MORAGA – Mario Storti easily handled BYU’s drop kick, something akin to a punt, and began to glide along the grass at Saint Mary’s College.
Instead of trying to make four or five opponents miss, he offloaded the ball to playmaking fly-half Inoke Waqavesi, who faked one pass as he hopped in the air, and then accelerated through a gap.
The Gael senior deked one more time to unsettle BYU’s already shaky defense, and then finally popped a quick pass to Mario’s older brother Erich on his left, who motored into the try zone for another Saint Mary’s five-pointer.
In a game that was closer than the final score indicated, the Gaels took down BYU 48-31. SMC will travel to Houston to play against defending national champion Navy for the Division I title on May 4.
“When stuff doesn’t go our way, we stick to our game plan and don’t play as individuals,” Erich Storti said. “We did a good job of persevering today.”
De La Salle alumni Dom Besag and Erich Storti each scored two tries, and Iosefa Toiaivao, Kaipono Kayoshi, Hunter Modlin and Sosaia Pongi each scored once as the Gaels pulled away from the Cougars late.
“We know that Navy is going to give us everything we can handle.” said SMC coach Tim O’Brien, who has won three 15-man national titles and also guided the Gaels to the 2022 final, a loss to Army.
Saint Mary’s beat BYU 38-21 in Provo a month ago, and an even bigger rout seemed to be in the cards early on. The Gaels showcased the same quick-hitting passing attack that befuddled Cal the week before, carving up the Cougars in every area of the pitch.
Besag started the scoring 10 minutes into the game when he shrugged off a tackler and scored on the left flank.
Menlo-Atherton’s own Pongi made it 10-0 when he used his speed to race in from the right wing, and then Toiaivao helped make it 17-0 at the 20-minute mark when he used a couple of nasty jukes to get into the try zone up the middle.
MORAGA – Saint Mary’s fly-half Inoke Waqavesi (holding gatorade bottle) leads the team in postgame celebration. Saint Mary’s College rugby team defeated BYU 48-31 in the 2024 College Rugby Division I-A national semifinal playoff game at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. on April 20, 2024 (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Down by three scores, BYU finally showed why it was in the national semifinal. Using its brawn, plus a few unforced SMC errors and turnovers that had O’Brien fuming under the trees on the Gael sideline, the Cougars rolled off 17 straight points of their own.
“We really hurt ourselves massively, and we didn’t take advantage of some of the gaps in their defense we could have,” O’Brien said. “We tried to move some balls to places they shouldn’t be, and we’re lucky they didn’t pick off a few of our passes.”
BYU scored the first 10 points after halftime to tie the game at 17. Storti then responded with a quick try off a scrum that had Besag raising his hands in celebration before his teammate had even touched down with 27 minutes left to play.
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Three minutes later, Kayoshi’s long run saw him dragging a couple of BYU defenders into the try zone to give the Gaels some breathing room and provide the 3,000 or so fans a reason to breathe easy.
The backs got to score the tries and bask in the adulation of the Moraga crowd, but the Saint Mary’s forwards also held their own against BYU’s big and burly players.
Hunter Chuhlantseff, Nate Deegan, John Wilson, San Francisco’s Cathal Coakley, Lleyton Delzell and Matthew Abbes were stalwarts as tacklers and in scrums. The versatile King Matu, who went to Deer Valley High in Antioch, also set the tone not just as a bruising ball-carrier, but as a willing tackler who pushed runners back.
BYU cut the lead to 29-24 with 17 minutes left, but Saint Mary’s scored three of the final four tries to salt the game away. Besag put a bow on SMC’s 18th victory of the season when he broke through a demoralized Cougar line and jumped into the zone for the final five points.
“We were far from perfect today,” Besag said. “But we’re super-pumped (to go to Houston), because it’s everything we’ve ever been working for.”
MORAGA – Saint Mary’s College openside flanker Kaipono Kayoshi (7) scores a try with 24 minutes left in the second half. Saint Mary’s College rugby team defeated BYU 48-31 in the 2024 College Rugby Division I-A national semifinal playoff game at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. on April 20, 2024 (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
