Ellerslie Rugby Park – The motivation level is rising for the Sturgeon Spirits to medal at the provincial rugby championships.
The men’s and women’s teams have a point to prove at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association tournament this weekend in Lethbridge after Monday’s losses in the metro Edmonton finals.
“We’ve still got provincials,” said Colten Brenneis, a burly Grade 12 eight-man, after Sturgeon suffered its first loss in the division two men’s league, 26-19 to the Archbishop Jordan Scots. “We have to come out strong at the start and don't take anything for granted. We have to play our best rugby and that’s fast Sturgeon hard-hitting rugby.”
At last year’s Tier II provincials in Calgary, Sturgeon finished fourth in the men’s division while the lady Spirits pulled off the first ASAA rugby championship in school history by defeating the Foothills Falcons of Okotoks 22-15 after trailing 15-10 in the gold-medal match.
“This was just a stepping stone for provincials,” said Mackenzie Hamm, a Grade 12 scrumhalf, following the hard-fought 53-34 setback to the undefeated Jasper Place Rebels.
“Provincials was our main goal this year,” added Shelby Pierce, a Grade 12 prop. “I think provincials will be a repeat of last year. Our defence will improve and we’ll just do what we did last year and that’s win.”
The Spirits competed in their second-consecutive division one final after winning the 2017 division two championship and Tier II provincial bronze medal.
“With us being a div two school playing up in div one, we did it last year and we did it this year, and we didn’t think we would make it this far and we did it again,” Pierce said of the Spirits finishing 5-3 both years in division one after going 9-1 in 2017.
Last year’s final was 29-20 for the Bev Facey Falcons.
“This one definitely is a lot harder on us to lose,” said Hamm, who gutted out the last few minutes of the final against the Rebels with an injured right elbow and did the post-match interview in considerable pain with the arm in a sling.
The loss pumped the brakes on a four-game winning streak that included back-to-back triumphs against the Bellerose Bulldogs (4-3) by scores of 48-12 in the last match before the playoffs and 39-22 in the semifinals.
The season opener for the Spirits was the 46-22 letdown to the Rebels and the rematch was a barnburner highlighted by bone-crushing tackles, some on the illegal side, plus tenacious action featuring several lead changes.
“It was a super intense game back and forth. A nail-biter the whole time,” said Hamm, 17, a St. Albert Rugby Football Club product along with Pierce.
The Spirits, with a smaller pool of bench players than the Rebels, grinded out a two-point lead after three quarters before the floodgates opened with multiple tries by Jasper Place (8-0) as the Sturgeon squad ran out of gas and injuries started taking their toll.
“Honestly, we were a little bit nervous coming into this one,” said Pierce, 17. “We just let up on our defence a little bit and they scored some tries on us in the last quarter, but it was a super close game.”
Among the several strengths for the Spirits (one is “Farm kids,” Pierce and Hamm said in unison) is their relentless attack.
“Offence is our strongest point. We have some amazing ball runners and we keep the ball alive,” said Hamm, who is committed to the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns' rugby team in the fall.
“We play a very forward game,” said Pierce, an Alberta Pandas' recruit who was named the 2017 Rugby Alberta U16 female player of the year.
Sturgeon men
The look of disappointment was etched across the entire Sturgeon men’s lineup after letting an undefeated season slip away against the team they beat convincingly 40-29 in the regular season.
“We didn't come out with our best,” Brenneis said. “We had a good season so far and I don't think we took them lightly, we just had little mistakes. It wasn't our best game of rugby we’ve played, but it wasn't our worst either. We were fighting the ball a bit and the ref too. We weren't getting as many calls so that was a different experience.”
The Scots led 14-5 at halftime.
“We didn't quite get the offence going. We didn't get the tries. We had opportunities in the first quarter, we were on their line a few times and we just didn't get it in so that kind of put us down,” said Brenneis, noting a major momentum shifter was “off a kick and they ended up blocking the kick down into our endzone and end up touching it down (for a try).”
Among the six wins for Sturgeon before hitting the wall against the Scots was 38-0 against the defending champion Bellerose Bulldogs (0-4-1) and 36-10 against the Paul Kane Blues (3-3).
“We ended up having a good start and were able to ride out the league,” said Brenneis, 18. “In this game, we didn't have that fast start and that’s what hurt us.”
