PROVO, Utah – California rugby put on a dominant performance at Brigham Young on Saturday afternoon in Provo, Utah, shutting out the Cougars in the second half and notching seven tries and one penalty kick to claim the road victory. Sophomore Emmett Cook led the Golden Bears in scoring with a hat trick and Cal's second-half defense was stout, scrumming well and holding up the Cougars on the goal-line to post a clean sheet in the final 40 minutes.
 
Cal suffered from a 12-point deficit through the first 19 minutes of the contest, with BYU lighting up the scoreboard first in the 13th minute with a converted try off a breakaway run. The Cougars dotted down their second try of the day four minutes later as they won a foot race down the left wing, but failed to add the extras.
 
In the 19th minute, senior Tom Dixon burst through a gap with the ball and carried it well into BYU territory. Dixon offloaded it to junior Solomon Williams in support, who sped past the final Cougar defender to put the Bears' first points on the board.
 
A solid Bear scrum six minutes later set up Cal's next scoring possession. Williams sent the ball from the back of the scrum out to junior Michál de Beer who muscled his way past the goal-line for a try while carrying a defender on his back. Junior Rand Santos, who returned to Cal's lineup after being out with injury, added the extras to level the score.
 
It only took four minutes for Cal's backline to produce a couple of good phases and work back into scoring territory. Some lofty ball handling from Cook and sophomore Quinn Spieker on the right wing set up Cook's first try of the day, and Santos converted to give the Bears a lead they wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
 
BYU got its final points off a well-placed kick that allowed a Cougar to dive into the tryzone and tap it down. They failed to convert the try and it was 19-17 in favor of Cal at the break.
 
Santos sent a penalty kick through the posts to add three more points to the scoreline seven minutes into the second period. Cook then scored back-to-back tries within five minutes, first by intercepting BYU's attempt to chip it forward and turning on the jets to carry it into the tryzone from 50 meters out. Cook notched his third thanks to an excellent line run by freshman Masi Koi who was able to offload it into Cook's arms.
 
Cal's forwards took a turn at lighting up the scoreboard next, pick-and-jamming at the goal-line for a few phases before senior Charlie Walsh, who today played in his 40th match, put some muscle behind fellow senior Dom Paga who pushed in the score next to the posts. After the restart, sophomore Bryan Bogne came off the bench and provided an immediate impact, touching down the Bears' final try of the day at minute 64. BYU threatened Bear territory, but Cal defended well and held the Cougars up on the goal-line to deny them the points and clinch the victory.
 
Cal will return to Berkeley for a contest with Army next Saturday at 1 p.m. PT. The Bears will host their annual Homecoming/National Champions reunion, celebrating the national 15s championship teams of 1980, 1985, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and the 2015 national sevens champions. Tickets can be purchased in advance here.
 
Scoring Timeline:
Cal vs. BYU
13:00 – BYU 5, BYU 2
17:00 – BYU 5
19:00 – Solomon Williams 5
25:00 – Michál de Beer 5, Rand Santos 2
29:00 – Emmett Cook 5, Rand Santos 2
34:00 – BYU 5
Half: Cal 19, BYU 17
47:00 – Rand Santos 3
52:00 – Emmett Cook 5, Rand Santos 2
57:00 – Emmett Cook 5
61:00 – Dom Paga 5, Rand Santos 2
64:00 – Bryan Bogne 5, Rand Santos 2
Final: Cal 48, BYU 17
 
Starting XV:
1. Oliver Kirk 2. Cade Crist 3. Charlie Walsh 4. Byron Finley 5. Tom Dixon 6. Dom Paga 7. Jon Puckett 8. Ieremia Ieremia 9. Solomon Williams 10. Rand Santos 11. Masi Koi 12. Michál de Beer 13. Max Threlkeld 14. Quinn Spieker 15. Emmett Cook
 
Substitutions:
Bryan Bogne (61:00), Seamus Deely (61:00), Oliver Teague (68:00), Mack Fell (74:00), Kealan O'Connell (74:00), Cormac Saint (76:00), Elias Smith (76:00)
 
STAY POSTED 
For complete coverage of Cal rugby, please follow the Bears on X/Twitter (@CalVarsityRugby), Instagram (@CalVarsityRugby) and Facebook (/CalVarsityRugby).