Arizona Over Cal In OT For Pac 7s Title

Arizona Over Cal In OT For Pac 7s Title

Dante Weeks scored a sudden-death overtime try to lift Arizona past Cal 31-26 for the Pac Rugby Sevens title on Sunday in Tucson, AZ.

Nov 12, 2017 by Alex Goff
Arizona Over Cal In OT For Pac 7s Title

Dante Weeks scored a sudden-death overtime try to lift Arizona past Cal 31-26 for the Pac Rugby Sevens title on Sunday in Tucson, AZ.

The Golden Bears had won the last five Pac Sevens tournaments and looked in good shape to make it six. However, a skilled and experienced Wildcats team, seasoned by a finals appearance at the Collegiate Fall Classic a week ago, upended Cal in the final.

The Bears took an early lead with tries from Elliot Webb, which he converted, and from Seth Purdey. But right before halftime, Ben Joseph went over for Arizona, which was followed by a conversion by Matt Rogers, and Ryan Hudson added another just as the half expired to tie the game at 12-12.


Hudson scored again before Cal's Thomas Robles answered with a try in the left corner. Matthew Coyle slotted the difficult conversion to make it 19-19.

Rogers scored for the Wildcats just before full time and converted, but then Webb sliced through the defense for his second try as time ran out. Webb then converted to make it 26-26.

"[Webb] came out strong when we needed him," Robles said. "We scored some good tries and played with effort."

But Weeks put on the pace in overtime and won it for Arizona.

"In some ways we did well to get to the final, through a good UCLA team," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "With a bit more class and experience we could have even won. We missed Aidan (Flynn) and Zac (Tavenner) in the final. We missed their attacking firepower, but we had enough to compete. This team can get there — it's just a new experience for them."

Flynn and Tavenner both missed the final due to injuries.

As for Arizona, the Wildcats have been consistently good throughout the fall, with Rogers leading the way.

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Both teams looked strong on day one, with Arizona going 3-0 and outscoring opponents 89-7.

Players such as Luke Bartzis, Zach Heisterkamp, Ben Scoular, Robert Figley, Fabian Lumsden, Garrett Walker, and Jonah Eldridge all got on the scoresheet.

The Wildcats went on to defeat rival Arizona State 26-19 in the semifinals, while Cal beat UCLA 14-7 to set up the dramatic finale.