Explosive on offence, stingy on defence – the Fulton Maroons opened their North Zone Junior boys rugby season in style, slamming the Salmon Arm Golds 30-0 Friday afternoon at Grahame Park.
Davron Polok powered the Fulton attack with a pair of tries, with Tye Kitzman, Mike Williamson, Karl Main and Bogdan Sarachie each adding one.
“This was a great opening to the season for this team,” said Fulton coach Mike Scheller. “A lot of these kids played their first rugby of their lives and they produced a solid well-played effort.
“For an early junior game, they showed some good offensive skills. In defence, they tackled well and controlled most of the play.”
Inside centre Karl Main ran hard and had a couple of crunching tackles, locks Brett Shaigec and Franky Gettis were aggressive in the loose play, and prop Sikandar Ahmad was an impact player all over the field.
Scheller credited assistants Kevin Stecyk and Joe Lawrence for getting the boys prepared.
Meanwhile, the Maroons sevens squad is through to provincials after a runner-up performance at the Okanagan Sevens Championships.
The Maroons defeated Salmon Arm, Kelowna Christian Knights and Sa-Hali Sabres in round-robin play to finish first in their pool. The Kelowna Owls won the other pool, with the Kalamalka Lakers taking second.
Fulton grounded Kal in the semis and fell to Kelowna in the final.
“KSS was definitely the class of the tournament and were deserved winners, however, it is a great accomplishment for our kids to finish second,” said Scheller. “All of our 12 players had a solid day and worked hard as a team.”
Clark Richardson scored the bulk of Fulton’s tries and was a threat all tourney. Ryan Buick played his best rugby of the season and was a solid set up runner, and Layne Greene also had a great tourney, recording many clutch tackles.
The provincial championships go Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 at UBC in Vancouver.
