(Kory Hayden-SMC Athletics & Recreational Sports photo)

Keegan Engelbrecht kicked two first half penalties and added conversions to second half tries as California locked up the top seed in the national postseason with a 20-5 win against St Mary's Saturday in Moraga, CA.

Neither team found the try zone in the first 40 minutes.

Both squads played a man down after separate yellow cards for repeated infringements at the ruck, with the Gales' sin bin spilling into the second stanza.

Engelbrecht's penalty boots made it a 6-0 halftime lead for the Bears.

The Gaels cut the lead to 6-5 at minute 44 when SMC scrumhalf Blake McGuhan finished a 95-meter counterattack off an interception by outside center Tim Maupin. Fullback Austen Mount missed the conversion that would have given St Mary's the lead.

Quick restarts and adventurous counterattacks from deep inside SMC territory were hallmarks of the Gaels' effort. SMC pressured the Bears with speedy cutbacks that often found daylight up the middle of the field.

But it was Cal senior hooker Chris Biller who seized one of those loose-play opportunities to score a crucial try in minute 62, emerging from a ruck following a lineout and rumbling past a tackler 30 meters for a try. "It was a broken play that worked out well," Biller said.

Engelbrecht lined up and made the conversion to increase Cal's advantage to 13-5, keeping SMC one point more than a converted try from the lead.

The Bears and Gaels both suffered missed opportunities with untimely knock-ons close to the try zone. Big bursts by inside center Colin Hawley and the Bears backline were traded by return runs by Hawley's opposite Brendan O'Meara and the SMC backs.

Cal remained able to pressure the Gaels' inside their half of the pitch, creating the opportunity for Kyle Balough to end the scoring after he secured the ball from a ruck and freed himself to find the try zone.

"Both teams have a lot of moments they'd probably like to take back; I know our kids certainly do. We really let ourselves down in the pass-and-catch department," said Gaels head coach Tim O'Brien. "We hope to have the chance to play Cal again this year."

Elsewhere, Chico State waited until the last regular season game to improve its stocks in the Pacific Coast playoff scenario by beating Sacramento State 31-21 on the road.

(Jim Watje photo)

Sac State had two forwards binned at about the same time not long before the half and the two-man advantage was all the Wildcats needed to take over the game.

The result saw Chico State leapfrog Sac State into fourth place in the Northern California standings, while the Hornets dropped back into the fifth and final playoff spot just ahead of Stanford in sixth place.

In the other game of the round, Nevada beat Stanford 31-17. While it was UNR's first win of the season, the result had no bearing on either the NorCal standings or regional playoff picture.

"The players simply did not turn up and allowed Reno the majority of ball and all the momentum," Stanford head coach Jonathan Griffin told ARN. "Truly, very disappointing."

The Pacific Coast playoffs are now set and will be played over the first weekend in April in Northern California and Utah. In the Northern California pool, NorCal #2 (SMC) will go up against Pacific Northwest #3 (Washington), while the NorCal third (UC Davis) and fourth (Chico State) seeds will play each other.

In the Utah pool, Utah #2 (Utah) plays Pacific Northwest #2 (Washington State), and Pacific Northwest #1 (Central Washington) faces NorCal #5 (Sacramento State).

Standings (unofficial):
California (6-0) 54pts
St Mary’s (10-1) 50pts
UC Davis (6-5) 30pts
Chico State (5-6) 27pts
Sacramento State (5-6) 26pts
Stanford (3-7) 17pts
Nevada (1-10) 6pts