Cal Bears beat BYU for 23rd Title win







 


 

    

        By UCR-PRESS        
5 Apr 2006    

 
 



      
        

        Do you recognise this Article? We were unable to maintain Author names during the upgrade of UCR. Click here to find out how to have this Article re-credited to you if it is yours.
    

        
        
    
The Cal Bears were predictably crowned National Collegiate Champ for the 23rd time in the school’s history on Saturday after beating Brigham Young 37-7 in a repeat match up of last year’s grand final at Stanford. (Cal beat BYU but just three points in 2006 to claim the crown)


Cal took just a few minutes to get points on the board by way of a try by Hooker Chris Biller. While the conversion wasn’t good, a penalty several minutes later was, as Chris Gurecki bought the score to 8-0 within the first quarter of the game.


Cal’s strong half was rounded up by skipper Chase Brogan who lived up to his first name by running down a chip kick just short of the BYU line and, with the conversion, give his team a healthy 13-0 buffer coming into the break.

				

				
				
				

			


\"Just got a lucky bounce,'' Brogan said after the match. \"Coach (Jack)Clark always says ‘to the hustler goes the reward’. That really helped us, and gave us a confidence boost.''


If any BYU fans amongst the 4,400 total in attendance were hoping for a BYU second-half resurgence, they were disappointed as Cal ran in 3 more tries courtesy of Kevin Kroll, Colin Hawley and Brendan Wright.


It wasn’t until the last two minutes that BYU were able to finally break through Cal’s solid defence to make the score 32-7. But it was small consolation however, as Cal quickly re-gathered after the restart and scored with seconds to spare, sealing the final score of 37-7.


Cal Centre Chase Brogan was named MVP of the tournament for his stirling efforts against Navy (in the semis) and BYU in the Final.


\"We could have played a lot better,'' was Hawly’s post-match comment. \"We missed a lot of opportunities, our kicking wasn't too good, but we hung on. I don't believe it was our best rugby. We just gritted it down.''


This was Cal’s 2nd straight final win over BYU, their 4th consecutive national title, which brings their Championship tally to an incredible 23 since 1980, 16 of which were achieved in the past 17 years. By anyone’s standards, a dominating record.


But the stats don’t bother the boys at Brigham Young, as Coach Dave Smyth effectively registered his team’s interest at having another crack at the title; \"I can tell you sincerely we're not going anywhere. We plan on being back here next year.''

    
        
    
    
    

        

         
Average rating
(0 votes)