Grand Canyon University opened up Gold Coast Conference play with a 36-10 win over Claremont Colleges Saturday.

The match featured several GCU lineup changes from the previous week against Santa Clara as the GCU backline depth was tested by some minor injuries.  

Claremont opened the match well with a long sequence of possession and phases inside the GCU 22-meter line.  But the GCU defense did not crack and eventually a penalty led to clearance kick and possession by GCU.  GCU centers struck quickly with a tough inside run by inside center Darien Pickett and offload to hard running outside center Maceo Brown, who slotted the first points of the match with a try at 7 minutes in.  GCU’s Avery Longrie cleared the conversion and GCU led 7-0.

Claremont opportunistically closed the gap in the 13th minute on a GCU miscue of a kick, and GCU led 7-5 after Claremont missed the conversion.

GCU flanker Connor Fischman, who had several physical runs throughout the match, answered quickly with a 35-meter run through traffic to dot down in the 18th minute.  The conversion by Longrie was on target and GCU led 14-5.   Fullback Brent Williams followed with an unconverted try in the 25th minute and the GCU lead extended to 19-5.   Prior to half, GCU’s Pickett touched down after a nice multi-phase sequence.  The conversion was wide and GCU led 24-5 at the half.

Prior to half minor injuries forced out GCU scrumhalf Longrie, center Brown, and fullback Williams.  The re-shuffle in the backs caused some obvious continuity issues early in the second half as the teams battled for 20 minutes with no scoring change.   GCU finally regained its stride as wing Dru Pelter touched down under the posts in the 25th minute.  Despite the advantageous position, the conversion was wide, and GCU led 29-5.   GCU closed out its scoring with a stellar run by fullback Noah Trotter around the outside defense of Claremont for a score in the corner in the 70th minute.  GCU’s Nimer Munakash slotted the conversion from the extreme corner and GCU led 36-5.

Claremont showed good fight to the end with a nice try in the 73 minute to narrow the lead to 36-10.