Rugby season starting to heat up
The NNEC Gryphons female ruggers weren’t very kind hosts on Thursday.
On a cold and damp day in Parkdale, the Gryphons defeated the NRHS Nighthawks 42-0 on their home field.
Leading the offence for NNEC was Victoria Straub, who has three tries and a convert, while Caitlin Taylor had two, and Maria Holle, Nora Burrows and Lauren MacLeod had tries as well.
The Gryphons have two wins and a tie in three games on the season. Usually a contender in the Nova Scotia School Athletics Federation, the Gryphons have won two provincial championships (they went back-to-back in 2009 and 2010) since the school opened in 2003.
Getting back to provincials is still the goal, according to longtime head coach Dougal MacInnis, who has coached the girls for 11 years at the Parkdale school. Prior to that, he had coached the NNEC boys for three years.
“I’m not going to lie to you – if we don’t make it to provincials this year, it’ll be disappointing,” he said on Thursday, as his team got set to take the field against the Nighthawks.
“I think it would be very disappointing for the girls, because they have a ton of potential, and they know they have a ton of potential.”
The Gryphons are a younger team this year, with just five Grade 12s on the roster.
“The vast majority of our team are Grade 11s,” MacInnis added.
Also Thursday, the Nighthawk boys squad used a strong second half to put away NNEC, in a 34-14 win, with Mike MacGillivray, Tom MacKenzie, Justin MacLennan, Cairon Boone and Cole MacIsaac all getting tries in the game.
Both rugby teams at NNEC are at home this coming Tuesday against the CEC Cougars.