Dec 11- Arizona closed the first semester on Sunday with its debut at the Fall Classic, taking on Mount St. Mary's in an east-west match-up between the schools in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

 

The Wildcats entered the game with an undefeated record, but would face a solid test against the varsity side from Maryland, with the Mountaineers jumping to a 7-0 lead on a missed tackle. Arizona would work their way back into things, moving down the field before Flyhalf Saxon Gerstl's grubber was touched down by fellow freshman Emmanuel Magutakuona, giving the winger from Zimbabwe a try on his 1st XV debut. A 50-22 by Gerstl would put Arizona in another scoring position, with a well-worked maul putting Hooker Cameron Blair over to make it 12-7 before a shot at goal from Matteo Berenger would make it 15-7 in the 20th minute. Mount would respond, with a penalty deep in the Arizona half making it 15-10 before an intercept try on the final play of the half made it 17-15 going into the break.

 

The early stages of the second half would widen the deficit, with Mount taking advantage of Wildcat mistakes to strike for two converted tries. A line break by flanker Tanner DeMassa and a support line from Wing Jackson Kutcher would close the gap, but it was too little too late for the Wildcats, as they were dealt their first loss of the Fall. 

 

"First off thank you to Mount for a great game and to CRAA for organizing the event. We had our moments, but we looked like a team playing their 3rd 1st XV match against a good side playing their 10th. We've never played in December in my time here, but these guys are hungry for matches against good sides to prepare us for what's coming in Spring. We know in order to take the next step that we need to not just play more matches, but play them against good teams, even if it's across the country. These guys are resilient and ready to grow from this past weekend so we can continue to build this into a championship level program. I'm proud of their effort this Fall, and how they have progressed since August. Can't wait for January" said Duffy. 

​​

The weekend would feature one win for the Wildcats, with Arizona 2nd XV defeating Ohio State 2nd XV 47-14 in a Saturday morning match to end their Fall undefeated. Both sides will turn their focus to final exams and the holiday break before returning to action January 18th at home.​

​

For the Wildcats full schedule, click here.

​​​

1st XV vs Mount St. Mary's

 

Tries: Magutakuona, Blair, Kutcher

Conv: Berenger- 1/3

Pen: Berenger- 1/1

​

​1- Seamus McCarthy

2- Cameron Blair- C

3- Dalton Slaughter

4- Jacob Jaffe

5- Aiden Kemp

6- Tanner DeMassa

7- Troy Norman

8- Andreas Andersson

9- Jacob Hall

10- Saxon Gerstl

11- Emmanuel Magutakuona

12- Gustave Martinez

13- Mattox King

14- Antonio Gonzalez

15- Matteo Berenger- VC
-

16- Henry Langrish

17- Liam Swanson

18- Isaac Morrill

19- Aidan Hendry

20- Sean McNulty

21- Lucas Smith

22- Sintu Mjali

23- Jackson Kutcher

​

2nd XV vs Ohio State 2nd XV

Tries: Manning, McIsaac, Morgan, Bresland, Moananu-Apela, Postin, Herbes

Conv: Manning- 6/7

​

​1- Lucas Holton​​

2- Aidan McCarthy

3- Marcus Harris

4- Henry Kliavkoff

5- Matt Grau

6- Braedon Butte

7- Ben Herbes

8- Jack Bresland- C

9- Connor McIsaac

10- Will Rohrsheim

11- Nick Morgan

12- Tom Manning

13- PJ Enegren

14- Brody Johnson

15- Connor McCormick- VC

-

16- Carter Hertstein

17- Dominic Zapata

18- Kai Moananu-Apela

19- Kaelan Meyer

20- Brendan Doebel

21- Declan Postin

22- Seth Catchpole

23- Kieran Quinn

24- Blake Liddell

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​​​​