Playing in front of a 3,000-strong crowd that had gathered to watch the IRB Canada Sevens in Langford last Sunday, Brentwood College School shook off any nerves and defeated Abbotsford Senior Secondary 15-7 to win the B.C. high school girls rugby sevens championship.
Denise Roy scored twice and Ciel Arbour-Boehme added one try against an Abbotsford team that head coach Marius Felix felt fortunate to beat.
"They have a quality side," he said. "They've been good for a long time. It was a great day for our kids for sure."
The 16 teams at the tournament were divided into four pools, and Brentwood ended up in the same pool as regional rivals Cowichan Secondary. Brentwood swept through pool play Friday, beating Cowichan 29-7, Handsworth 34-0 and Elgin Park 19-5. Wrapping up play on Friday, Brentwood downed Yale 19-5 in the quarterfinals.
"They're a good team," Felix said of Yale. "They have some big, strong kids."
Meanwhile, Cowichan finished second behind Brentwood in pool play and beat Valleyview 22-5 in their quarterfinal, setting up a semifinal rematch. The second game between the teams was much closer, with Brentwood prevailing 17-7. "That was a crackerjack of a game," Felix said. "Cowichan was terrific, and we played well, too.
They had obviously learned some things about our team, because they were very different."
Cowichan was defeated by Lake City 32-10 in the third-place game, which was played, like the championship match, at Westhills Stadium.
"That was pretty neat for our kids," Felix said of the atmosphere for the final. "I wish I had taken a picture of them before the game, because they looked like they had saucers for eyes, but they went out and did their job."