For the second time in three years, the Abbotsford Senior Panthers are B.C. high school girls rugby sevens champions.
At the provincial tourney at UBC on the weekend, the Panthers started relatively slowly – their 2-1 record during Friday's pool play included a 34-7 loss to Shawnigan Lake.
But on Saturday, they rolled to the gold – they beat Elgin Park 20-7 in the quarter-finals, knocked off crosstown rival Robert Bateman 19-5 in the semis, and then avenged their earlier loss to Shawnigan Lake with a dominant 33-5 triumph in the final.
"They may have taken us lightly, they may not have, I don't know," said Peter Cannon, who coaches the Panthers along with Stephanie Doan and Matt Myers.
"One of the key things was, one of their key players broke her arm and did not play in the final. But I think more importantly, as the tournament progressed, our girls got better and better at playing sevens. How they started on the first day and how they finished on the second was night and day."
Amara Lownie and Nakisa Levale notched two tries apiece in the final, while Gurpreet Dhaliwal scored one try and Tausani Levale booted four converts.
Abbotsford schools occupied three of the top five spots – the Bateman T-Wolves finished fourth after falling 20-7 to G.P. Vanier in the bronze medal game, while the Yale Lions topped Elgin Park 26-15 in the plate final (fifth/sixth placing).
T-WOLVES BOYS BRONZED
On the boys' side of the draw, Bateman secured the second provincial sevens medal in program history, winning bronze.
The T-Wolves fell 35-7 in the semis to Lord Byng, but bounced back to beat West Vancouver 33-12 to clinch third place.
"It's an accomplishment of a team goal we set, to be in the medals," said Bateman coach Stephen Rowell, whose team's last B.C. sevens medal was a silver back in 2000.
Scoring for the T-wolves over the weekend were Gavin Rowell (four tries, nine conversions), Austen Zacher (three tries), Noah Jensen and Gerrin Tramm (two tries each), and adding single tries were Jay Lee, Josh Thiel, Christian Pederson and Slayter Tonnesen.
The T-Wolves also notched a big win last Thursday in Fraser Valley AAA Elite 15s play, as they edged crosstown rival Yale 36-27.
The game was played in muddy conditions at Yale Secondary, and the lead changed hands three times in the last 12 minutes. Gavin Rowell and Kolby Steen led the way with two tries apiece for Bateman.
"We were just able to get some possession and move the ball to our backs, and they were able to squeeze through some holes in the mud," Rowell said with a chuckle.
"As a player, it's tremendously fun – it's the memory of a lifetime, because you don't get those conditions too often. It's a testament to both teams that they played so hard."
LIONS JUNIOR BOYS STUN STAGS
The Yale junior boys picked up one of the most impressive wins in team history last Thursday, as they thumped the Shawnigan Lake Stags 42-7.
The Stags are B.C.'s reigning boys rugby dynasty – the senior squad has won five straight provincial AAA titles.
After Yale's juniors beat St. George's, another powerhouse program, earlier this year, Shawnigan Lake got in touch and scheduled an exhibition game. The Lions, stunningly, blew out the Stags behind three tries from Chris Combs, two by Matt Fraser, and one apiece from Thomas Rennie, Connor Byron and Josh Long.
"They beat teams by 70 points all the time, and they weren't ready for it – we surprised them," said Clayton Radons, who co-coaches the Lions with Scott Hunter.
"I think what happened, in talking to their coaches afterward, is that they hadn't seen that kind of competition ever, other than when they tour overseas in Wales. We're a big team and we're athletic, and we have some rugby behind us. We bullied them, and they didn't know how to handle that.
"We've just got a bunch of really good, dedicated kids. We've got depth we've never had before."