May 5, 2001

Virginia Beach, VA. - The Cal Varsity Rugby team held off a late Navy surge to win 34-27 Saturday, and will meet Penn State in tomorrow's national championship final.

The Bears looked lethargic from the start of their semi-final match and never got fully into gear. But even an out of-synch Cal rugby team is formidable and the Bears were out to 34-5 lead early in the second period before Navy ran in four unanswered tries to pull within one converted score at the final whistle.

"We played against ourselves today, and the bad guys won," said head coach Jack Clark. "We lacked determination, and we stopped thinking. You're going to have days like this, I just never thought we would have it in the national championships. However, tomorrow's another day, and I know we've some good rugby inside us."

The Bears, who have won 10 straight national rugby championships and are seeking their 11th this weekend, looked set to dominate the match with an early flurry of scoring. Fullback John Buchholz touched down in the second minute of the game, a simple loop from flyhalf Matt Sherman creating an overlap. And No. 8 Shaun Paga crossed the line three minutes later, after a bullocking run from prop Mike MacDonald damaged Navy's defense mid-field, creating space out wide for his teammates.

A rout seemed possible when wing Eric Andersen worked down the sideline with Buchholz to make it 17-0 after less than a quarter of play. But then a tired looking Cal side started a string of unforced errors and it was largely Paga's big runs from the base of the scrum that kept the scoreboard ticking over. He set up a try just before the half from a scrum at midfield, with an assist from flanker Kort Schubert who kept the ball alive and got it wide for center Alex Hauser to score.

Early in the second period, Paga needed no help going 50m to the line himself from the base of a similar midfield scrum. Undeterred, Navy opened their account through wing Carl Cringle, after 49 minutes. In response, Cal scrumhalf Andy Armstrong quick tapped a 5m penalty and darted over to keep the Bears at what should have been a comfortable 34-5 margin.

But with 25 minutes to play, Navy forced a turnover deep in Cal territory by isolating Buchholz the fullback, and then stretched the Bears' defense until flyhalf Todd Cleveland scored. A similar deep kick and sustained pressure put hooker Nate Bastar over the Cal line after 74 minutes, and fullback Michael Sahag added another try from the ensuing restart.

Navy's late efforts suddenly threatened a major upset when center Seth Stegmaier found a hole in Cal's fringe defense, his try near the posts pulling Navy within one score. However, time ran out before the ball got back into play, and the Bears breathed a sigh of relief.

Penn State had a hard-fought 27-25 win over Army in Saturday's other semi-final. The Nittany Lions scored the go-ahead try with less than five minutes to play.

Scoring First Half: John Buchholz try & conversion, 2nd min., Shaun Paga try, 5th min., Eric Andersen try, 15th min. Alex Hauser try, 39th min.

Second Half: Paga try, 42nd min., Navy try 49th min., Andy Armstrong try & Buchholz conv., 53rd min., Navy try, 56th min., Navy try, 74th min., Navy try, 76th min., Navy try & conv., 80th min.

First Half Cal 22 Navy 0

Second Half Cal 12 Navy 27

Final Cal 34 Navy 27

Cal Record: 15-1-0