The future is bright.
Those were Cochrane Bears head coach Anthony Battistone’s words after his joint Bow Valley and Cochrane High School boys rugby team captured the South Central Zones title on May 25.
The Cochrane lads overcame a tough Strathmore High School team 27-12 at the Calgary Rugby Union field to book their ticket to Provincials for the first time in six years thanks to tries from Craig de la Mare, Rylen Waugh, and David Hoang.
“(Strathmore) were a pretty strong team with some tough forwards and two quick centres who had a good step,” Battistone said. “But our boys were able to figure them out and make our tackles when necessary.”
Early on, Hoang scored a try from a set-play the team had been working on the entire season, before Austin Yersel went down with a knee injury and was off the field for around ten minutes.
But, his teammates never missed a step as their determination and strong defence held Strathmore at bay.
“They boys came out to play, they really did,” Battistone said. “We played down with a man down and they didn’t skip a beat. That set the tone of the game.
“There were times when Strathmore put pressure on us, and ended up scoring twice, but our response was to kick the ball back to them and make some huge tackles. Our mentality was if they were going to score on us, it wasn’t going to be often and they’d regret it.”
The Bears now travel to Lethbridge for the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Championships (June 3 and 4), something that was always the team’s target this season after falling in Zones during last year’s campaign against archrivals Holy Trinity Academy Knights.
Battistone explained that a lot of his returning players have that extra year of experience, which could prove to helpful when crunch time hits, but he recognizes anything can happen during a championship run.
“Hopefully we’re going to be taking all 30 of our guys down there,” Battistone said. “They’re super excited for this, and we’re in good shape going in. We don’t know what to expect, but with our boys, anything is possible.
“We’re on the right track. Every year we’ve taken a step forward.”
