Speedy Connor Mackus scored on a late 40-yard scamper as the Fulton Maroons upended the Kalamalka Lakers 24-20 in the Okanagan Valley Senior AA Boys Rugby final Thursday at Kal Field.
With Fulton trailing by three points, they stole the ball and Clark Richardson made a great run to jumpstart the winning phase. However, Clark suffered an injured collarbone on the play and will miss the No. 7 ranked Maroons’ provincial championship opener against the No. 10 Rick Hansen Hurricanes of Abbotsford Saturday in Kelowna.
“It is a big blow to our club,” said Fulton head coach Mike Scheller. “Simply put, he is a great kid who has been our MVP this season.”
The Lakers came out flying, racing to a 15-0 lead by the 12-minute mark.
“We ran sideways and allowed Kal to dictate the pace of the contest,” said Scheller. “A lot of credit has to go to Kal for that. They came out fired up and very well prepared and they took it to us at he beginning of the game.
“Eventually, our kids began to settle down and we started to play more of our style. We ran straighter, supported better and finished our tackles.”
The Maroons, who trailed 15-7 at the half, got other tries from Adam Woods, Caleb McCuaig and Richardson, who, along with Layne Greene, kicked a convert.
In the second half, Fulton continued to control the ball and held the majority of possession and territory.
“Winning the Valley title is a very nice way to cap off a very good season for us, and hopefully gives us momentum heading into the provincial playoffs,” said Scheller, who praised the play of flanker Dan Eustache, winger Bryce Dulaba and Greene, who attacked well from the No. 10 position.
In junior boys Valley quarterfinal playoff action, the Maroons bowed 24-17 to the Kelowna Owls in an entertaining match-up Wednesday.
Davron Polok and Mike Williamson supplied the offence for the Maroons, who were tied 7-7 at the break. Louis Lins went 2-for-2 on converts and also booted a penalty.
Fulton led 17-12 with about 10 minutes to go and seemed to have the advantage in play, but KSS took over in the final eight minutes and scored a couple of late tries to seal the victory.
“Both sides played hard and it was entertaining,” said Scheller, who thanked assistant coaches Kevin Stecyk, Shane Gaythorpe and Joe Lawrence for their hard work with both the junior and senior programs.
“I was proud of the way our kids played. We just came up a little short in the playoffs to a very good KSS team.”
Scrum-half Lins, standoff Tye Kitzman, centre Max Chapman and prop Sikandar Ahmad all had great games for the Maroons.
