By Ayden Vasquez
The Norco College rugby team sought to reclaim the Founders Cup from MiraCosta College on Feb. 24.
The match served as a rubber match between the two schools, with Norco securing the first two Founders Cup trophies and MiraCosta the last two.
Both teams entered their final match of the season 2-2 after facing Division I opponents.
“Today was a game that our entire team was ready to play hard for,” Jarrod Mosby, the Mustang’s sophomore eight-man, said. “We didn’t just want this trophy, but we wanted to end our season on a win.”
The Norco College Mustangs came from behind to beat the MiraCosta Spartans at the Norco College Sports Complex 60-38.
Norco didn’t fold after the Spartans took a 21-0 first-half lead. The Mustang’s physicality caused MiraCosta to begin committing penalties, leading to Norco’s first points of the match when sophomore fly half Victor Mataele kicked a 3-point conversion.
Showing signs of life, the Mustangs marched down the pitch, using their size and speed to gain great field positioning. With a 27-yard try by freshman winger Gabriel Morris, and a successful conversion by Mataele, Norco was back in the game as they brought the score to 10-21.
Capitalizing on this energy shift, Norco went on a rampage, scoring two crucial tries by Mosby and sophomore lock Cyele Banks late in the first half.
The Mustangs went into halftime leading with a score of 22-21.
“We started very slow in the first half,” head coach Brian Hudspeth said. “MiraCosta is a very strong and physical team like us, so they really gave us a challenge.”
Norco’s explosiveness was on full display only two minutes into the second half after a physical and tackle-breaking try by Mataele. Three minutes later, sophomore right flanker Jacob Nkwamba acrobatically dove forward to score another try for the Mustangs, extending the lead to 34-21.
“While the score tells a different story, today’s game showed what we as a squad were lacking and what we improved on this season,” Nkwamba said. “Overall, though, there will always be room for improvement in my performance, but the performance of my guys today was amazing.”
Norco accelerated its offense and maintained a menacing defensive intensity in the second half, delivering big hits to keep MiraCosta to as few yards as possible. Still, the persistent Spartans found a few holes in the Mustang’s defense, allowing them to score and close the gap, bringing the contest to 34-28.
By the 54th minute of the match, after Norco scored two more tries to MiraCosta’s one, the score read 48-35 as the Spartans would settle for a 3-point conversion.
Driving the dagger deeper into the weakened Spartans, the relentless Mustang offense would score two more tries, making the match seem more lopsided than it was with a final score of 60-38.
Raising the silver Founders Cup trophy capped a 3-2 season for Hudspeth and his team.
“Our goal going into the second half was to ramp up our intensity, play fast on the wing, and play structured rugby,” the coach said. “I believe we did just that and more.”
