Cal Advances to Rugby National Championship Match by Beating BYU

Bears use dominant second half to top BYU in semifinals, and will face No.1 Navy in the title match in Houston

Cal earned a berth in the D1A rugby National Collegiate Championship title match by beating BYU 55-31 in a semifinal match Saturday afternoon at Berkeley's Witter Rugby Field.

The Bears will travel to Houston to play in the May 6 national championship game against top-ranked, undefeated Navy, which defeated Lindenwood 12-10 in the other semifinal match on Saturday. Cal lost to Navy 33-28 back on March 11 in Annapolis, Md., but the Bears’ impressive showing against BYU suggests the Bears might have a chance to reverse that result next month.

Cal, the No. 3 seed in the West, used a dominating second half against the fourth-seeded Cougars to push its way into the finals. BYU had defeated Cal 50-14 back on March 25 in Provo, Utah, but Cal sent its reserve team (second string) to Provo for that game because the seedings and pairings for the postseason had already been announced, leaving that March 25 game relatively meaningless.

With their first unit facing BYU on Saturday, Cal showed its superiority in the second half.

The game was tied 19-19 at halftime, but Cal outscored BYU 36-7 over the next 39 minutes before the Cougars scored a meaningless try in the closing seconds.

Max Clark gave Cal the lead for good at 24-19 when he scored a try seven minutes into the second half, and four minutes later Solomon Williams scored, giving the Bears a 31-19 lead following Max Schmacher’s conversion.

Co-captain Nate Zylstra, who had missed nearly the entire season with an injury, entered the game as a substitute at that point, and just a few minutes later, he scored a try that put Cal ahead 38-19 after Schumacher’s conversion. That try virtually clinched the victory for the Bears, and a three-point penalty kick by Schumacher with 16 minutes to play gave the Bears a safe 41-19 advantage.

BYU scored to close the gap to 41-26 with about 11 minutes left, but Cal was awarded a penalty try when a BYU player was whistled for an illegal tackle close to the try line. That made it 48-26 and set up Rand Santos’ end-to-end run of about 80 yards after picking up a loose ball and scoring a try with less than three minutes remaining.

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