Oct 10- Arizona welcomed Arizona State to Tucson this weekend as their Second XV took on the Sun Devils at Rincon Vista Sports Complex.

 

Looking to build on last week's victory over Grand Canyon University, the young Wildcats got their scoring going early as their captain, Hooker Zach Biggs, took advantage of a stolen lineout to rumble in for the try in the eighth minute. Flyhalf Anton Grigoriou converted that try before eight minutes later taking advantage of an ASU penalty to find Wing Hadleigh Tucker, who beat three defenders to score a try of his own. A Grigoriou penalty continued the surge, putting the Wildcats up 17-0 early. After some strong ASU defense, the Wildcats worked in to their pattern, and a linebreak from Flanker Jake Hedge set up a try for Lock Zachary Knobbe-Hewitt in the right corner before Hedge scored one of his own to make it 31-0. Capping a strong first half, Center Lucas Bartzis hit a hard line and then broke through the Sun Devil defense to make it 38-0 at the break. "We were pleased with the effort in the first half" said Head Coach Sean Duffy, "we were far from perfect and were lucky enough to take advantage of some things early. The play by Grigoriou and Hedge was really key and there were a lot of unsung heroes doing dirty work."

 

In the second half, another wave of pressure defensively led to turnover ball and a kick behind the line by replacement Flyhalf Kristian Sanchez that Fullback Korbin Miller scooped up for a try, which was converted by Center Luke Thayer. Thayer made a strong impact in the second half, scoring a try of his own on a great line before converting Tucker's second try in the 71st minute. Two late ASU tries were disappointing for the players and staff, but the end result of a 60-14 victory was a strong performance that the team can build from. "Identical scoreline to last year but completely different game. ASU battled until the end and credit to them, but I was really pleased to see our guys embrace the new things we've taught them and put it to use." 

 

The Wildcats will conclude the three-game Junior Varsity October set this Friday when they welcome Northern Arizona University to Tucson. 

 

 

 

Scoring

Tries: 8- Tucker (2), Biggs, Knobbe-Hewitt, Hedge, Bartzis, Miller, Thayer

Coversions: Grigoriou- 4/4, Thayer- 3/4

Penalties: Grigoriou- 1/1, Thayer- 1/1