Cal State Long Beach won the Gold Coast Conference championship Sunday, but it wasn’t easy, and it almost didn’t happen.

After beating a very tough University of San Diego team on Saturday, the 49ers beat USC 38-36 on Sunday. That’s the short version, but the long version is much more dramatic.

First off, USC held off Grand Canyon 17-12 in a game that wasn’t exactly perfectly executed. But it was a tough, hard-nosed game that eventually went Southern California’s way.

"We made things much harder than they needed to be," said USC head coach Loa Milford. "Instead of making the simple, easy pass, we were pressing ourselves and trying to make the perfect pass. I want us to play quick and precise footy, but it seems like it translates to rushed and frenetic footy."

One of the reasons that the game was error-strewn was that it was played at 9am, and the grass and the ball were wet. The timing of the game matters, also, because it was played a good eight hours before Long Beach State took the field against San Diego.

USD is a good team in their own right with some big, imposing athletes, and with some time off between their last game and the playoffs, seemed to have spend most of that time planning for this game. Long Beach took a 20-0 lead into the closing moments of the first half, but from then on, USD held sway, outscoring the 49ers 19-5. It wasn’t enough, but the entire game was difficult.

“It was our most physical game of the year,’ said CSULB Coach Jason Reynolds. “They were effective and in the second half I think our guys relaxed a little bit. But in the end it was tough and we played late in the day.”

USC knew the timing would have an effect, too.

“Going into the game we knew this was our best chance to beat Long Beach State,” said USC Coach Dominic Riebli. “They’d had a tough game at 5pm. They were beat up. We knew we could challenge them.”

USC hit Long Beach State hard early and led 19-3.

“All of our tries came from us pushing the tempo,” said Riebli. “We started out really fast.”

But USC got into penalty trouble, getting hit with three yellow cards, including two that were somewhat concurrent. It was a significant frustration for the Trojans, and it gave Long Beach State a lifeline.

“They played full speed the whole game,” said Reynold of USC. “It took a lot of heart for my guys to dig deep. They were tired. We used only one sub. But they came together. We have a close team, the guys have a pretty good bond and I think that’s what helped us in games like this.”

With time essentially up at the end of regulation, Long Beach scored to tie it up. Flyhalf Steven Bodley Roland Blackiston lined up the conversion to win the game, and missed. Overtime.

In the overtime, USC took the lead again, and with no time left, Bodley spotted a small gap, sold a dummy, and went in the score once more. His conversion was good, and Long Beach State had their victory.

“It was great to see Steven get that second chance,” said Reynolds, who once again saw scrumhalf Roland Blackiston enjoy a great game. Jerell Abellera-Neri was non-stop all weekend.

For USC, captain Corbin Bennett was, said Riebli, “heroic,” playing as he was with a nasty rub injury the whole game.

So, 38-36 Long Beach State over USC, and a painful loss for the Trojans.

But it’s not over for either team, as Long Beach State will move on to the DIAA Round of 16, and with USC having lost by two points in overtime - which is about as close as you can push it - will most likely be told they have a spot as an at-large team. That gig won’t be easy - chances are they get to travel to play UC Davis - but it’s another shot.

“For a team to have been our of the conference playoffs last year to get to overtime in the final is pretty impressive.”

Everyone agrees on that.