Southwest United advanced to the provincial high school boys rugby sevens championship with a hard-fought 24-22 win over County Central Hawks.
Southwest United claimed the 2A high school zone title Friday with a win in the game played at Chinook high school in Lethbridge, a neutral site for the teams from Fort Macleod and Vulcan.
County Central Hawks opened the scoring with an unconverted try to take a 5-0 lead.
Southwest United replied with a try by Adrian Lezcano, with Zach Wright adding the convert to make it 7-5.
Lezcano scored another try, this one unconverted, to put Southwest United in front 12-5.
The Hawks fought back with an unconverted try to narrow Southwest United’s lead to 12-10.
The referee then awarded County Central a penalty try and the convert put the Hawks into a 17-12 lead.
Southwest United quickly rallied with Ruan Peterson scoring a try that was converted by Lezcano to surge back into a 19-17 lead.
Romain Magnin scored Southwest United’s fourth try to make the score 24-17.
The Hawks fought to the wire, scoring one more unconverted try before the final whistle, with Southwest Untied prevailing 24-22.
The Tier 2 high school provincials are Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 at the Calgary Rugby Union, hosted by Westmount Charter School.
The Southwest United roster includes Grade 12s Romain Magnin and Travis Loyst from F.P. Walshe and Adrian Lezcano, Cullen Mackrel, Keane De La Cruz, Louis Baston and Avery Toone from Willow Creek Composite.
Grade 11 players are Rylan Carter from F.P. Walshe; Zac Wright, Ben Baker, Moses Smith, Phoenix Fox, Spencer Cooper and Justin Rice from Willow Creek Composite; and Ruan Peterson from Matthew Halton.
Grade 10s are Cody Querengesser, Rylan Guitton, Skylar Sabey and Mika Perry from Willow Creek Composite.
Grade 9s are Brayden Baird, Ethan Gouchie, James Neels, from F.P. Walshe; Briggs Baker, Kael Smith and Easton Wright from Willow Creek Composite; and Lander Hurst from Livingstone.
Leo Toth from F.P. Walshe is the only Grade 8 player, and Grade 7s are Nathan Gurney, Thatcher Gouchie, Dorian McDougall and Jason Neels from F.P. Walshe; and Glen Hurst from Livingstone.
