The California Conference had a busy weekend with conference leaders Saint Mary's off on tour.

Cal Poly made a move, improving to 2-1 with a 52-26 defeat of Santa Clara. Led by solid work from center Coby Baker, prop Quinton Tindel,  and No. 8 Ryan Wenstrom the Mustangs ran out to an early led and forced Santa Clara to chase them throughout. The Broncos did have scoring chances but saw several of them squandered and will be shaking their heads at that.

Santa Clara fullback Daelan Denenberg was outstanding while center Ben Voelz and lock Benji Rogers recorded good performances, as well. But Cal Poly was more clinical and punished Santa Clara for turnovers, usually for tries, or to prevent Santa Clara tries.

UC Davis improved to 1-2 with a 36-0 defeat of San Diego State. Wing Guy Barrons and No. 8 William Bradford each scored two tries for the Aggies while, Azeh Kani, and Maxwell Schoenberger added tries as well. Flyhalf Francis Schumann converted three in a very good defensive performance for Davis.

UC Santa Barbara rebounded from a 110-point loss to Cal last week, defeating Cal State Long Beach 43-29 to log their first victory of conference play. Wing Lucas Green scored three tries for the Gauchos with JurgenDittrich, Vincent DiFiore, J. Gonzalez, and Daniel Bray also getting on the scoresheet. Flyhalf Samuel Simons converted four.

So what does the chase for a top-three spot in the California Conference look like? Cal Poly is in excellent shape, but it will be interesting to see if a tenacious UC Davis side has figured it out. The Aggies play UCSB in two weeks and Cal Poly a week later.

And remember that UCSC (winners over Sacramento State in a non-conference game) beat UC Davis. The Banana Slugs host Cal Poly next week.