The Spartans are going Bear hunting this week — nearly one year after some burly bruins from Banff trapped them.
The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS) Spartans will square off in the South Central Zone Tier II boys final Thursday at the Calgary Rugby Union. Last year, the Bears outlasted the Spartans 30-28 to win the championship.
“Our goal all year is to go to provincials and to win provincials and what stands in the way is Banff,” said STS flanker Connor Vaandering. “So we have to win on Thursday.”
The Spartans downed the Springbank Phoenix 38-12 in the semifinal on Monday at the Calgary Rugby Union. Meanwhile, the Bears beat the Oilfields Drillers 25-12 in the other semifinal to set up a rematch of last year’s contest.
Spartans coach Chris Ruskay admitted the Bears’ victory last year has made it more difficult to sleep all winter.
“You always want to play that extra two or three minutes at the end — maybe the ball bounces the right way and we win,” Ruskay said. “This year it is the same coloured jerseys out there, but it’s a different group of guys.”
The two teams have not played against each other this season, but they have a mutual respect for one another. STS finished atop the Tier II standings at 4-1 while the Bears were 3-2.
“They are typically very athletic and they run hard,” Ruskay said of the Bears. “They are tough and have been tough for five years.”
Bears coach Ian Higginbottom said he was pleased with how his boys played against the Drillers. His main aim before facing the Spartans is to get the Bruins healthy.
“We were missing three of our best players against Oilfields and we want to have them back by Thursday,” he said.
He is going to need all the weapons he can get. The Spartans have plenty of offensive weapons to hunt down these Bears.
“The Spartans and us are two different teams.” Higginbottom said. “They are more dynamic and we tend to focus more on the centre of the field.”
He said the Bears’ defence will have to come up big against the speedy Spartans.
“If we want to win, we have to control the ball with our forwards,” Higginbottom said. “When their backs get the ball, we have to play smart pressure defence to shut them down.”
He credited Oilfields for giving the Bears a scare in the semifinals.
“We dominated possession of the ball so we didn’t give them too many opportunities,” Higginbottom said. “They have a couple of big guys who were able to break away from us.
“Their (the Drillers) no. 15 was phenomenal (Branden Powell).”
The Tier II boys final is Thursday at 2:15 p.m. at the Calgary Rugby Union.
In girls Tier II semifinal action, the Highwood Mustangs beat the Oilfields Drillers 7-5 Monday in Calgary.
The Mustangs will now play the Springbank Phoenix in the final Thursday at 2:15 p.m.
The winners of all the finals will advance to provincials June 7-8 in Lethbridge.
