The Mustangs won both matches this past weekend, defeating the Santa Clara Broncos and Western Washington Vikings in back-to-back days — each by a significant margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cal Poly played Santa Clara on Saturday, Jan. 31, winning 70-21 in a match that gave a rotation of newer Mustang players an opportunity at A-side minutes. O’Brien said the performance was great overall, but noted a few defensive breakdowns. Cal Poly’s B-side defeated Santa Clara, 97-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mustangs dotted down two tries before one of the aforementioned breakdowns gave a Santa Clara winger an open look at the try zone from 60 meters out. Cal Poly responded a short time later with a long try of their own: Coby Baker found flanker Joey Hodge on a skip pass out wide, Hodge stepping one defender before shifting another out of his path with a dummy pass to his right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mustangs added two more tries in the first half and another five tries in the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Western Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The match of the weekend came on Sunday versus the Vikings of Western Washington — a team described by head coach Chris O’Brien as the top team in D1AA. The match was tightly contested in the first half. The Mustangs held a narrow 14-12 advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I always knew that would be the toughest match,” O’Brien said. “They\u2019re a very well-coached and competitive team.” O’Brien said the Vikings will be moving up to D1A in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Western Washington drew first blood with a penalty try. The Mustangs responded quickly after a turnover by the Vikings in their own 22-meter line; Cal Poly forwards responding with a hard-earned score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two teams would trade tries in the first half before a Mustang onslaught in the final 40, spurred by a 90-meter interception return by winger Nathan Vanderklugt as the Vikings were knocking on the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mustangs scored five second-half tries. The Vikings, none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They score a lot of points on most teams, so they wanted a test,” O’Brien said. “They reached out to me partly because of my brother, Tim \u2014 St. Mary\u2019s has played them, and Western Washington has played high-level competition. […] It was a really good match for our team.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cal Poly plays Santa Cruz in San Luis Obispo on Saturday, Feb. 7. Kickoff is 1 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Mustangs won both matches this past weekend, defeating the Santa Clara Broncos and Western Washington Vikings in back-to-back days — each by a significant margin. Cal Poly played Santa Clara on Saturday, Jan. 31, winning 70-21 in a match that gave a rotation of newer Mustang players an opportunity at A-side minutes. O’Brien said the performance was great overall, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"\n