Western Washington took control of the NCRC Pool A with a convincing 37-14 victory over Oregon in Eugene, OR Saturday.
With the win, WWU is now 6-0 and assured of 1st in the pool.
Oregon lost by 59 to WWU last fall and was more ready for the Vikings this time around. But Western weathered the storm and Gerardo Cisneros scored between the posts to stake WWU to a 5-0 lead. JoJo Alkhedairy added a try before Oregon responded to make it 10-7 at the break.
In the second half, Western's defense started to fire. Mohanmmed Alijanoubi came off the bench as an injury sub and had an immediate impact, breaking the line and scoring. Matt Motylekski scored on an eightman pick from long range, and then Louie Gty capped off the day with a try, which he converted.
Pac West
In the opening weekend of Pacific West conference, Fresno State handed Nevada a 45-30 defeat to set down something of a market. Meanwhile, Chico State started its conference defense with a tough win over Stanford, 35-26.
Stanford surprised Chico State with some momentum-changing tries, scoring twice on interceptions and also scoring on a charged down kick.
Chico State, however, came back to win it and start off 1-0.
San Francisco State is also 1-0 after beating San Jose State 32-27. Prop Daniel Ogbonna scored two tries to lead SFSU.
UC Santa Cruz took down Sacramento State 35-26, with No. 8 Rembert Sison and center Scott Anderson each scoring two tries. Flyhalf Kaden Loversky converted two and added a penalty and a drop goal.
Gold Coast
And in the Gold Coast, Claremont Colleges defeated Loyola Marymount 31-17. Frankie Davis was player of the game. Azusa Pacific defeated USC 26-19 in the other Gold Coast game.
Florida
The new conference in D1AA is the Florida D1AA Conference. This is the result of the split of the old SIRC - some of the northern teams moved to the SCRC, and some went to D2. The Florida-based teams operate their own conference, now.
Defending champion Central Florida crushed Miami (FL) 116-5. University of Florida, which moved to the conference from the SCRC, won via forfeit over North Florida (hey, at least Miami pitched up).
Florida State edged Florida International 21-17. No. 8 David Alicea's try with about six minutes to go put FSU ahead. South Florida beat Florida Atlantic 46-18, getting two tries from supersub prop Armon Kashanian, and two from scrumhalf Paul Leclair.