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Round 4 of the California Cup is now on the books and the results have set up an exciting final set of round-robin play for next weekend. Any of the top four teams can now conceivably qualify for the grand final set for January 21.
Saturday’s games started with a battle of the basement dwellers that saw Old Aztecs come away with their first win of the season by 31-22 over Olympic. An emphatic five-try performance with the Aztecs inside back triumvirate of Robert Stortz, Mike Deel, and Tim Howard leading the way consigns Ray Lehner’s Olympic side to the bottom with zero points from four games.
OMBAC made a huge statement by handing Life West their first loss of the season as the San Diego side scored five tries en route to a dominant 46-28 victory. Two touchdowns by league-leading try scorer John Grant and 15 points from the boot of Kalei Konrad have put Old Mission Bay in prime position to secure a spot in the final next week. Life West had a pair of tries from dynamic scrumhalf Devereaux Ferris but it wasn’t enough and they now face a must-win situation this coming Saturday.
The other big result from the weekend was SFGG’s narrow 23-21 win at Long Beach over Belmont Shore. A loss would have knocked Golden Gate out of the running but big games from winger Fatai Vailala and Fijian flyhalf Isoa Donaldson saw them get the result against a tough Shore side that featured Eagles star Mike Te’o in the midfield.
SFGG now face Life West on Saturday in what is now essentially a semi-final situation with the winner advancing to the final. OMBAC can clinch their spot with a win over Old Aztecs, while Belmont Shore must take a maximum haul against Olympic and hope for a miracle Aztecs upset if they have any hope of sneaking through.
OLD AZTECS 31 vs 22 OLYMPIC
Sat, Jan 7, 13:30, Robb Field, San Diego
SCORING
OLD AZTECS 31
Tries – M. Deel, B. Roller, L. Edwards, J. Niblock, T. Pickering
Cons – T. Howard 3
OLYMPIC 22
Tries – M. Haley, K. Peterson, T. Mohr
Cons – K. Engelbrecht 2
Pens – K. Engelbrecht
TEAMS
OLD AZTECS
1 Tristan Pickering, 2 Pat Blair, 3 Alex Blair, 4 Bill Dow (capt.), 5 Lucas Edwards, 6 Leon Hayward, 7 Joe Wesolek, 8 Jeff Diggs, 9 Robert Stortz, 10 Mike Deel, 11 Cleeandre Ross, 12 Tim Howard, 13 Boomer Roller, 14 James Niblock, 15 Celester Asuega
16 Chris Gonzales, 17 John Guerrero, 18 Joe Ramonas, 19 Robert Laulaulo, 20 Erik Zents, 21 Jaco Breytenbach, 22 Jon Prickett, 23 Connor Mariani
OLYMPIC
1 Tanner Mohr (capt.), 2 Travis Moscone, 3 Stephan Salimi, 4 Zack Purdy, 5 Nick Wagner, 6 Kyle Peterson, 7 Josh Gold, 8 Matt Frederickson, 9 Tim Rafferty, 10 Keegan Engelbrecht, 11 John Gallo, 12 Mike Haley, 13 Josh Tucker, 14 Paul Saccomano, 15 Dustin Muhn
16 Tom Bernardi, 17 Josh Galant, 18 Andrew King, 19 AN Other, 20 Matt McCarthy, 21 Ricky Boebel, 22 Bubba Jones, 23 Matt Tymstra
OMBAC 46 vs 28 Life West
Sat, Jan 7, 15:00, Little Q Field, San Diego
SCORING
OMBAC 46
Tries – J. Grant 2, J. Gillespie, T. Stanfill, T. Clever
Cons – K. Konrad 3
Pens – K. Konrad 3, I. Cassidy 2
LIFE WEST 28
Tries – D. Ferris 2, A. Munoz, Z. Bonte
Cons – G. Cazenave 4
TEAMS
OMBAC
1 Josh Bart, 2 Jed Gillespie, 3 Ethan Willis, 4 Tai Tuisamoa (capt.), 5 Josh Vainikolo, 6 Chris Turori, 7 Shane Moise, 8 Todd Clever, 9 Jamie Purcell, 10 Ben Batger, 11 Tim Stanfill, 12 Kalei Konrad, 13 John Grant, 14 Matt Long, 15 Zach Pangelinan
16 Tai Te’o, 17 Nick Zajda, 18 Derrick Broussard, 19 Jay Harmon, 20 Bryce Baker, 21 Ian Cassidy, 22 Nick Evans, 23 Ian Denham
LIFE WEST
1 Fancy Namulau’ulu, 2 Jay Finau, 3 Holo Mo’ungaloa, 4 Zack Tannous, 5 Rich Knight, 6 Siupeli Sakalia, 7 Zach Bonte, 8 Akuila Uaisele (capt.), 9 Devereaux Ferris, 10 Guillaume Cazenave, 11 Mark Koro, 12 Calvin Nell, 13 Pila Iongi, 14 Anthony Munoz, 15 Martini Talapusi
16 Lopeti Liu, 17 Tone Ngaluafe, 18 Maka Tameilau, 19 Alex Pedjase, 20 Charlie Brennan, 21 Tyler Harrison, 22 Siaosi Lata, 23 Naima Fuala’au
BELMONT SHORE 21 vs 23 SFGG
Sat, Jan 7, 15:00, CSU Field, Long Beach
SCORING
BELMONT SHORE 21
Tries – M. Pedersen, M. Te’o
Cons – A. Jackson
Pens – A. Jackson 2
Drop goal – H. Mexted
SFGG 23
Tries – F. Vailala 2, I. Donaldson
Cons – I. Donaldson
Pens – I. Donaldson 2
TEAMS
BELMONT SHORE
1 Mason Pedersen, 2 Valentine Meachan, 3 Brice Schilling, 4 Timothy Mendoza, 5 Ian Carpenter, 6 Rob Newcomb, 7 Sione Masoe, 8 Pita Semeane, 9 John Gray (capt.), 10 Hilton Mexted, 11 Andy Jackson, 12 Ed Pitts, 13 Mike Te’o, 14 Greg Daniels, 15 Garrett Brewer
16 JP Palaita, 17 Daniel Va’afuti, 18 Sam Lilley, 19 Cameron Reed, 20 Peter Nifo, 21 James Muse, 22 Ben Weischedel, 23 Mafi Seanoa
SFGG
1 Jacob Nelson, 2 Neil Barrett, 3 Saimone Laulaupea’alu, 4 Brendan Hardiman, 5 Drew Hyjer, 6 Opeti Okusi, 7 Danny LaPrevotte, 8 Brendan Daly (capt.), 9 Colby Stevens, 10 Isoa Donaldson, 11 Tevita Vehikite, 12 Eae Okusi, 13 Tevita Okusi, 14 Fatai Vailala, 15 Pila Huihui
16 Grant Hyjer, 17 Patrick Latu, 18 Jared Stalling, 19 Tom Rooke, 20 Nick Grass, 21 Ricky Reynolds, 22 Connor Ring, 23 Sione Tupouata
2016-17 CALIFORNIA CUP LEAGUE TABLE
| CLUB | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BP | PTS |
| Life West | 3 | 1 | 0 | 130 | 114 | +16 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 16 |
| OMBAC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 182 | 105 | +77 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 15 |
| SFGG | 3 | 1 | 0 | 129 | 109 | +20 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 15 |
| Belmont Shore | 2 | 2 | 0 | 116 | 97 | +19 | 15 | 13 | 4 | 12 |
| Old Aztecs | 1 | 3 | 0 | 106 | 135 | -29 | 15 | 19 | 3 | 7 |
| Olympic | 0 | 4 | 0 | 62 | 165 | -103 | 8 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
2016-17 CALIFORNIA CUP SCORING LEADERS
| NAME | CLUB | PTS | T | C | P | D |
| Andy Jackson | Belmont Shore | 43 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 0 |
| Kalei Konrad | OMBAC | 42 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 0 |
| Tim Howard | Old Aztecs | 31 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 0 |
| John Grant | OMBAC | 30 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Isoa Donaldson | SFGG | 29 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Pila Iongi | Life West | 25 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Volney Rouse | SFGG | 25 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Pangelinan | OMBAC | 22 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Devereaux Ferris | Life West | 21 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Guillaume Cazenave | Life West | 20 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Todd Clever | OMBAC | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pila Huihui | SFGG | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rob Newcomb | Belmont Shore | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keegan Engelbrecht | Olympic | 17 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Lucas Edwards | Old Aztecs | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Halalilo | SFGG | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Anthony Munoz | Life West | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robert Stortz | Old Aztecs | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Anderson | Olympic | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ben Batger | OMBAC | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Daniels | Belmont Shore | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Haley | Olympic | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Junior Helu | Life West | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Max Paronelli | Belmont Shore | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mason Pedersen | Belmont Shore | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Boomer Roller | Old Aztecs | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Stanfill | OMBAC | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tasi Toilolo | Old Aztecs | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fatai Vailala | SFGG | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ian Cassidy | OMBAC | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Hilton Mexted | Belmont Shore | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Martini Talapusi | Life West | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Pele Toelupe-Tuisila | Life West | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Neil Barrett | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Bart | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Bonte | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jared Braun | Olympic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brendan Daly | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Deel | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ian Denham | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeff Diggs | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Evans | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Siokatame Falatau | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jay Finau | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Fukafuka | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Gallo | Olympic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jed Gillespie | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Danny LaPrevotte | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Manu Laqai | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Long | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tanner Mohr | Olympic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shane Moise | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Travis Moscone | Olympic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Niblock | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyle Peterson | Olympic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tristan Pickering | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jon Prickett | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Isimeli Ratumaimuri | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cameron Reed | Belmont Shore | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pita Semeane | Belmont Shore | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Te’o | Belmont Shore | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Turori | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Vainikolo | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nua Vete | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Manu Volavola | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
