There’s a special term reserved for the likes of the BCHS Bears boys rugby team: dynasty.
For the fourth year in a row, the BCHS Bears stomped, sped and smashed their way to a Big Sky zone championship in dominant fashion, completing one more quest for yet another provincial title.
Pablo Ortiz scored both of Banff’s tries in the win as they hammered the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans 12-7 Thursday (May 30) at the Calgary Rugby Union, as they have a tight grasp on the title of best team in southwestern Alberta.
“I can’t describe how this feels. I’ve played rugby in Banff for four years and we’ve won zones every year,” said captain Joe Barrie, who acted as a human wrecking crew in the final.
Under drizzling rain and under-manned due to injuries, the Bears played a textbook match against Strathcona-Tweedsmuir offensively and defensively. The Bears were so dominant their opponents hardly earned a sniff of the offensive zone, as Banff’s defence shut down the speedy STS backs with relative ease.
“We played almost the perfect game of rugby today. Our defence was absolutely brilliant. They didn’t get a point until the last minute of the game. You can’t be disappointed in anything we did. Our attack was excellent,” said coach Alex Boston.
“In my mind, everyone stepped up. Everyone had a good game,” Barrie said.
The win means the Bears will travel to Lethbridge on Friday (June 7) in an attempt to capture their second win in three years.
After some initial jitters on defence, Banff’s punishing forwards went to work, wearing down their speedy opponents with strong positional play. Banff’s lone veteran back Ortiz finally broke through on the outside in the first half to give Banff a 7-0 lead.
STS pushed back and the Bears lost rookie Kyle Mills, who dislocated his kneecap partway through the game and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance. Playing as a unit, the Bears only grew stronger, rallying behind the loss of their teammate to hold off the attacking Strathcona team. With 10 minutes left in the second half, Ortiz led another long run for the 12-0 lead.
“It was a big game for Pablo. It’s nice to score tries with the backs. Pablo is our one veteran back and he did what he does well, which is move the ball to the outside,” said coach Ian Higginbottom.
Even after eight minutes of injury time, STS could only muster one try in the dying seconds, which only delayed the inevitable Banff victory.
“Their guys are pretty fast, so we had to spread all the way across the field,” Barrie said. “Everybody wanted this really bad.”
It was the sixth game in a row where STS has suffered defeat at the hands of the Bears, who are now underdogs going into Friday’s provincial title event.
They play a strong Winston Churchill (Calgary) squad in their first match. The two teams have traded victories over the past two years, but Higginbottom believes in his boys.
“We’re super strong. We can take any team. Right now, it comes down to resting and getting strong. We hope to have some injured players back for Friday,” he said.
