Oct 19- The Wildcats continued their Fall season with a trip to Boulder to take on Colorado in a Big XII battle on Friday night. With two wins already under their belt, Arizona would be looking to keep their undefeated record intact against a Buffaloes side looking to compete in the always challenging Rocky Mountain Conference.

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Arizona would get started quickly with a series of strong attacking sequences, with Hooker Logan Shea pushing his way through the Colorado defensive line from a meter out for his first try on debut, converted by Berenger to make it 7-0 in the fifth minute. Berenger would get involved in the attack early from Fullback, spotting a gap and attacking the line in the midfield and slicing through for his first try of the year six minutes later for a 14-0 lead after the conversion. The early-season combinations would be tested as the Buffaloes settled into the game, with some stout Colorado defense and errors by the Wildcats keeping them within striking distance. New vice captain Tanner DeMassa’s try in the 19th minute would put the finishing touches on a well-worked sequence of attack, but the flow would be hard to find in consistent fashion. “Colorado made us work, and that’s what we wanted. The first half was about getting into the swing of things and hitting some early-season targets in different areas of the game” said Director of Rugby Sean Duffy. 

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The Wildcats’ sophomore class would play a major role in hitting those targets, with Wing Nick Morgan scoring just before the break to make it 24-0 at the break before a Jake Schumacher score from the other wing would make it 31-0 early in the second half. The importance of the team’s finishers would be clear in a match like Friday’s and the impact of Wildcats like back row Jacob Jaffe, Scrumhalf Connor McIsaac, and Fullback Parker Beilke would be felt quickly. Number Eight Aiden Kemp would be the beneficiary of some strong defensive pressure, pushing through the line from close range for his first score of the year before Flanker Aston Gradwick-Light would follow suit with some direct attack late in the match to make it 45-0. For the Wildcats, the win moves them to 3-0 but sets the stage for the rest of the Fall as they look to build. “A huge thank you to Colorado for hosting us for two matches, as they are an athletic, physical side and these games are important. We are happy to win, but we have high expectations this year. I’m proud of our guys for stepping up to a road challenge with some hard travel, but we know that these are early days and we have a lot of work to do to reach those expectations” said Duffy.

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Arizona would travel two full sides to Boulder, with the Wildcats’ 2nd XV emerging with a comprehensive victory over Colorado 2nd XV. First-year Flanker Will Barrett’s hat trick would help spearhead a 56-5 halftime lead, allowing the Wildcats to get invaluable minutes for a large group of athletes. “We had a feeling based on how they’ve been training that they were starting to get on the same page and we could maybe see that next big collective step in their development, and they played lights out” said Duffy.

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Both of Arizona’s sides will be off next weekend before an important home match on November 1st as both Cal Poly and Utah Valley will travel to Sitton Field.
 

Arizona's full schedule can be found here.​
 

Scoring vs Colorado

Tries: Shea, Berenger, DeMassa, Morgan, Schumacher, Ai. Kemp, Gradwick-Light

Conversions: Berenger- 3/5, Manning- 2/2

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Arizona vs Colorado

1- Isaac Morrill

2- Logan Shea

3- Dalton Slaughter

4- Matt Grau

5- Chris Grosse

6- Aston Gradwick-Light

7- Tanner DeMassa- VC

8- Aiden Kemp

9- Lucas Smith

10- Saxon Gerstl

11- Jake Schumacher

12- Tom Manning

13- Brody Johnson

14- Nick Morgan

15- Matteo Berenger- C

16- Carter Hertstein

17- Jack Kerrigan

18- Marcus Harris

19- Sean McNulty

20- Jacob Jaffe

21- Connor McIsaac

22- Will Rohrsheim

23- Parker Beilke

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2nd XV scoring vs Colorado

Arizona 106-5 Colorado

Tries: Barrett (3), Heim (2), Hertstein (2), Magutakuona (2), Rix, Teissier, P. McKenna, Doebel, Caulfield, Tenery, O'Connor

Conversions: L. Barker- 9/9, Jansen van Vuuren- 4/7

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2nd XV vs Colorado 2nd XV

​1- Jack Lister​

2- Carter Hertstein- VC

3- Geno McKenna

4- Alex Kemp

5- Lachy Teissier

6- Jamie Clegg

7- Will Barrett

8- Kaelan Meyer

9- Declan Postin

10- Lance Barker

11- Jackson Kutcher

12- Seth Catchpole- C

13- PJ Enegren

14- Emmanuel Magutakuona

15- Ethan Heim

16- Kai Caulfield

17- Max Tenery

18- Takum Kawamura

19- Liam Parker

20- Peter McKenna

21- Jonny Rix

22- Jano Jansen van Vuuren

23- Brendan Doebel

24- Jimmy O'Connor

25- Scott McGhee 

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