“We fought through adversity, and through this tough Colonel By team,” St. Peter scrum-half Shane Dabros said. “I’m really proud of our team. Everyone played really well.”
It certainly wasn’t a cakewalk for the Knights as they matched up against the Cougars, who had won all six of their previous games just like the Knights.
An early St. Peter penalty turned into three points for Colonel By thanks to the boot of Chris Spack, but Nick Wakim answered with a penalty-kick of his own to tie the score.
Neither team scored for the rest of the first half and the game remained knotted 3-3 at the break – an especially uncomfortable position for the Knights, who had won every game before that by at least 27 points.
“The first half stressed me out,” said St. Peter coach Lee Ann Napiorkowski, who didn’t entirely love the Gatorade shower she got after the win despite the hot day. “They needed to get control and play their game, control the rucks and their defence. That’s what I asked them to do at half, they fixed it, and all is good in the world.”
The Knights came out firing in the second half, with Christian Eanga-Selenge sneaking past the try line near the sidelines to score a major for St. Peter as the Cougars complained that the ball wasn’t touched down. Wakim added an impressive convert from the sidelines to extend the lead to 10-3.
Great work by the St. Peter backs resulted in a second try not much later as Chris Zablocki had a relatively easy way into the end zone to create a 15-3 advantage. Dan Fair plunged in for a back-breaking try later in the half to finish up the scoring for the Knights.
Colonel By put up a late charge with under five minutes left and managed to bowl their way downfield for an Eric Clitsome try to narrow the gap to 20-8. The Cougars pressed again in the late stages, but the final whistle blew before they could put any more points on the board.
“That was part of the character of these guys – there was no way they were ever going to quit, no matter what the score line was,” said Colonel By coach Cam Baird, attributing the team’s success to his many talented athletes who excel in other sports such as football, volleyball and hockey.
“It was a tough loss, for sure, but St. Pete’s are a great side as well,” Baird added. “It was a well-deserved win for them, but I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”
The Knights now move on to play in the June 2-4 OFSAA ‘AAA/AAAA’ high school championships in Oshawa.
“We have bigger boys this year, which was part of our problem in the past,” Napiorkowski explained, highlighting the importance of her team kicking its slow-start habit since they play mini-games at the provincial competition. “Heart’s never been a problem and I’m happy with whatever they do as long as they leave everything on the field.”
Look for more in next week’s Orléans Star.
