The quest to become provincial champions is in sight for the Bow Valley CobraCats girls’ rugby team.
The mash-up of student-athletes from Bow Valley and Cochrane high schools are now the Tier 1 South Central Zone champions, after a sweeping win of 71-0 in the zones final against Foothills Composite High School at the Calgary Rugby Union May 30.
“The girls came ready to play,” said assistant coach Brian Morgotch. “Right from kick-off, they were playing unbelievable offense and defense. It showed throughout the game, they never let up.”
For head coach Stephen Horton, the win was a demonstration of just how far the team has come during the short high-school rugby season.
“[That game] actually showed them exactly how they can play rugby, and they had so much fun doing it,” he said. “They spread the ball out wide and attacked the full width of the pitch, whereas before, we’ve been attacking more the central area of the pitch.”
The rugby world would be in trouble, Horton added, if the group was to keep playing the sport together competitively.
“It’s hard to know how far they would get,” he said. “They’re so strong as a team and this win was huge for them. I couldn’t have been more proud of the way we played.”
For some of the Grade 12 players, the zones final could also be their last game of high-school rugby. The ASAA Rugby Provincials Championships run June 3 and 4 in Edmonton, which overlaps with both Bow Valley High School’s and Cochrane High School’s graduation ceremonies.
Morgotch said most of the graduating players plan to attend their grad celebrations, but some are toying with the idea of making the trip north for at least one of the two days to step onto the pitch as a CobraCat one last time.
The CobraCats boys team, which also competed in the zones competition under Tier 1, bumped the Foothills Falcons out of the semi-final May 26, but fell short 33-5 in their final against Holy Trinity Academy and did not qualify for provincials.
