The Penn State men's rugby team is headed back to California for a shot at a championship after two physically demanding games with nail-biting finishes,

The Ruggers defeated Utah 33-25 on Saturday to clinch a berth in the USA Rugby Collegiate Tournament after narrowly beating Tennessee, 31-30, on Friday. Although this will be the team's second consecutive semifinal appearance, it is no less excited this time around.

"Right now, I feel like I'm on cloud nine," fullback Luke Roberts said. "We came in as underdogs, and we stepped up to the challenge."

The players and coaches agreed that the national quarterfinal match against Utah was the most physical game Penn State has played this season. It was even more intense than its match against Navy in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) championship when the Ruggers lost three key players early to injury.

"We expected this kind of physicality from Utah," captain Nic Grala said. "We knew that we would have to push past having four to five men down to pull through."

The brutal nature of the game became apparent early when center Austin Manelick split his chin. He played the remainder of the match with gauze taped across the bottom of his head. Flyhalf Justin Hundley played through a strained hip flexor for most of the game, and immediately after coming off the pitch at the end of the game, Roberts removed his right cleat to keep pressure off of his injured ankle.

"We were going to play today until we were taken off the field," senior prop R.J. Krempasky said.

Tough-nosed offense and solid tackling make up Penn State coach Don Ferrell's general game plan. The team had been working on reaching this level of physical play the entire season.

"Today, we played Penn State-style rugby," Ferrell said. "We like to play a physical style of game, and a lot of that comes from our defense."

For how physically demanding Saturday's match was, it should come as no surprise that, with about 10 minutes remaining, it seemed as if the Ruggers had run out of energy. Penn State had been on a 26-0 run since

Utah scored the first try early in the game, largely thanks to good execution and capitalizing off of Utah's mistakes. The Ruggers had better field position for most of the second half.

This dominating play contrasted Penn State's first match of the weekend against Tennessee. The team had difficulties keeping the game on Tennessee's side of the pitch, making it tough to hold a lead. Penn State won the match by a point, which was not what the team wanted coming into the tournament.

"We had a pretty rough game against Tennessee," Penn State captain Auggie Manelick said. "We didn't play up to our expectations, but after that we got the chance to mentally prepare ourselves and recover for Utah. We came out full-throttle today and that helped to the set the tone."

During the later parts of the game, however, Penn State spent a lot of time defending its own goal against Utah's quick drives down the field and numerous pile-ups at the goal line.

At the two-minute mark, Utah scored to bring the Penn State lead down to one. A successful conversion after the try would give Utah the lead with little time remaining. The kick, however, sailed wide left.

"I think if we knew what the score was, and that the kick would have put them in the lead, we would have been a lot more concerned than we were," Roberts said.

Utah had one last chance to move the ball close enough to score the deciding points, but the drive was broken up by Ruggers' center Justin Lotter, who ran the ball back for the game-clinching try. The match was over, and the Ruggers celebrated with their fans, which stormed the field.

Penn State's victory marks the first time ever that the team travels to Palo Alto, Ca., for the national semifinals in consecutive years. Just getting there is not enough, though.

"Our goal each year has been to win a national title," Ferrell said. "This year is no different."