Thinking they were out of the running after losing in the Island semifinals last Wednesday, Brentwood College School’s girls rugby team made it to the provinical AA championships after all.
The winners of the Island semifinals qualified directly to provincials, and Brentwood lost a close one, 26-19 to Mark R. Isfeld. Trailing in the first half, Brentwood mounted a comeback that very nearly worked out.
“We came back and almost found a way to beat them,” Brentwood coach Marius Felix said. “I was pleased with the result even though we would have liked to win the game.”
When a team from the Interior had to bow out of the provincial championships because of a spate of injuries, Brentwood was invited to take their place.
“We were quite lucky,” Felix said.
Brentwood was seeded seventh going into the eight-team tournament in Williams Lake. Isfeld was ranked fifth, and Vanier is seeded first after beating Isfeld in the Island final last Thursday. Felix believes Vanier is a cut above the rest of the group.
“It will take some doing for any AA team to beat them,” he said.
Brentwood has a particularly young group this year, but Felix is optimistic that his team will perform well at provincials.
“We will have our hands full, but as I’ve said before, this is a building year for us,” he noted. “All this is an experience for us. We’ll give it a shot and do our best.
“If we can finish any higher than our No. 7 seeding, I would be satisfied with that, given the youth we have. I’d like to finish ahead of Isfeld, but that might take some doing. If we can throw a scare into NorKam and upset them, that would be great, but it might be a bit ambitious.”
Shawnigan Lake School and Cowichan Secondary are both at the AAA girls provincial tournament, also in Williams Lake.
