UC Davis pulled off a bit of a shocker with a 33-14 defeat of Central Washington on Friday night at the Aggies’ football stadium in Davis, CA.

CWU ran on 10 new players, but the Wildcats also suited up some key upperclassmen. Davis did well, despite being without top player Ari Wargon, to double up Central.

Freshmen Jack Wendling (Chuckanut, WA) and Ivan Pula (Budd Bay, WA) scored CWU’s two tries, with Nick Siemens and Ian Wright converting.

"Firstly, congratulations to the 10 student-athletes who made their debut for the Wildcats tonight," CWU head coach Todd Thornley said. "We got a kick in the mouth from a more committed UC Davis side, and we did not respond the right way in order to get the win. Full credit to them as they simply wanted it more and deserved the win."

This was the first D1A game for UC Davis, which had been in D1AA for the past several years. Thornley said Davis was more physical and had desire that his team "simply didn't match."

The Aggies' skill execution was also at a higher level, added the Wildcats coach.

"I suspect they will do just fine in D1A this year," Thornley said. "[But] this can be a very valuable experience for the 10 guys who played their first-ever game for us."

It was a wet evening and players made errors as a result, but Davis put a stamp on the proceedings early when fullback Mike Buonarati pounced on a lose ball and fly hacked it through to score in the first few minutes. 

Flyhalf Tarik Sinora missed the conversion, but added a penalty a few minutes later. Going into hafltime, Sinora scored a try of his own and converted it to make the score 15-0. 

CWU pummeled the Davis line as halftime approached, and after a series of pick-and-goes, sent it wide for Wendling to cut through and touch down in the corner.

That made it 15-7 at the break. In the second half, another Sinora penalty made it 18-7 for Davis, and then Cole March went over 

CWU ramped it up in the second half but a key interception by Maia Silva turned around the momentum, and freshman Brookshire capped off the scoring with a try that included just about every member of the team.

"I was very pleased with my team's defensive effort, work rate, and line speed," said Malpass. "That all helped stifle Central Washingtons obvious physical advantage. Overall I was extremely pleased with the performance. Tarik Sinora, in his first game at flyhalf, played well managing our attack patterns. We set out to make defense our main aim for the game and my guys worked extremely hard to keep width and line speed."

Captain Harrison Marrow and defensive powerhouse Cole March were top players for Davis.

"They played a second team for sure,' Malpass said of Central Washington. "But it was a good team win for us."

CWU will field what is expected to be a more experienced 15 on Saturday against defending D1A champion Saint Mary’s in Moraga, CA.