After Rocky Mountain House failed to play Stettler on Monday, May 15, the Wildcats moved up to the top spot in Pool B and will be playing the second-place Pool A team, which is Hunting Hills on Wednesday, May 17 in Red Deer.
Last week Stettler played Olds at home in their second game of the season and won 68-10, putting them 2-0 on the season, tied for first in the pool in league play.
“In the Olds game we had good fan support to cheer us on and the girls had a lot of fun getting in some full field tries,” said Coach Josh Elliott. “The try scorers were Sadie Diegel, Emily Brown, Abbey Bohn, Reesa Garez, Tori Brower, Brenda Antle, Shaylyn McNeil.”
According to Elliott, the game was a good confident booster for them and a big accomplishment because the girls still have to appreciate how well they are doing as a young team, and how their hard work in practice has been paying off.
Drayton Valley tournament
This last Friday/Saturday the Wildcats travelled to Drayton Valley for their annual tournament.
“They create an awesome rugby environment of positive teams and coaches who love the game and are willing to share players on teams short, and just spread general good vibes,” said Elliott.
Stettler played their first two games of the tourney against Drayton Valley and Hunting Hills.
“The girls were excited to play in both games because Drayton Valley won provincials last year and Hunting Hills finished second in Central Alberta,” Elliott added. “We got smacked by Drayton Valley, but that was very good for us to play an opponent that showed us some of our lazy habits that we were able to maintain against weaker teams.”
Hunting Hills also beat Stettler pretty convincingly, taking advantage of their low morale after losing to Drayton.
On Saturday, May 13, Stettler played Cold Lake and won 35-25, and also took their final game against Devon, 60-0.
Elliott said that some standout players from the weekend were Brooklyn Perry, who has been playing a lot of scrumhalf and fullback for us, perhaps two of the most challenging positions; Shaylyn McNeil, who scored multiple tries and at one point made three consecutive tackles back-to-back-to-back; last year’s players were Kallie Stewart, Sadie Diegel, Emily Brown, Reesa Garez, and Kassy Diegel, who showed a lot of toughness playing through pain and still performing at a high level.
“We have a really exciting team of good athletes that would do very well at rugby in the youth and adult club levels, a few that are close to being ready for post- secondary rugby,” Elliott explained.