Cal Rugby: Bears Stun No. 1, Unbeaten Navy at Packed Witter Field
Cal's rugby squad came up with its best performance in recent years, beating No. 1, unbeaten Navy 47-24 before a capacity, Homecoming crowd at Berkeley's Witter Rugby Field on Saturday afternoon.
The one dispiriting moment for Cal came in the first half when Max Threlkeld was hit with a vicious high, head-to-head tackle, sending Threlkeld flat on his back. He lay on the ground for about 10 minutes, before emergency personnel was summoned to take Threlkeld off the field on a stretcher. He was moving his extemities as he was wheeled off the field. Presumably he was taken to the hospital although there was no immediate update on his status.
The incident did not affect Cal, which dominated the nation's top college team.
The seventh-ranked Bears (10-2) ended the Midshipmen's 31-game winning streak Navy had amassed since returning to a topflight college schedule prior to last season. Navy (13-1) had gone 18-0 last year while winning the national championship, beating Cal 28-22 in last year's national title game in Houston.
"We appreciate the Navy team, they have been on a significant run of well-earned victories and success. They are a well put together team," Cal head coach Jack Clark said, according to the Cal website. "I loved how determined our boys were today. We took our share of the lumps, but we fronted the challenge."
In that loss to Navy a year ago, Cal took a 15-0 lead, only to be dominated in the second half. It appeared a similar scenario might be taking place Saturday as Cal took a 24-0 before Navy worked its way back into contention.
Cal led 27-17 midway through the second half before Cal scored two onsecutive tries, the second by Joe Kirsten, who had also scored the Bears' first try of the day. That gave Cal a 42-17 lead with seven minutes left in the game, essentially assuring the Cal victory.
It was a significant win for Cal, which had losses to BYU and Army in its two previous matches against elite college squads this season.
And Saturday's game did not begin well for Cal as a Keanan O'Connell's penalty kick two minutes into the game hit the left upright and fell away no good.
But Kirsten scored his first try 12 minutes into the game, and O'Connell's conversion put the Bears ahead 7-0.
A few minutes later Threlkeld was injured, causing a long interruption in play. Somewhat surprisingly no Navy player was sent off as a result of the high, head-to-head hit.
A Solomon Williams try, an O'Connell penalty kick and a Hugo Schreuder try made it a 24-0 game in Cal's favor with about 10 minutes left in the first half.
Navy scored a try just before halftime, and Ben Haugh scored another try for Navy 12 minutes into the second half to reduce the Cal lead to 24-14. The teams traded three-point penalty kicks to make it 27-17.
Navy had rallied to win both meetings against Cal last season with strong seconds halves, and the Midshipmen's extraordinary conditioning seemed to be kicking in again.
But Cal halted the Navy momentum with a try by Mack Fell, increasing Cal's lead to 32-17 with 10 minutes. That was the pivotal moment in this contest, tipping the momentum back in Cal's favor..
Cal then clenched the victory with two tries within two minutes of each other, the first by Evan Weigold and the second by Kirsten to put the Bears ahead 42-17 with seven minutes remaining.
The Bears' Oliver Newall scored the final try in the closing minutes to finish off Cal's win.
Cover photo by RubyPics
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