High school rugby: Highland crushes second-year Lowland

MURRAY — Highland dominated-surprise-in the Utah State High School Rugby Championships Saturday at Murray Park demolishing a second-year Lowland team 60-3.

But Lowland, only in its second year of rugby, representing several west side high schools, was excited just to be in the final. Said coach Mike Cressler, "We are ecstatic to be here. To come this far in two years, it says something for these guys."

He said more than 1,200 kids had signed up to play this year in the league on 14 teams.

"This was the best we played all year," Highland coach Jeff Wilson said It wasn't always perfect, but it was close."

When Wilson says, "All the boys did a great job," he meant that literally as he substituted so that nearly all the boys saw action. The game was secured by halftime with the score 31-3. Lowland's Hayden Barnes scored the team's only points on a penalty kick.

Highland spread the glory around with only Cody Jensen scoring more than one try. He said, "We executed like we were supposed to. I just listened to my teammates."

Many fans came to see the sophomore game which was an outstanding contest. Again, Highland came out on top but at the end of regulation the Rams were tied at 20-20 with Davis County.

After a 10 minute sudden death period in which no one scored, Highland outkicked Davis in the penalty kicks to win 24-23. Assistant Davis coach, Randy Healy said Davis and Highland played three times during the season with Davis coming out on top in the previous two matches. But he said, "This was an amazingly hard fought battle."

Next week the Highland U19 team competes for a National Championship at Rio Tinto stadium to see if it can complete the trifecta.

Kearns wins water polo title

KEARNS — The Kearns Cougars beat Hunter in the Utah high school water polo championship on Saturday in the Oquirrh Park Fitness Center. The win completed an undefeated season for the Cougars and it was their sixth consecutive title. Kearns senior Seth Huff was named MVP and Kearns' Brad Peercy was named coach of the year.

e-mail: wjewkes@desnews.com