The Banff Bears high school rugby squad has achieved something that’s never been done before, in any sport, at their school: the squad captured a provincial championship.
On a Calgary Rugby Union field on Saturday, June 11, the boys won the high school provincial Tier II championship by defeating Lethbridge’s Winston Churchill High School, 20-12.
The previous day, Banff handily pounded its opponents, with victories of 39-5 over Parkland and 33-0 against F.P. Walshe.
Coach John Petroff said it was the school’s greatest athletic moment.
“We have never won a provincial championship, we’ve never been to a provincial final, in any sport and this was just the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of individuals who put it all together and worked as a team,” he said.
The result of this game was the result of several seasons of hard work by coaches from the community, he said, who have helped the program immensely toward one goal, winning together.
“We always stressed that we were going to win it together, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Petroff. “We’re not the biggest team at this tournament, we’re certainly not the fastest team, we may not have the best athletes – but we proved we are the best team here by working together – it’s as simple as that.”
Early on in the game it became apparent Banff would dominate.
“I could tell in the first 10 minutes, when we were playing against the wind, that we held a territorial advantage and kept the ball in their half,” said Petroff. “It sent a message to them that they were in a game against some serious opponents.
“Perhaps they might have been a little over confident – they handled us rather easily last year at the tournament – but after the first 10 minutes you could tell it was a bit of a shock to them, the swagger was gone from their step.”
Banff scored three tries, all in the first half, with the first points coming from Braam Botha about a quarter of the way into the game, followed by a successful two-point conversion from kicker Josh Bartlett.
Five minutes later, however, Banff returned the favour and Winston Churchill’s Dagon Ngo tied the game. After that, it was all Banff with tries from Matthew Soukas and Noah Maisonet, though both the conversions were unsuccessful.
Heading into the second half, Banff held a 10-point lead, 17-7. With five minutes left on the clock, Winston Churchill scored its second try, but with a missed conversion was still five points down.
Then, with less than a minute to go, Banff added another three points to the score with a Bartlett field goal, to seal the victory.
Bears assistant coach Alex Boston, who coaches the forwards, was extremely proud of the team.
“The standard of rugby this year has been phenomenal,” he said. “We came out here playing great spectator rugby, we put on some great tries, we played as a team and can’t really ask for more than that.
“There wasn’t one standout player, it was 15 guys doing the job and that’s the reason we won it.”
As the team placed fourth last year, that was their goal to beat, Boston said, and they certainly did just that.
“Matthew Soukas, the captain, played out of his skin today – he had a great game with the ball, hard and straight running,” he said. “Braam on the wing scored a good try. And Noah, Noah’s one of the smallest guys on the field and he plays like a guy who’s twice his size. He played outstanding rugby.”
Boston also had much praise for the kicker.
“Josh Bartlett is our kicker and he is the man with the golden boot,” he said. “Without him, games would be a lot closer and a lot harder.”
The team was ready for the challenge, said Bartlett.
“It was a great game, the boys really toughed it out and we managed to grind out a win against a team that was bigger,” said the Grade 12 kicker. “We played our game and didn’t let their size intimidate us at all, we just went around them really.”
Teammate Parker Smyth stressed it was a team effort.
“Everything’s been going right, everyone’s just been playing really well and we know what we’re supposed to do,” said the flanker. “Nobody’s being selfish or anything, we play as a team, and that’s exactly what you gotta do.
“We played pretty well, we didn’t back down, definitely,” he added. “Those guys were a lot bigger, but it didn’t matter, we just hit them as hard as we’ve hit anybody else and we won playing our game.”
Petroff, who’s been coaching the team since founding it in 1983, said the fans too were a great help in bringing home the victory.
“We have great fan support,” he said. “They were the 16th man on the field today and the boys realized that; it helped them quite a bit.”
