The Cardinal fell in a close, hard-fought battle against Chico State.  In the opening minutes of the game, Stanford held possession, but gave the ball away too easily with the kick.  Chico took advantage of Stanford’s inability to capitalize on their possession when they won a penalty and put the kick ten meters from the Cardinal try line.  After the Cardinal stalled a Chico maul, repeated Chico pick and drives were unsuccessful.  With the ball stuck in a ruck, Chico was awarded a scrum.  Stanford was slow to react to a free kick and the Chico #6 dove into the try zone (#5 good on conversion).  The rest of the first half was marked by testy rugby slowed by a whistle-happy referee, but the Cardinal were able to get on the board before half when Brad Bachelder (2008) converted a penalty into three points.

                In the second half, both teams continued to play stiff defense thereby frustrating each other.  Chico St. extended their lead when a pick-and-go broke through the Stanford line and with an offload to the right wing took the score to 12-3 (#5 no good on conversion).  After a penalty kick by Chico #5 put the Wildcats up twelve, Stanford was in need of two scores.  With a bit of magic, Bachelder found a hole at the back of a lineout and made a long run that Brennan Corbett turned into a try with a strong drive across the line.  The Bachelder conversion brought the Cardinal to within five.  Unfortunately, Stanford was unable to convert several promising attacking lines and Chico held on for a 15-10 victory.