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First-Half Surge Sees USD to ACR Final

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First-Half Surge Sees USD to ACR Final

USD in stripes, WWU in purple. SDSDomination

The University if San Diego booked their passage to the ACR DIAA final with a 43-26 defeat of Western Washington this past weekend in San Diego.

The Toreros were looking for some measure of revenge after these two met last year in the ACR playoff, with the Vikings coming away 30-17 winners.

USD decided to play with the wind at their back in the first half and the decision paid off early as the Toreros quickly worked into the opposition 22. An initial break from Devin Hoovel got San Diego close the ball was spun wide to Shane Jamison, who beat his opposite, stepped past the final defender and was in for the try.

Michael Lewis converted and it was 7-0. Western Washington responded with some smart with tactical kicking from flyhalf Max Stone to put the Vikes close to the tryline. USD failed to exit cleanly and patience from the WWU forward pack led a try from lock Aidan Aschoff. The conversion from Stone put the score at 7-7 after about 15 minutes.

But the rest of the first half belonged to San Diego. The first big play was when Seni Fagbeni charged down a clearance kick from Stone. After a hurried Vikings clearance kick the Toreros were running phases in the 22 again and staying patient. Lewis recognized space on the weak side and center Daniel Suhr saw a half gap and reached over to score.

San Diego were working well together from 1 through 15 and the team's hustle showed in the next try. After a penalty against WWU, Lewis kicked to the corner but failed to find touch. As WWU collected the ball on their own tryline, Nate Leff raced in and made a nice open-field tackle. The tackle jarred the ball loose and Shane Jamison was on the spot to pick the ball up and score in the corner. Lewis would convert for a 19-7 lead.

Jamison was just getting started as the loose forward recognized space on the weak side with the Toreros just outside their own 22. The rangy flanker would beat six defenders before being dragged down inside the Western Washington 22. 

The Toreros consolidated from there before Paul Habeeb got the ball and showed his elusiveness in beating five defenders (all tight five forwards) to run in to score.

USD would finish off the half with a Michael Ramos pick-and-go to put the score at 29-7 at halftime.

The start of the second half needed to be controlled by WWU or the game would completely slip away from them. The Vikings did exactly that. With USD's Leff in the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on, the Vikings kicked to the corner and mauled it over. The conversion was good to make it 29-14. San Diego, however, answered with Ramos again picking up and diving over from close range. The team got close to the line off a big break from Ramos himself, and it was a deserved second score for the big No. 8 who has been superb for his team for some years. The conversion from Lewis put the score at 36-14.

The Toreros were soon back to full strength, but the Vikings continued their push to get back into the game. A Torero scrum was stolen near midfield and Viking center Nathan Mathis broke through. With defenders converging around him, the WWU chose to grubber deep into in-goal where wing Eli Ashman showed great effort to be first on the ball for a try. WWU would score soon after with a short-range score from flanker Israel Duncan.

Stone converted and all of the sudden it was a 10-point game at 36-26 with 13 minutes to play. The Vikings continued storming back into the game and kicked a penalty deep to the corner in the 70th minute. Tensions were high on Manchester field as the USD forwards geared up to stop another maul. But the throw wasn't straight and San Diego had a chance to get out of trouble.

From the ensuing scrum the ball was sent out Habeeb who stepped his opposite man and raced deep into WWU territory. Eventually USD finished this off, with Ramos, of course, going over to seal the game 43-26.

The Toreros now look to go to Denver to face Iowa State, which defeated Sam Houston State in a nailbiter this past weekend. That will be the ACR final.

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