Toreros See Challenge in Cal State Hayward

Size, speed, athletes on scholarship and home field are only a few of the advantages the Cal State Hayward football team will have over the University of San Diego when the schools meet at 1 p.m. today in Hayward.

The Pioneers (1-2) are an NCAA Division II team. USD (2-1) participates in Division III, which does not permit athletic scholarships. They have met only once--Hayward won, 40-21, in 1983--and this game was a late addition to the USD schedule to eliminate one of two bye weeks.

Can the Toreros win? Can they rebound from last weekend’s gut-wrenching, 21-20 loss to Cal Lutheran in the final seconds against a Pioneer team that shut out Cal Lutheran, 27-0, three weeks ago?

“Physically, they’re probably better than us,” USD Coach Brian Fogarty said. “We just hope we can hang with them and keep ourselves in the ballgame.

“They are probably the biggest team we’ll play all year. They have an offensive lineman that weighs 300-plus pounds and a couple of defensive lineman that are up to 280. That’s something we’re not used to. We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us.”

In addition to size, the Pioneers feature quick-strike capabilities in junior quarterback Brad Bretz (566 yards, eight touchdowns), receivers Jesse Lopez (22 catches for 226 yards and two touchdowns) and Samuel Bernstine (10 for 180, three TDs), tight end Brian Bretz (12 for 120, one TD) and running back Jesse Tautalatasi (182 rushing yards, 4.5 per carry).

“The big key for us,” Fogarty said, “will be eliminating the big play. That Bernstine is lightning quick. We have to sustain some drives on offense. We have to keep our defense off the field better than we did at Cal Lu.”

Other factors are this is USD’s third consecutive “road” game and first requiring air travel in two years. The Toreros traditionally have not done well in the Bay Area, and Fogarty will have only 45 players instead of 78.