After narrowly missing out on a provincial podium place last year, the Cochrane/Bow Valley CobraCats girls' rugby team has enjoyed another strong season in 2023, and will play this Wednesday for a chance to return to the provincial stage next weekend.
According to Bow Valley High School teacher and assistant coach Brian Morgotch, the CobraCats went unbeaten during the regular season in the Big Sky league (a division comprised of high-school rugby teams from throughout south-central Alberta) this year, in addition to picking up two gold medals at weekend tournaments they competed in.
Morgotch attributed the collective experience of the CobraCats girls' roster for the dominant showing this spring, adding the team saw a huge surge in popularity after they finished fourth at provincials last year.
“We have a really solid core group of players who have been around for a while and have a lot of rugby knowledge,” he said. “But this year, our numbers just exploded.”
The team originally fielded a roster of 45 players, although that was eventually whittled down to between 35 and 40, due to injuries or some players being unable to commit fully to the team.
“But we have had a great showing,” he said. “We have a massive base of Grade 9s this year, and we’ve had a lot of growth.”
While all 40 or so players contribute to the CobraCats' success, Morgotch cited the leadership and skill of three senior players in particular: Josie Powers of Bow Valley High School, as well as Millie Teskey and Hannah Tas of Cochrane High School.
“They’re kind of our veterans who bring it every game,” he said. “They’re the cornerstone.”
In addition to being powerful rugby players, all three Grade 12s are accomplished multi-sport athletes; Powers was the Bow Valley Bobcats' senior girls' basketball team's point guard this past winter, Tas was the Cobras senior girls' soccer team's captain last fall, and Teskey was a national silver medalist in ringette with the Zone 2 U19 AA team this April.
Though the Cobras and Bobcats tend to exhibit a friendly rivalry throughout most of the school year, Morgotch said the girls are excited to put any cross-town animosity behind them when it's time to kick off the rugby season.
He said having Bow Valley and Cochrane High join forces to field competitive rugby teams every spring is a time-honoured tradition that has come to be relished by the student-athletes at both local schools, who enjoy the opportunity to combine their talents and represent their town as a whole.
“It’s about taking Cochrane on the road to the other communities,” he said. “It’s great to have that. It’s the end of the year, they come together, and it’s just a fantastic experience. We love getting to combine the teams.”
After winning their four games in the Big Sky conference this spring, the CobraCats qualified for the South Central Zones Tier 1 final, which will be against the Foothills Composite High School Falcons, of Okotoks, this Wednesday. The game gets underway at 5 p.m. at the Calgary Rugby Union.
Cochrane beat Foothills Comp earlier this season, but Morgotch was quick to point out that was the very first game of the campaign. Coming shortly after the snow had melted in April, he noted it was more akin to an early preseason scrimmage, and not an ideal way to accurately compare the calibre of the two squads.
Making this week's battle most intriguing is the fact neither team has lost a competitive match since then, according to Morgotch.
“These are the Tier 1s as well, so the biggest schools in the zone,” he said.
If the CobraCats win on Wednesday, they will qualify for the provincial tournament that takes place at the Calgary Rugby Union on June 9 and 10.
Having narrowly missed out on a podium placement in 2022, returning to provincials has been the squad's goal from the offset. Morgotch added roughly half of last year's team is still on the roster, with a year of growth and experience under their belts.
Hindering last year's performance at provincials was the fact both of Cochrane's public high schools held their convocation ceremonies on the same weekend as the rugby provincials, which meant most of the team's Grade 12 players were unavailable to travel to Edmonton.
“We just didn’t have the numbers, so getting back there would be fantastic,” Morgotch said.
Boys CobraCats see valuable growth
On the boys' side, the CobraCats experienced a year of growth this spring, according to Corina Bauer, a teacher at Bow Valley High and a school liaison for the boys' rugby team.
With a Grade 9-heavy roster, she said the CobraCats didn't even have sufficient numbers to compete in the South Central Zones tournament, but they still put up a spirited performance in the Big Sky league.
(The league allows for Grade 9s to play, but they’re not allowed to play at the zones competition).
“We look at this as a building year for us, because we have a lot of Grade 9 and 10s, a few Grade 11s, and very few Grade 12s,” she said. “Definitely, the numbers coming in next year will be greater than the number going out.”
Despite the occasional tough loss in 2023, Bauer said she expects the boys' team to kick it up a gear next year, when the returning players are all a year older.
