Alberta’s best ever rugby sevens finish happened with a little help from their friends on the Foothills Lions.
Team Alberta claimed bronze in both the men’s and women’s divisions for first time at the U18 Sevens Championships in Vancouver with Lions standouts Thomas Isherwood, Carmen Izyk, Keyara Wardley and Brogan Mior suiting up for their province.
“Nationals we came out really strong,” said Isherwood, a Grade 11 student at Foothills Composite. “I haven’t played on a team with such great defence before.
“We played well as a team, we worked hard and it paid off.”
Alberta opened with a 40-0 romp over Saskatchewan and 19-0 shutout of Newfoundland before coming up against the powerhouse Ontario team. The Heartland Province came away with a 14-7 victory.
Team Alberta then knocked off New Brunswick and Newfoundland to earn a semifinal date with Ontario, again ending in a narrow 10-5 victory for the latter.
“Off the kick-off they caught it really luckily then got a break down the field,” Isherwood said. “We could have beaten them both times.”
Alberta met a downtrodden British Columbia side in the bronze-medal final and took it to the hosts in a 31-12 triumph.
“They were supposed to win it. After they lost in the semifinal, we were walking back to our hotel and you could tell they weren’t too good with their loss,” Isherwood said. “In the bronze-medal game we pressured them right off the bat, they crashed and we overtook the game.”
Isherwood finished as the top scorer in the competition with 74 points in seven games.
He credits Lions coach Jim Ryan, who also served as an assistant coach on the U18 Alberta women’s side, for the individual success.
“He’s dedicated a lot of time to our club and showed me how to play,” Isherwood said. “I’ve been working on my game and it has showed on the field.”
Wardley, a County Central School student, matched the feat in the women’s division as the top individual scorer en route to Alberta’s bronze medal finish.
The wild rose province edged Quebec and Nova Scotia to move onto the semifinal round where once again Ontario stood in the way.
Alberta went on to comfortably defeat Ontario 2 to get on the national podium.
“It was a great experience to see all the other girls play and learn from them,” said Mior, a Grade 10 student at Holy Trinity Academy. “It was definitely a higher level of competition than what I’ve seen before at U16. So many of the girls that were playing in the national festival also were playing for the U18 Canada team.”
Mior and Wardley were selected to a top-40 roster from the championships as U18 Team Canada brass look to build a roster of 24 players for an international fixture with the United States.
“I thought it was a huge accomplishment for being one of the youngest there,” Mior added. “I was the only 15-year-old there, that was pretty big for me.”
Viva Las Vegas
The Foothills Lions opened a busy month by bringing a brigade to the largest amateur rugby tournament in North America in Las Vegas from March 1-5 in conjunction with the International Rugby Sevens stop in Sin City.
Foothills fielded teams in the U16 girls, high school open girls and high school open boys divisions.
The Lions fared exceptionally well in the high school open girls divisions, posting an unblemished 5-0 record to advance to the championship where they fell 17-15 to Ontario’s Upright Rugby Rogues. Coached by Jim Ryan and Chris Powell the team featured Annaliese Curtis, Callie Eagleton, Claire Fioretti, Carmen Izyk, Brogan Mior, Maddie Powell, Aliyah Pavelich, Larissa Little, Rylee Krauss, Olivia Glabus, Paige Lowrey and Teagan Mucz.
The U16 girls took home the Bowl title as fifth place finishers. The team featured Kylie Manser, Jordyn Wilson, Jasmine Leslie, Sydney Stevens, Mucz, Aurora Steele, Chelsea Anderson, Tianna Donnelly, Lara Obrigewitsch, Arianna Geraldoy and Sydney Aitken.
Playing against much larger opposition, the high school boys proved their weight with big wins over the Minnesota Tundra and Rigby Red. The Lions boys team included Thomas Isherwood, McKinlay Roberts, Alex Galan, Jack Galan, Mitch Newman, Caleb Labrenz, Ethan Zapach, Zak Khan, Cooper Callister, Tyler Steele, Aden Ellis, Gareth Key and Ian MacNeil.
Registration
Registration for the 2017 season is open for the Foothills Lions.
Club officials are encouraging young girls in the U13, U15 and U18 age group to sign up and join one of the top female programs in Western Canada. No experience is required.
Anyone wanting more information on the club’s offerings can do so at foothillslionsrfc.org
