In a meeting of two highly-ranked D1A teams Saint Mary's defeated Arizona 48-15 in Moraga.
It was, thankfully, finally good weather in Northern California and set the scene for an intense match, and it was. Competitive, hard-hitting, and at times chippy, the game was a good reminder for both teams how tough it gets as the season progresses.
The game began with the Gaels scoring within the first minute. Center Erich Storti saw space on the weak side of a ruck and set up a break through and a try in the corner for his brother Mario.
Arizona settled it down after that, challenging nicely at the breakdown to take possession and asking questions of the Gaels defense.
But turnover ball kills and Saint Mary's were very effective with it. A nice piece of interplay with Storti and Dom Besag set up Zach Pua in the corner. Arizona answered with a nicely-executed set play off the scrum, with fullback Matteo Berenger setting up Jacob Broselle to gallop in to make it 10-5. So it was still very close through the first 20 minutes or so. A breakthrough from Besag ended with an offload off the floor to Storti the third try of the day for Saint Mary's.
A turnover while the Wildcats were trying to run out of their 22 led to wing Iosefa Toaiavao scoring the corner. But once again Arizona responded, punishing a couple of Gaels penalties to get closer before center Mattox King took a flat pass from George O'Brien and dove over.
That made it 22-10 with about eight minutes left in the first half. Much of the remaining first half was played inside the Saint Mary's 22, but the Gaels held Arizona out. And, as often happens, it was the team on defense that broke out to score. Mario Storti took a pass well inside his 22 and burst down the field for about 50 meters before passing back inside to Erich Storti. He flipped a backhanded pass to Besag and after a quick recycle the ball was sent out quickly to the wing where lock Cathal Coakley dove over.
