Sac State cuts Stanford down to size 34-32
February 8, 2001
A clear, warm day and a crowd of about 300 set the stage for the battle between the Sac State men’s Rugby team and the Stanford Cardinals on Saturday.
From the start it was clear that it was going to be a tough fought match as these two Division I powerhouses met fist to face. But in the end it was Sac State that was left standing over the fallen trees.
At minute 15, Sac State’s Chris Miller quick tapped a Stanford penalty and broke through the Stanford defense but was tackled and the ball was whistled dead resulting in a scrum. Sac State won the scrum and Miller again ran to the right, passing to fly half Nathan Trivers who made a few good moves dodging the Stanford defense. Trivers passed to Ryan Carr who scored from ten meters out to tie the game at five. The kick after by Mike Trostel was good enough to give Sac State a two-point lead.
Stanford got a penalty and kicked for points to make the game 8-7 but vicious tackles by Sac State’s Ryan Simms and Casey Spiatch kept Stanford at bay.
“They played tough and it was a physical game, but we held together and played like a team,” Spiach said.
At minute 35, a ten-meter run by Ryan Nelson set up the pass to Trivers. Trivers gave a Stanford tackler a straight arm to the face before passing to Carr, before Carr ran it in for the try. Stanford answered quickly and with three minutes left in the half they scored in the corner.
Sac State scored again before the half.
The second half started just as the first had ended-physical. Hard hits by Ryan Nelson and Ryan Greggerson gave Stanford a feeling that can only be described as fear. Fear that every time you touch the ball some guy wearing green is going to hurt you. At minute 45, a pop kick by Trivers went deep into Stanford territory. The kick was caught by the Stanford wing but Mike Trostel was there to make the play for Sac State. Trostel tackled the Stanford wing then got to his feet, picked up the ball and ran in for the try to give Sac a 22-13 lead. Sac State extended its lead to 34-18 and held on for its first league win of the season.
