by Daniel Dullum

BERKELEY–For this group of Stanford seniors, it was another trip around Memorial Stadium in Berkeley toting the Axe – they’ve never known anything different from their last four football encounters with California.

The Cardinal secured the Axe early in their 38-17 triumph over Cal. Nearly two minutes into the Big Game, Remound Wright rambled in from a yard out to start the onslaught with the first of his four touchdowns. Four minutes later, Jordan Williamson booted a 24-yard field goal and the Cardinal were up 10-0 after one quarter.

Cal pulled to within 10-7 to open the second quarter, but that was as close as the Bears would get. Rushing touchdowns by Wright and quarterback Kevin Hogan effectively blew the game open as Stanford took a 24-7 lead into the intermission.

Wright’s two second-half scores gave Stanford a comfortable 30-10 lead with 8:44 left in the fourth quarter. Wright wound up with 93 rushing yards on 23 carries. Hogan was 15 of 20 for 214 yards with one interception.

Hogan was also the Cardinal’s second busiest runner, rushing seven times for 46 yards.

Francis Owusu snared four of Hogan’s passes for 46 yards. Devon Cajuste and Austin Hooper each caught three passes for Stanford. Blake Martinez was the defensive star for the Cardinal, intercepting two passes and forcing a fumble.

Despite being flagged 12 times for 113 penalty yards, the Cardinal won the 117th Big Game and qualified for a lower-tier bowl game. With that, and taking home the Axe, it was a good day for the Cardinal, indeed.

Daniel Dullum covers Stanford football and basketball road games for http://www.sportsradioservice.com