally dotted down in the corner at the 70 minute mark to give his team the much-needed bonus-point try.  However, Bushell missed the difficult conversion, leaving USC down 29-31 with less than ten minutes to play.  

But with time winding down, GCU was penalty for offside at their own 22-meter-line. Milford directed Bushell to attempt a penalty goal, and his kick just made it over the, and USC led 32-31. GCU had a chance to snatch the victory back but a knock-on at full time ended the affair.

With the win, USC moved to first place in the Gold Coast Conference. A poor showing by CSULB against Santa Barbara City College would mean USC wins 1st place.

“It’s quite an accomplishment to go from an ‘also ran’ last year to competing for a regular season title,” said Milford.  “We obviously still have business to tend to and have yet to play our best rugby, but I’m happy for the guys right now.  When that whistle blew, you could tell that they’d given everything they had. It made me proud.”

Previous USC teams might well have folded in this game, but this year’s incarnation was resilient, and patient in its comeback. USC’s 5-1 record is certainly something they should be proud of. However, no less proud should be Grand Canyon University. Still a very young program full of young players, the ‘Lopes finished off their first conference season with several good performances and a place in the conference playoffs.

- Dominic Riebli