Shutting out their cross-town rivals to kick off the rugby season was too good to be true for the Paul Kane Blues.
"It's an amazing feeling," co-captain Sabrina Kelly said after the Blues beat the Bellerose Bulldogs 22-0 Tuesday at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club. "It was a good game, regardless of the score. They held us up a lot of times and we had to fight for every try we got."
Kelly, 17, ran in two tries and Candace Mazur and Daneca Dreger also crossed the try line as the Blues methodically overpowered the Bulldogs.
"We were expecting to have a hard game against Bellerose and they gave us everything they had," said Kelly, a valuable Grade 12 eight-man and third-year starter. "We worked as a team really well. We were talking. We got into the rucks and got it out to the backs and the forwards we're always supporting. Everybody played a really good game."
Last year as the defending premier champions, the Blues suffered a rare loss to Bellerose in a match marred by howling winds and ice-cold temperatures.
"It was good to get back at them this year because Bellerose stole the win last year," Kelly said of the 19-10 defeat. "Our team came out strong today with a lot of rookies and we just did our best."
In the rematch the Bulldogs struggled offensively and spent most of the game protecting their try area.
"If we had more experience I think it could've gone different," said Janna Slevinsky, a Grade 12 eight-man who riddled the Blues last year with three highlight-reel tries. "PK is a really good opponent for us. They're very good and well-trained team. When it came down to it we just fell short in a few places. We left some gaps open but we have the rest of the season to work on that."
Offensive punch
After a scoreless opening quarter the Blues scored twice to lead by 10 at halftime.
"The first quarter was probably our best. We had all of our veterans on then so we had more experienced players and that did help us a lot," said Slevinsky, who tweaked her shoulder in the second quarter and spent 10 minutes regrouping on the sideline before returning to the field. "As the game went on people got tired and when that happens you don't think the same, nothing works the same and it just kind of got to us."
Five minutes into the second quarter a penalty play set up a try by Dreger, a short dash with extra effort after the Blues pounded the ball into contact near the five-metre line.
"It was really nice to get the first try," Kelly said. "It helped us get our focus and allowed us to kind of realize what we can do as a team."
A few minutes later, Kelly capped off a wild run down the Bellerose touchline with an acrobatic finish in the try area.
"I actually tripped myself. I had to dive for it but it looked good," said the national gold-medal winning juvenile female wrestler at 69 kilograms this year and 65 kg in 2009 after bronze-medal performances in the cadet division in Grades 9 and 10.
A strong surge by the Bulldogs to close out the first half included a try held up by a determined Paul Kane defence.
A forward-dominated third quarter generated a try by Mazur as she burst past the left side of the Bellerose defence.
In the fourth quarter Kelly's second try and Dreger's conversion rounded out the scoring.
Also showing good form in the win were Caitlin Entner and Eleena Monk with powerful runs with the crash ball.
After posting a 3-4 overall record last year, the Blues expect to rebound from their 48-0 semifinal exit against the undefeated Sturgeon Spirits that ended five straight trips to the premier final. They had competed in eight of the last nine finals as the most championship-winning team in metro Edmonton league history with five since 2000.
"After last year this was a really good starting game for us," Kelly said. "We have a lot of Grade 12s returning, whereas last year we didn't have very many. We have strong Grade 11s coming up and the Grade 10s are really helping us so it's going to be a really good season."
The Blues are back on the pitch Tuesday against the O'Leary Spartans (0-1) at 4:45 p.m. at the Clansmen rugby club.
Learning the game
As for the rookie-laden Bulldogs, the Battle of St. Albert was baptism under fire for almost half of their players.
"We had about 15 girls playing their first game ever, so we were getting them all out on the field for some experience," Slevinsky said.
At 4:45 p.m. Tuesday the Bulldogs play the Archbishop Jordan Scots (1-0) in the north/south exhibition crossover at the rugby club. League play resumes May 4 against the Fort Saskatchewan Sting.
"What we need to work on the most is keeping a flat line on defence and covering our gaps and just learning how to run with the ball because there was a little bit of panic at times," Slevinsky said.
Last year in the premier conference the Bulldogs finished third out of six teams. In the playoffs they lost the semifinal 10-7 on the game-ending winning try by the Bev Facey Falcons to go 4-3 overall. This year with the north/south alignment, the top three teams in each pool advance to the premier playoffs and the remaining teams compete for the city conference crown.
"If at the end of the season no one wants it to end, then you know you've had a good year and a good team," said Slevinsky, 17.
Her exploits last year were rewarded as the recipient of the Shelanine Kozakovich Cup as the junior women's player of the year in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
"It's a really big honour to receive it. There are so many great competitors out there like Sabrina Kelly. I played Alberta with her and I've always played against her. She is like my number one competition and I was honestly expecting her to get it and that makes it even more of a surprise and even more meaningful that I did get it," Slevinsky said of Kelly, teammates on U17 Alberta, silver medallists at 2009 Rugby Canada National Championships Festival and bronze medallists in 2008.
