GRR: St. Mary's
Saint Mary's opened up their season after more than a year away from competition, and beat a very strong Central Washington team 38-17 in Moraga, Saturday.
The Gaels ran out to a 26-0 lead, playing their characteristic wide open game. Wing Jonathan Hackett, wing Aiden Howe, fullback Erich Storti, and Howe again went over, with scrumhalf Karl Keane getting three conversions.
Central Washington will play at Saint Mary's Saturday in a relatively hastily-prepared game that brings the Gaels back to competition more than a year after everything was shut down.
Kevin Swiryn attended Saint Mary's College of California planning to play football, but when the football program was halted, he found something better.
The period right after the Major League Rugby draft has not been a mad dash to sign undrafted players, but there have been a few key moves.
Saint Mary's prop Payton Telea Ilalio has received his 2019-2020 Scholz Award trophy.
Telea Ilalio was named the Rugby Sorensen Award Winner as the top men's college player in the country. He would normally have received his trophy at the annual awards dinner in Seattle, Wash. But with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, the dinner was canceled.