RENO - The University of Nevada rugby team can only hope that the last 15 minutes of its opening game on Sunday will be more of an indication of what the season will be like.
After falling behind 27-0 against one of the nation's top teams in UC Davis, the Wolf Pack came back to score 19 unanswered points in the last 15 minutes, but it wasn't enough in a 27-19 loss. Among the leaders for the Wolf Pack is Carson High graduate Ahron Osheroff, a sophomore.
Davis controlled the action early as Osheroff took the ball away twice to prevent scoring chances before Davis scored a try to take a 5-0 lead. Nevada had a chance to pull within 5-3 on a three-point penalty kick, but Charles Gielow was unable to place the ball through the uprights from about 40 yards.
Davis added two more tries, adding the two-point kick conversion after one of them to take a 17-0 lead. Nevada's best scoring chance when Kyle Herzberg took the ball away and ran up the field for potential breakaway before being tackled.
Davis took advantage of a mistake early in the second half to score a try and scored another try on a scrum-like push to the goal line to make it 27-0.
Osheroff began Nevada's first scoring push, which ended when Herzberg scored to make it 27-5. Brent Hale then stripped the ball away from Davis and sprinted about 80 yards for another try. Gielow added the two-point conversion to make it 27-12.
Caron Zmaila scored a try with about a minute-and-a-half left and Herzberg added the two-point conversion to complete the scoring.
Nevada will next play at 6:30 p.m. Friday at home against Chico State.