Salmon Arm Senior Boys vs OKM
Salmon Arm Golds didn’t allow an early lead for their opponents stop them from battling back for the win.
The Golds faced Okanagan Mission Secondary (OKM) on May 9 resulting in a 17-7 victory for SAS.
OKM started out with a quick try, capitalizing on a fumble by Hayden Henning within the first seven minutes of play.
The Golds came back, with Jacob Zyri driving across the Husky 22-metre line with three men hanging off of him.
Alex Muir snatched the ball out of the loose ruck and passed to Henning , who evaded two OKM Husky tacklers for the try.
From 30 yards out, Nathan Hampton at scrum half moved the ball up the field. Hampton flipped a short pass to Ryder Fortes, who sent four OKM players backwards in the tackle to score under the posts.
The final try of the game came from Colton Steiger, who made the most of out nothing and did a quick penalty tap on Huskies five-yard line for an easy 5 points. Muir kicked the convert.
Salmon Arm Junior Boys vs PVSS
The Junior Boys rugby team went head-to-head with Pleasant Valley Secondary (PVSS) twice last week.
The first game was a bit of mismatch with the SAS Team going ahead 48-10, said coach Greg Seed.
Isaac Turgeon stayed on the wing to take on one large PVSS player and bowl them over to score in the corner.
Jayden Harder, playing on the opposite wing as a support runner for Chase Ellwood, received an off load pass and scored in the corner.
The second PVSS game was a playoff game and the Armstrong team improved on their previous effort against the Golds.
Seed attributed Salmon Arm’s 27-0 victory to the play of Dean Koller, Sam Parkes and Connor Senn in the forward pack.
The backs, led by Luke Simmonds, did well catching the slippery rugby ball in the deluge of rain and hail.
Dylan Paquette had a brilliant run while dragging three PVSS players on his back to get within the five-metre line and nearly score. “Simmonds made it look easy for a quick pick and go to touch the ball down after Paquette did all the work,” Seed said.
Ellwood had an exceptional game in the lineout, going up against some tall PVSS scrummers only to use his basketball skills to come down with the ball.
The Junior Golds played in the North Zone final match on May 16, after the Observer’s print deadline. They move on to an Okanagan semifinal game on May 18. If the SAS junior team wins, the Okanagan final match will be held on Wednesday, May 24 at Jackson. Provincials begin on May 27.