Jan. 31, 2004

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Cal Varsity XV remained true to its cause -- to be a constantly improving team -- with a convincing 60-3 victory over host Arizona. Kyle Khasigian had a hat trick and Mike MacDonald added a pair of tries.

Ironically, Arizona drew first blood at the one-minute mark, with a penalty in front of the posts following a Cal infringement. The kick was true, giving the Wildcats a three-point lead and some momentum. The honeymoon did not last long as the Cal forwards starved the Wildcats of possession. Eventually Khasigian answered back with a try in the 12th minute, after several attacking phases left the Arizona defense in a scramble. Andrew Blair converted.

It was now time for the Cal forwards to contribute to the scoreboard with the first of several dynamic forward drives that resulted in tries, with two for MacDonald and one for Anthony Vontz. The Cal forwards gave their counterparts a torrid time in the lineout with some steady work from Cale Garamendi and Marc Tausend.

Unlike the Saint Mary's match, which was dominated by the forwards, this outing would be remembered for some outstanding handling by both forwards and backs in open play. Two tries in the first half went through several sets of hands from sideline to sideline. The most exciting came from a penalty during injury time at the end of the half. Andrew Johnson took the quick tap and gave a long pass to MacDonald in space. "Big Mac" found Vontz, who quickly off loaded to Khasigian. Khasigian had one man to beat, and sent Dorian Pieracci over for the try.

Cal maintained its level of intensity in the second half, scoring 33 unanswered points. At this point the Golden Bears were in complete control, converting any Wildcat mistake into points. The Bears displayed some more crisp handling when Ryan Donnelly returned a poorly placed Arizona kick-off to set up a try for fellow center Robert Weedon.

Just minutes later, Blair had a scintillating run off a scrum center at midfield. Blair took a pass from Johnson but had plenty of work still to do in eluding several opposition defenders to touch down between the posts.

Cal received a penalty try off a Khasigian chip ahead that was obstructed in goal. Cal's final score came off some opportunistic play from Andrew Johnson, who took a quick tap and burst over two defenders for the try, which replacement fullback Chase Brogan converted, leaving a final score of 60-3.

Coach Jack Clark was pleased with his team's effort. "We should draw a bit of satisfaction from that performance," he said. "We targeted three or four areas for improvement, and we saw improvement in each area."

There will be little rest for most of the team as the Varsity will travel to Tempe to take on Arizona State Sunday, Feb. 1, at noon.

Scoring:

Tries:

Khasigian (3), MacDonald (2), Perraecci, Weedon, Blair, Johnson

Cons:

Blair (4), Brogan

The Team:

15. Blair, (Brogan, 69), 14. Pieracci, 13. Weedon, 12. Donnelly, (Castles, 65), 11. Hanks, 10. Khasigian, 9. Johnson, 8. Boggs, 7. Welch, 6. Stanfill, 5. Garamendi, 4. Tausend, 3. MacDonald (Captain), (Walker, 60), 2. Vontz, 1. McClenahan

The Cal reserve XV defeated the Arizona seconds, 83-0.