OMBAC II Beats Belmont Shore for Rugby Title

Dennis Panish scored six points on two drop goals to lead Old Mission Bay Athletic Club II to a 16-9 victory over Belmont Shore II in the American Division of the 21st Annual Rugby Tournament of Champions at Robb Field.

It was one of three championship games played Sunday in the rain-shortened 36-team, two-day event.

California got 11 points from the outstanding back of the tournament, Andre Bachelet, to beat Long Beach State for the Collegiate Division title, 25-0.

Life College of Atlanta fended off a late rush by Old Blues of Berkeley to score a 13-9 victory in the National Invitational Division. Graham Butterworth led Life College with nine points and teammate Mike Siano was named the tournament’s most valuable forward.

SAILING

A mast problem has forced frontrunning Ole to drop out of the BMW/San Diego-to-Manzanillo race and put into Baja California’s Turtle Bay for repairs.

Antonio Elias’ Santa Cruz 70 from the Acapulco Yacht Club reported at 11:30 Saturday night that it was withdrawing because rivets had worked loose in the mast.

Winds increasing to 10 knots had carried Brack Duker’s Evolution from California YC into second place overall at Sunday’s 8 a.m. roll call, only three miles behind Robert Kahn’s Frers 43 Jano, which led five smaller boats that started a day earlier.