The St. Albert Skyhawks finished the season on a winning note in a game they didn’t even want to play.
The medal hopefuls at the provincial Tier II (3A schools) high school rugby championship downed the H.A. Kostash Eagles of Smoky Lake 22-7 in Saturday’s consolation match at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
The metro Edmonton city conference champions, ranked third in the eight-team draw, were relegated to the consolation round after losing their only game of the year in the tournament opener.
“We had to win eight games to get to provincials, so to be one of the top eight teams in Alberta is pretty impressive,” said Brad Richmond, a Grade 12 inside-centre. “I’m proud of the boys on the big win. We’re bringing some hardware back to the school.”
Friday the Skyhawks stumbled out of the gate against the No. 6-ranked F.P. Walshe Flyers of Fort MacLeod and lost 19-5 to the eventual bronze medallists.
The Edmonton zone reps fell behind 12-0 at halftime in the 40-minute contest.
“We weren’t nervous, we just didn’t come out as strong as usual,” Richmond said. “Our team usually comes together in the second half in games and the fact it was a half game kind of went against us.”
Later in the day the Skyhawks beat the No. 7-ranked Parkland Axemen of Edson 15-12 for a berth in the fifth-place game.
“We came here to win so that first loss was pretty crushing for us. It put a real damper on our moods, but we bounced back and played the way we’ve been playing all year,” said Grade 12 eight-man Eric Labrecque.
In the second half the Skyhawks led by 10 when Grade 12 second row Evan Warmington was red carded for sticking his tackle head first into the pitch. The player was knocked unconscious. Parkland scored with the Skyhawks short a player before the game ended.
Warmington was suspended by tournament officials and sat out the game against the Eagles.
The Skyhawks opened the scoring in the 18th minute, when Liam McNamara broke a tackle in front of the Eagles’ 40-metre line and then slipped past a defender in front of the 22 for clear sailing into the try area. Devon Gunpatrav kicked the conversion.
McNamara’s second try was scored in the 28th minute. Labrecque flattened several Eagles with a big push towards the five-metre line, where the ball was spun wide for McNamara to finish the drive.
Right before 30-minute mark at halftime, Gunpatrav was helped off the field with an injured right ankle.
Five minutes into the second half the McNamara twins combined for a try by Mitch on a penalty play at the five-metre line to make it 17-0.
The Eagles replied with a converted try with eight minutes remaining.
The Skyhawks closed out the scoring with a try by Austin Havens. His short burst to the corner flag was set up by Labrecque’s pass after the Skyhawks won a lineout ball at the Eagles’ 22.
Richmond, 18, turned in a strong playmaking performance against the Eagles and was selected the man of the match.
“It was a pretty good game. We weren’t selfish out there,” said the second-year Skyhawk. “We wanted to come out hard and get the win. We didn’t want to finish last. We wanted to prove that we should’ve been in the final and we could’ve won gold.”
The win was the 10th in 11 games for the Skyhawks to end the best season in team history since winning the metro premier title and provincial Tier II gold medal in 1996.
Last year the Skyhawks finished 1-5 after posting a 1-6 record in 2010.
“We’re so proud of ourselves. At the beginning of the year we thought let’s shoot for provincials and when we finally made it it felt unbelievable,” said Labrecque, 18.
SCRUM BALLS: Grade 12 co-captain Nathan Gies was unavailable for provincials after tearing his left elbow out of the socket while making a tackle in the second quarter against the Edmonton Christian Lions in the Edmonton zone final. The Skyhawks won the provincial qualifier 34-26.
