Gaels Open Up 2018 With A Bang

Gaels Open Up 2018 With A Bang

Saint Mary's thumps Central Washington 73-5 in Moraga.

Jan 7, 2018 by Alex Goff
Gaels Open Up 2018 With A Bang

Saint Mary's defeated Central Washington 73-5 in Moraga, CA, on Saturday in the second game of CWU's California tour, showing the rest of the country that the Gaels are ready for another serious run in D1A.

Saint Mary's opened the scoring on its home field, with Sean Yacoubian breaking through for a try and Anthony Rodriguez notching two for a 17-0 lead.

The Gaels got another try from Yacoubian, which was followed by Tommy Wallace and Tevite Lopeti leading SMC on a torrid final 10 minutes of the first half. That period was capped when flyhalf Mike McCarthy lofted a kick over the top that Aaron Matthews ran under to make it 41-0 at the break.


Several of the more well-known names on the Saint Mary's team, including Vili Helu, McCarthy, Matthews, Ronan Murphy, and Ethan Waller were more involved in setting up scores. But they got some tries, too. Matthews opened the second half with his second, and Helu got one of his own. Francois Pieterse, Tom Brusati, Derek Ellingston, and Wallace all touched down to make it 73-0 before the Wildcats scored their only try.

The tries came thick and fast for Saint Mary's as CWU became somewhat frustrated and lost its shape. Playing with confidence born in part out of a series of preseason games, the Gaels had numbers to spare on just about every break.