By Kelsey Price


Coming out of last weekend’s Red Rock Rugby Tournament, one team can no longer claim an undefeated record. Luckily for Utah, that team happens to be No. 4 Delaware, which went 0-2 in the tournament down in St. George.

The No. 3 Scrummin’ Utes remained perfect this weekend, improving to a 10-game winning streak as they beat Utah Valley and Delaware.

“Anytime you have two games back to back, it’s going to be a long, tough weekend,” said Utah head coach Blake Burdette. “But at the end of the day, we still walked away with two wins.”

Friday, the Utes took on No. 22 Utah Valley for the second time this preseason. Although an influx of new players for the Wolverines drastically helped the team, Utah dominated UVU in both halves, winning 49-7.

The Wolverines scored just one try—the equivalent of a touchdown—and conversion the first half, compared to the Utes’ three tries. In the final 40 minutes, Utah shut out UVU completely and scored another 28 points.

On Saturday, Utah faced a considerably more dangerous Delaware, which lost to reigning national champions BYU 32-13 Friday. Although the Blue Hens put in a good showing Saturday, they eventually fell to the Utes, 22-14.

Utah looked mostly in command in the first half, taking the 19-7 lead with three tries and converting two. However, the momentum shifted the second frame, with Delaware outscoring Utah 7-3.

“Delaware is a tough team,” Burdette said. “We played hard. We came out strong the first half—not that we died off the second half, we just fizzled out a little. We have to get that right and play a full 80 minutes if we want to be successful down the road.”

Utah initially paced the game with a 19-0 lead, with tries coming from Mike Kimball, Hayden McMullin and Naki Angilau. McMullin also went two for three on first-half conversions.

In the second half, scoring slowed somewhat for both teams. Utah was shut out until the final seconds, when McMullin nailed a penalty kick with no time left on the clock, sealing Utah’s victory.

“We made a bunch of mistakes, especially dropped balls,” Burdette said. “It certainly wasn’t a perfect win, but it is a good place to start.”

The tournament showed a much more balanced Utah offense, with plays more evenly distributed between all the winds and backs. McMullin also showed consistency on conversion kicks, a duty that had been split earlier in the season with Angilau.

“We played a lot more as cohesive team and unit,” said Angilau, a freshman fullback. “We finally came together as a team and really played together. No individual stood out, because it was more of a team effort.”

Burdette hopes the tournament will serve as a good starting place for the Utes, who face a road-heavy schedule this month.

“We need to use the tournament as a springboard into the rest of the season and get the momentum going,” Burdette said.

The Utes will be on the road again this weekend as they head to Ephraim to play Snow College at 1 p.m. on Saturday.


Team verse Delaware

1. Camden Burd, 2. Matt Wunderli, 3. Nick Mostyn (Leki Katoa @ 67), 4. Mike Kimball (Nick Raymond @70), 5. Scott Metcalf, 6. Mike Juszczak, 7. Danny James (c) 8. Chance Fivas, 9. Don Pati, 10. Thretton Palamo, 11. Naki Angilua, 12. Hayden McMullin, 13. Zach Taylor, 14. Blake Miller, 15. Mike Wunderli

Utah 22

Tries: Kimball, Angilua, McMullin
Conversions: McMullin 2
Penalties McMullin

Delaware 14

Tries: 2
Conversions: 2
Penalties: None

Halftime: Utah 19 Delaware 7