Guidry, Mangano, Hattick, Pitzer earn tournament recognition as
Live Oak completes undefeated run in Bronze Division
SAN JOSE — Live Oak captured the Bronze Division championship with an undefeated showing last weekend in the Pacific Coast Invitational Rugby Tournament.
It is the Acorns’ second title at the season-ending event and first since 2006, when they defeated East Palo Alto 29-12 in the title match. Live Oak capped its latest title run by the same score, rallying to beat Kennedy in the finals Sunday.
The Acorns’ previous two wins at San Jose State were just as convincing. They opened with a 30-5 victory over Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd, then beat Bullard 26-7 in the afternoon Saturday to reach the Bronze Division championship for the second straight year.
Live Oak outscored its opponents 85-24, getting a division-best 26 points from senior standoff Joe Guidry, 15 by Jackson Hattick, 10 by Erik Poulsen and nine from Andrew Pitzer.
“The strong finish clearly demonstrated our club’s potential,” said Acorns coach Bart Nielsen, whose team struggled in Skyhawk Conference play. “This season, we were unable to play at our top level week in and week out due to a number of reasons. Hopefully, this tournament victory will instill in the returning players the proper mental attitude needed for a successful season.”
Unlike the preliminary matches, which lasted 45 minutes, Sunday’s final was a full 70.
Live Oak came out fast against Kennedy, continuing a trend from the first two matches, and scored first on a well-supported, multiphase play that spanned almost the length of the field. Guidry touched down his first of three tries in the game to cap it, and the Acorns led 5-0 after a missed conversion try.
Kennedy did not go down easily. The Fresno team answered with a try tallied by a borrowed player from one of Live Oak’s conference rivals, Peninsula Green. A failed conversion left the score knotted.
Live Oak began to reassert itself as the dominant team, controlling possession and territory. Guidry added another conversion-less try with 10 minutes left before halftime to push his team in front 10-5.
Kennedy went ahead 12-10, squeezing in a converted try with time winding down. The go-ahead play was set up after the Acorns failed to cleanly clear the ball out of their side of the field. Under heavy pressure, Live Oak’s defensive wall cracked, and Kennedy slipped in for a score.
Following a gut check at halftime, the Acorns responded well. They used their offense to dominate field position in the second half and poured in 19 consecutive points on tries by Poulsen, Hattick and Guidry. Pitzer, a junior, and Guidry tacked on conversions to round out the scoring.
Quick strikes were just as key in Live Oak’s first two matches.
The Acorns buried Bishop O’Dowd with a commanding 15-0 lead built on tries by center Eric Webb, 8-man Thomas Mangano and Poulsen, a senior prop.
The opposing team recorded its only try just as time expired in the first half. From there, Live Oak went on another scoring spree. Sophomores Andrew Daggett (flanker) and Mitch Marcum (scrum half) touched down tries, and Pitzer scored his team’s sixth and final try for good measure.
The Acorns made another fast start against Bullard. Hattick, a junior lock, and senior prop Alex Roman collected tries early with Pitzer and Guidry adding conversions to put Live Oak ahead 14-0 at the break.
Bullard tightened the score, 14-7, but the Acorns regained the upper hand in the second half with two more tries — one by Guidry and Hattick. Guidry converted Hattick’s score to close out the day.
Live Oak’s impressive run led to Guidry, Mangano, Hattick and Pitzer being named to the Bronze Division All-Tournament team.
“They sustained maximum effort in three games over a weekend,” Nielsen said. “Next year, we will need to do the same over the entire season.”
