Before they settled into the May long weekend, the Lloydminster
Comprehensive Barons did their homework and earned a berth in the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincial boys’ rugby 7s championship.
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In the Northeast zone championship May 15, the host Barons won both games, 34-0 and 10-7, in a two-game, total-point series with Cold Lake.
“We’re excited to move on to provincials,” said Lloyd Comp coach Jason Prokop. “I think it’ll be really good.”
Although his Barons posted a decisive victory overall, Prokop credited Cold Lake for a worthy performance in the championship series.
“Cold Lake definitely brought their boys out to play,” he said. “They played hard in both games.”
The 16-team provincial championship is scheduled for May 23 and 24 in
St. Albert, where the competition is expected to be intense.
“We’ll have some stiff competition, come provincials,” Prokop said. “I think it’ll be good competition for the boys moving forward. We will have a lot to learn, as we do every year, but the boys have a really good shot at placing in the top six.
“There is a lot of stiff competition — a lot of high school teams that do end up playing club rugby as well.”
Conversely, the Barons play strictly high school rugby and many of them are in their first year in the sport, even as Grade 12 athletes.
“It’s a very young team,” Prokop said. “A lot of the boys are from football. We’re thankful they came out and gave us a season for rugby, but for a lot of them, it is their first year of rugby.”
Prokop, a 14-year teacher at Lloyd Comp and also the school’s wrestling coach, hopes more student-athletes from other sports might consider joining rugby next season and beyond.
“We’re trying to encourage more cross-athletics,” he said. “Try and get more guys out from football, wrestling and even basketball. That’s what we’re
trying to build on for the next few years, for the (rugby) team.”
Prokop has been coaching rugby for about 10 years and previously coached the girls’ team at LCHS. He said he has a couple of valuable assistant coaches, including a familiar face in Keyanna Bannerman.
“She plays rugby and has quite the history in the sport,” Prokop said of
Bannerman. “She started at the Comp, playing rugby. This is her first year with the boys and we’re excited to have her on, along with Ben (McMahon) as the community coach. He does a great job, too. His background is lots of rugby.”
Bannerman and McMahon are also part of the senior Reapers community rugby program.
While the girls’ division had three teams involved in their Northeast zone qualifier last week, the boys’ category had just Lloyd Comp and Cold Lake.
After the 7s provincials, the boys and girls are back in action May 28 for the Northeast zone 15s qualifier, as part of a daylong celebration of rugby in the Border City.
Mark Grillandini, who coaches the provincial-bound Baron girls’ team, said the Holy Rosary boys were unable to take part in the rugby 7s playdowns. “They had too many injuries to participate.”
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