Cal Poly Humboldt’s national men’s small-college victory over Wayne State was a statement victory in a number of ways.
It showed that a Californian or West Coast team can win a fall playoff; it showed that adherence to a game plan that fits your players works; it showed that an all-domestic college team can win.
We knew all of this, of course, but it’s good to see it proven in a real-world scenario.
Wayne State’s excellent season came a bout thanks to a diverse and highly-skilled group of players who used speed and slick ball handling as much as anything else to score their tries. Certainly they have nothing to hand their heads about. But what often happens in the college landscape is that opponents can mentally throw up their hands and say “oh, well, you see, they have all these players from [inset country’s name here].”
But they are all still college students trying to pass their courses and play some rugby, and the games do still need to be played to find out the winners.
CP Humboldt answered the shifty, high-octane Wayne State effort with a powerful scrum, hardworking defense, and some skills at some surprising positions. Labeled as a team that would struggle with fitness, Humboldt disproved the detractors with an approach that seemed to be more of a go-’til-you-drop mentality. Worry about being tired when you’re tired, and not until then.
It also turned out, however, that Sunday’s Small College final at NCR’s championship weekend was played in relatively cool temperatures (for Houston) after some early rain—conditions Humboldt is much more used to.
Wayne State found it difficult to break through, while Cal Poly Humboldt ran their powerful forwards—No. 8 Latu Kolopeaua, props Logan Zampa and Adrian Magana, hooker Jason Uipi—and that immediately paid dividends, leading to a penalty, another penalty, and finally Upui over off the back of a maul.
This was a low-scoring game, but Wayne State seemed to be chasing it regardless. They were getting hit hard and while we talk about the Lumberjacks being big (and, by implication, slow), their perimeter defenders such as Deshawn Ellis and Brian Wright were very quick and that negated some of Wayne State’s supposed advantage.
After threatening for several minutes Wayne State found themselves backing up thanks to a penalty and CP Humboldt powered on, finally seeing Kolopeaua crashing over. Conversion from flyhalf Dante Cappellano was good and it was 12-0 to the Californians.
As the game progressed, Wayne State started to make mistakes. Even the unforced errors were forced in some way—you slam into a ballcarrier enough times he remembers it. The Lumberjacks were content to make every meter difficult. Meanwhile, the backs, including center Nathan Vera, were making their presence felt for Humboldt.
It was an attack by the backs that led to even more bad news for Wayne State—Ellis was taken by a high tackle by prop Jon Mueller—Mueller made no attempt to get low and his shoulder hit Ellis’s head. Red card.
