In a surprise scoreline that was almost a shocker result, Cal held on to defeat Arizona 57-51 in Tucson.
Sitton Field is often a tough place to play for road teams and it certainly was for the Cal Bears Saturday, and they weren't helped by getitng into repeated penalty trouble, that ultimately led to several Arizona tries.
Arizona started quite aggressively, moving the ball with confidence and playing like a team that had nothing to lose in this encounter.
They worked the ball hard in tight and speedily out wide, freeing up outside center Nick Morgan for a try inside of four minutes.
Cal got in close after a speculative kick-pass turned the Arizona defense, and then the forwards went to work, pounding the line before hooker Alex Veira picked up and was over.
Unfazed, Arizona responded. A Cal penalty near midfield resulted in a lineout deep in their 22—Wildcat flyhalf Saxon Gerstl was very good in getting full value for kicks to touch and he did so here. The Wildcats powered toward the middle of the field, and then spun is back left for Morgan to run low and over the line for his second.
More Cal penalties and while Gerstl had missed his first two conversion attempts, he was good on a penalty goal to make it 13-7.
Soon it was 20-7 when a missed tackle allowed Morgan to once again cause Cal problems. He made ground before setting up wing Jack Schumacher for the try. Gerstl converted and it was 20-7 Arizona.
This was certainly a surprise start, but Cal is good at getting back into their pattern and they did so here. They worked it carefully down into Arizona territory and then a quick, weaving run from wing Gur Levy produced a highlight-reel try.
The Bears followed that up with a maul off a penalty-to-lineout. They worked that drive infield, leaving a large weak side when flyhalf and captain Rand Santos lurked. He got the pass and the try, and it was 20-17.
Cal then took the lead on a brilliant play. Close to the line the Bears went to the backs and Filip Edstrom got the ball as he was smashed in the tackle. Somehow he managed to pass back to the looping Santos, who finished it. Edstrom would certainly be forgiven for not executing on the move, but he did it, and he added the conversion, too, for a 24-20 Cal lead.
That lead held up into halftime, and Cal came into the second half determined to take control. Overall the hard work from the Cal forwards was telling the tale and strong carries from prop Oliver Kirk, lock Bryon Finley, and flanker Chris Biller made big yards before Finley took a pass about seven meters out and stretched over in traffic.
Down 31-20 Arizona might be expected to settle for a nice first-half showing, but they didn't. A half-break in the middle cut through Cal and then the ball was sent out to Morgan, who sidestepped one tackler and outpaced another to score his third of the day.
Kick good and it was 31-27.
Cal couldn't let that lie and a snappy flat pass to Oliver Newall put the fullback through. He unleashed a couple of sidesteps and sped off to within a few meters of the line. He was caught, but offloaded to Finley, who had worked hard to get there in support, and the big lock crashed over.
That made it 38-27.
Once again Cal's indiscipline got in their way and led to a lineout that Arizona attacked from. Four hard charges later and lock Chris Grosse, a transfer from Central Washington, thundered into the goal area to score. Gerstl added the extras and it was 38-34.
Santos capped off a series of hard forward carries led by lock Brice Muller and the skipper was in. That made it 43-34. Once again Arizona scored thanks in part to a Cal penalty. They worked the maul off a lineout, and after a series of the phases the ball sort of rolled to the feet of hooker Henry Langrish, and he just picked up and took Route 1 to paydirt.
Once again it was a four-point game, now 43-39.
Cal answered. A massive carry from Biller set up quick ball that went to Edstrom. The center then banked the kick in off the upright to make it a two-score game at 50-39.
