Langley Saints coach Jordan Howlett knew he had a good team, but at the start of the season, even he would have been surprised with a Fraser Valley banner.
“At the beginning of the season, I would have said no,” he said about winning the Fraser Valley championship.
“But I think when we won the Langley Shield, beating Mountain, it seemed like a real possibility at that point.”
The Saints captured the Fraser Valley tier 1 2A rugby championship banner last week (May 19) at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium with a dominant 37-17 victory over the Abbotsford Panthers.
This is believed to be the first senior boys Fraser Valley rugby title since 1973.
Langley spotted the Panthers an early 7-0 lead before taking the game over.
“We woke up and took over the game,” Howlett said.
Jayden Korfman scored a pair of tries, while Max Joseph, Cam Smith, Tyler Harris and Kmwee Htoo
had one try apiece. Eh Tha Taw rounded out the scoring with one penalty kick and two converts.
This is Howlett’s first season with the senior team after coaching the junior team last year.
“We have an exceptional group of athletes. For me, if we have outstanding athletes, we can make them an excellent rugby team. If we have a decent team of athletes, we can make them a decent rugby team,” he said.
“The reality is we have a lot of really good athletes who have started to play as a team rather than a bunch of individuals. That has been the change from our first game yesterday to our game yesterday.”
The Saints went 6-0 during league play, outscoring the competition 207 to 86.
They then beat the Robert Bateman Timberwolves 43-18 in the semifinals, ensuring themselves a top three finish at the Fraser Valleys and a berth into the B.C. championships.
The Saints are seeded fourth for the provincial tournament and they open against No. 5 Brentwood.
The championships are May 25, 26 and 28 back at Abbotsford’s Rotary Stadium.
Howlett said he believes Langley has not appeared at the rugby provincial championships since winning the title back in 1994.
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The Saints junior rugby team dropped their third-place game, 17-14, to Elgin Park last week (May 17).
At the junior level, the schools are not split into 2A and 3A based on school size like they are at the senior level.
“The silver lining to the junior season is we were the last AA team standing,” Howlett said,
“Had they divided it up like they do at the senior level, we would have had two Fraser Valley banners.”
