ASAA 2024 Rugby XV Championships

ASAA 2024 Rugby XV Champions

ASAA 2024 Rugby XV Championship Participants

LCI Clippers defeat Raymond to win rugby provincial title

By Garrett Simmons 
Lethbridge School Division Communications 

The Lethbridge Collegiate Clippers defeated a familiar foe in the championship game at the 2024 Alberta Schools Athletic Association Rugby 15s Provincials. 

LCI met up with Raymond in the Tier 1 final and emerged with a 19-10 win to take gold. 
The win in the final over the Comets wrapped up a hugely successful season for the Clippers, as the team also upended Raymond in the zone final a week before. 

“We went into final having beaten Raymond two of the three previous games, so there was a lot of confidence mixed with a healthy level of respect since that Raymond loss was our only loss of the season, in a tournament, and we knew they would be out for revenge,” said LCI coach Samantha Wright. 
But LCI was ready for the challenge, and took home gold on the biggest provincial stage in Red Deer. 
“It didn’t matter what Raymond threw at us,” said Wright. “We were focused on our game. We took away space defensively and forced them to make mistakes.” 

The win wasn’t without its challenges, however, as the Clippers had a to make a number of difficult lineup decisions throughout the tournament.  

“We had some tough injuries, so we had players stepping up into positions they didn’t have a ton of experience with as well as girls playing not at 100 per cent, but everyone played their role,” said the coach. 

Every did indeed played their role almost flawlessly through the first two games in Red Deer, as LCI opened with a 42-0 win over All Saints and then advanced to the final with a 30-0 win over Bert Church. 
“We went undefeated and hadn’t been scored on at provincials going into the final, whereas Raymond had two tight games leading to the final,” said Wright. “The argument of rest versus experience was certainly top of mind for coaching staff but luckily, we knew what to expect from Raymond with this being our fourth meeting of the season.” 

The final started off just how LCI drew it up, as the Clippers came out firing.  “It was a great start to game putting up 19 points in the first half with tries from Madi Kutsch, Emma Boehme and Charlee Tanner,” said Wright, who added LCI also had conversion kicks from Dansia Zopoula and Victoria Morley. “We spent the second half holding onto the lead and playing very tough defence against a desperate opposition.” 
Raymond managed to score two tries in the second half but LCI’s defense shut the Comets down and prevented a late-game comeback. 

The provincial championship was the icing on the cake for a season where LCI was 10-0 in league play with 479 points for and 40 points against. The Clippers racked up seven league all-stars nods, as Kami de Jong, Payton Shields, Tylee Walburger, Madi Kutsch, Sloane Hirsche, Katelyn Lowry and Charlee Tanner earned the league honours.  

The league MVP winner was Madi Kutsch. 

Central Alberta rugby teams battle in provincial finals

High school provincial rugby wraps up in Red Deer

Ian Gustafson

After a hectic weekend of provincial high school rugby in Red Deer, the champions have been determined.

From June 7-8, the top girls’ and boys’ rugby teams in the province made their way to Red Deer to compete for provincial titles in three tiers.

After numerous games on Friday, the championship games were held on Saturday on fields across the city.

Among the local teams competing for titles were the West Central High School senior boys out of Rocky Mountain House and the Rimbey High School senior girls.

West Central, who competed for the Tier II boys title at Titans Field on Saturday, lost 63-0 to Winston Churchill High School from Lethbridge.

Head coach Camryn Leavitt-Bonazza, who co-coaches with her husband Dominic, said her team played amazing considering how shorthanded they are.

After losing a few players to injuries and other reasons they came to provincials with just three substitute players. Despite that, they beat Lethbridge 22-0 in their opening game before losing to Churchill twice.

“We’ve played with very few subs all year. At most, we had 18 players on our roster and they wanted it,” she said.

This is the first group of guys to form a rugby team in Rocky Mountain House since 2019. Following the COVID-19 pandemic the school had a hard time finding enough players to form a team.

Last year they had enough to enter the 7s league and this year with more interest were able to join the 15s.

“It became really difficult to try and get a sport going again that isn’t the most popular but these guys showed a big interest and here we are,” she said.

“I’m hopeful this program will continue to grow especially if we can continue to compete at this level… The boys here really showed what it means to play as a team and not give up on each other.”

The Rimbey High School senior girls, who competed in the Tier III girls division, lost to Sexsmith Secondary School 19-0 at Annie L Gaetz in Red Deer on Saturday.

Head coach Ceara Newman said despite not coming out on top in the provincial final the girls played an incredible game.

“They pushed to the final second and we had a ton of injuries. We went in with only three subs but I couldn’t ask anything more from them. I’m really proud,” she said.

Rimbey was right in it through the first half but Sexsmith scored 19 unanswered points in the second half to pull away.

“I think in the second half we got a few really unlucky bounces. It was a really well-called game but I think we just got tired. We had a really physical tournament and ran out of subs. They’re a great team though,” she added.

Early on in the provincial tournament, Rimbey beat Matthew Halton 17-5 before losing to Sexsmith 19-5 in their second game. Overall, Newman said it was a successful season.

“It was a bit of a growth year for us. We have a ton of rookies and they did incredible.”

In Tier I girls action, the Notre Dame Cougars beat Lindsay Thurber Raiders 53-7 to claim seventh place and in the same matchup in Tier I boys the Raiders beat the Cougars 48-12.

The Lacombe Rams also beat the Hunting Hills Lightning 10-5 in Tier II girls’ tournament play for seventh place.