For the fourth straight season, the Dauphin Clippers girls and boys rugby teams are Westman High School Rugby champions.
The girls earned their berth in the league final with a convincing 93-0 win over the Crocus Plains Plainsmen, May 26.
Desiree Lariviere and Edie Fleck had three tries each, while Kiersten Vanderkerckhove and Paityn Bourgouin had two each and Ryann Richard-Soltis, Mindy Chartrand, Felicity Sahulka, Alina Genik and Sophia Smigelski had one each.
Vanderkerckhove added eight converts and Halie Garlinski had one.
In the final on Saturday, Richard-Soltis had two tries to lead the Clippers to a 45-0 win over the visiting Souris Sabres.
Vanderkerckhove, Bourgouin, Lariviere, Mila Heschuk and Garlinski also had tries for Dauphin and Vanderkerckhove had five converts.
Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak said winning a league title is always special.
“Because it’s always another group of new players that get a chance to do it for that first one. So it’s special in that way. But as they always say, that first one is the most special, because it’s for that very first time,” he said.
Sarkonak was impressed with the team’s resilience throughout the final.
“I think there was a bunch of players that came in with some nerves and, honestly, even at halftime, you could see some of the vets were saying ‘we’re playing like we’re nervous. Let’s just take a couple of breaths, let’s play like we have all year and get back to playing Clipper rugby’,” he said.
The Clippers will now travel to Brandon for provincials next weekend.
Dauphin will play Springfield in the semifinals on Friday, with Souris and Steinbach playing in the other semifinal. The final will go on Saturday.
Steinbach had beaten Springfield, 60-0.
Facing teams they have never played before and not knowing what to expect, the Clippers are chomping at the bit, Sarkonak said.
“And I think it’s going to give them just that other gear. So we’ll see what happens,” he added.
“The confidence level is there because I trust the players to do it out there on the field.”
After spotting Souris an early lead, the Clippers varsity boys responded in a big way, shutting down the Sabres in a 66-5 rout on Wednesday.
Alex Thompson had three tries, while Morgan Fleck and Blake Thacker had two tries each and Ben Miner, Julien Lopez and Jordan Evans had singles. Evans also kicked eight converts.
In Saturday’s final, the all-Dauphin contest was won by the varsity squad in a 68-5 victory.
Lopez and Josh Yakielashek had two tries each and Colton Miner, Ben Miner, Blake Symchych, Andriy Genik, Thompson and Parker Freiheit had singles.
Evans had seven converts, while Ben Miner and Symchych had one each.
Clippers coach Gerald Lopez felt the final was a good celebration of rugby in Dauphin in general.
“Both teams, even though the green team was a far superior team, the white team never gave up. So I look forward to the future. I’m so proud of all of them,” he said.
This year’s varsity team has a lot more experience than the previous championships teams.
“Meaning a lot of them played rugby aside from high school rugby. So they’re able to use that knowledge and really, they had such a phenomenal year. No team could really come close to them. At least in our league,” Lopez said.
Despite the loss, JV coach Mike Penner was pleased with his team’s play.
“I’m pretty sure I could go most other schools in the province and not find 13 guys willing to step on the field against the Dauphin seniors and we found 13 just in our school alone. So I think that’s pretty impressive,” he said.
“Other schools, if some of their guys were hurt or their all-stars weren’t going to play, then they’d just folded their tents and didn’t go into the arena.”
The JVs, Penner added, overachieved in their first season in the Westman High School League, winning twice and finishing second.
“No one had them competing, let alone winning two of their regular season games. And then going against the Dauphin senior team twice in one year, I know a lot of other teams were expecting us to just concede this game and not show up. But that’s not how these boys roll,” he said.
“These guys are going to be taking some of the reigns next year on the senior team and we’re looking forward to that.”
The JV Clippers will play the St. Paul’s Crusaders in one provincial semifinal, while the senior boys play St. John’s Ravenscourt.
With St. Paul’s having won 10 straight provincial titles and 11 of the last 12, whoever they play will have a tough task ahead.
Penner hopes the JV players will have their eyes opened to see just how good the Crusaders are.
“But once again, I don’t think there’s a lot of teams that would be willing to step on the field against them, but we will. We’ll be there again stepping into the fire. And anyone who doesn’t give us a shot in the third-place game, doesn’t understand this team,” he said.
Lopez said the varsity team will train for provincials like it’s a brand new season.
“We still have a lot of stuff to work on and, hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see our old rivals St. Paul’s,” he said, adding the success of the Clippers program is a testament to the work put in by everyone since the program began.