Old Boys Win in Santa Barbara, December 7

Beautiful day in the hills above Santa Barbara for our renewed ‘Battle of the Bone’ old boys clash between the Central Coast Fossils and the Southern California SMOG (Santa Monica Old Guys).

After losing last year to the Fossils in the first rematch post-covid, this year Santa Monica rallied big numbers, including a half-dozen new 40-somethings playing in their first old boys’ game. Our relative youth and deep well of subs won the day for the visitors, 62-14.

Man of the match was Beachbok and old boys debutante Cris Erdtsieck, who zigged and zagged his way to 6 tries.
Oldest try for the day was another Beach tag regular, Bill Scott (63), who went yard down the sideline.

Though we’ve missed a few years here and there due to pandemic or sometimes low numbers, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the first series game held way back in 2004. Huge thanks to the Santa Barbara Grunions for keeping this fixture on the books, and inviting us back to scenic Elings Park, one of the best fields to play on in Southern California!

Ages in this weekend’s full contact, full scrums game ranged from the 40s to early 70s. Traditionally, the sides include guys not only from Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, but also San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Ventura, San Fernando, among others.