A clean sweep for the Griffins
TASSS wins COSSA AAA junior girls rugby championship over Lindsay’ s I. E. Weld on
The Thomas A. Stewart Griffins juniors made it a COSSA sweep for the school’s girls rugby program.
The Griffins avenged a loss in the Kawartha playoffs by beating Lindsay’s I.E. Weldon Wildcats 15-12 in the COSSA AAA gold medal game Thursday afternoon at M.A. Sills Park in Belleville. It came after the Griffins seniors captured gold on the same field on Wednesday.
The Griffins built a 15-0 lead on the Wildcats and then held them off. The Wildcats beat TASSS on penalty kicks in the Kawartha semifinals.
“They’re a good team and run the ball hard and they threw everything they had at us ,” said Griffin s coach Aaron Stinchcombe. “Our girls kept the slim lead and played good defence.”
The Griffins knocked off the No .1 Quinte Region seed Trent on Tigers 22-10 in the semifinals and finished with an 8-2 overall record.
“It’s a good experience for these girls especially knowing that the seniors did the same the day before. The momentum gained from the seniors winning helped. The girl went out and played really well. Once they scored that first try against Trenton they knew they had a chance at the gold.”
Stinchcombe said he and cocoach Dave Donald were impressed by the girls’ willingness to learn all season.
“They’re a really good group. They improved a lot as individual players and as a team. Dave and I both remarked on how well the juniors picked up the game. They were eager to learn and willing to work hard.”
Against Trenton, Ab by Todd had two tries with singles to Elizabeth Oates and Eli ana Clark son-Geeza. Mikayla Bertrand had a convert. Against Weldon, Todd, Oates and Clarkson-Geeza scored tries.