The Paul Kane Blues finished their season as the runners-up of metro Edmonton division one girls’ rugby after a loss to the Bev Facey Falcons in the final on Thursday.
The Falcons came to the finals as four-time repeat champions with no losses this season. The Blues’ situation was a bit different. Last season, the Blues played in division two and lost in their semi-final match. This year, the Blues moved up to division one and made it to the final undefeated in the regular season.
In the final, the Blues couldn’t top the powerful Falcons offence who was able to pull out 11 tries and five converts, but the Blues never let the Falcons lead curb the amount of effort they gave.
“We just got caught by a couple of real hot hands by Facey,” said the Blues head coach, Marty McKeever. “They ran it straight up and they were quite strong. Sometimes our tackling wasn’t quite on par, we were a little bit high, but to the (team’s) credit I mean, we’re down by quite a few, it’s the fourth quarter, many teams would just fold but they held them out four times to close the game inside our 22.
“That is absolutely amazing grit and determination. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Team captains, Sydney De La Mare and Emily DeWitt weren’t about to let the Falcons finish the game with a shutout. The Blues powered through the tough Bev Facey defence in the third quarter to allow Del La Mare an opportunity to score a try. DeWitt successfully kicked a two-point convert through the goal posts to put seven points on the board for the Blues.
“I think we needed it and honestly after that we did pick up our game in the end so I think it was kind of reassuring for the rest of the team,” said Del La Mare about her try.
Del La Mare is in Grade 12. The match against the Falcons was the last game she will play as a member of the Paul Kane Blues. She said she was happy with how the season turned out.
“We were in div two last year and in Grade 10, then to come up and play in div one and go undefeated in the regular season and it was really good. This game didn’t necessarily show what we’re capable of but it was a really hard fought battle and it was a good last game to play.”
The Blues kept the ball in front of their try line with a series of aggressive defensive plays in the fourth quarter. The game ended with a score of 65-7 for the Falcons.
“No matter what, I think we all left it out on the field,” said Del La Mare.
After the game, Del La Mare said she was not as upset about the loss as she was to be done the season. She said the players all had great chemistry and she is sad to say goodbye to her teammates.
The loss did not take away from an amazing season for the Blues. Coach McKeever summed it up.
“Great season, great group of girls, couldn’t have asked for better.”
