Crusaders’ big win a ‘family’ affair
WATERLOO — Even when she’s on the sidelines, Karli Barr is very much into the game.
The Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders’ rugby standout, after a dominant performance on the pitch, turned into a cheerleader/coach Wednesday during her team’s 39-5 victory over the Bluevale Knights in Waterloo County girls’ high school rugby play.
Barr, an outside centre, scored a pair of first-half tries as the Crusaders built a 39-0 lead in a game between second-place squads at University Stadium.
W-O head coach Erma Repei pulled most of her starters at the break and Barr on a leadership role as younger, inexperienced players took over.
“I have a passion for all sports and this one, it’s like no other. I used to play soccer and get in trouble because I was too intense or too rough and this, this is like organized chaos,” said Barr following the postgame handshakes.
“I love it and today, we really pulled together as a team and played great. “We have great team spirit and passion … it’s like a family, everyone gets along.”
The result allowed the Crusaders to clinch second place on the final day of the regular season with a 5-1 record, while the Knights slipped to 3-2-1. The twotime defending champion KCI Raiders closed out with a 63-0 win over the Preston Panthers to finish at 6-0, their third straight year without a regular-season loss.
Barr, who hopes to play rugby at Wilfrid Laurier University later this year, opened the scoring for Waterloo-Oxford just three minutes into Wednesday’s contest and added another at the 16-minute mark to make it 17-0.
Kayte Van Kalsbeek scored in the 12th minute, after a great pass from Barr, and Mary Riddell scored in the 20th minute after a long run by Zippy Boronka.
Sophie Jantzi and Caitlyn Armstrong extended the lead to 39-0 in the second half before Bluevale’s Maddie Snook scored her team’s only try in the dying minutes.
The question now is whether Waterloo-Oxford has what it takes to knock off KCI in the playoffs.
The Raiders, who defeated the Crusaders in last year’s WCSSAA final, won the regular-season meeting 29-7 but Barr is optimistic her team can win a rematch.
“We just have to play the way we did today, with the same intensity. The last time we played against them, we also played very well and the score did not reflect how we played,” she said.
“Redemption … I want redemption,” she added.
The Crusaders, a team with a large contingent of Grade 9 and 10 players, will count on veterans like Jessie Burke, Jantzi, Van Kalsbeek and Cassie Postrosny to lead them in the playoffs and, they hope, to a spot in the Central Western Ontario championship.
The Knights, another team loaded with young talent, have already exceeded the expectations of head coach Shannon VanKoughnett.
Ten starters and 23 of the team’s 31 players are playing rugby for a first or second year.
Abigal Ferguson is the Knights’ best player, but she sat out Wednesday’s loss with an injury.
Leah Meklensek, Madi Baker, Maddy Weber, Becca Passmore and Snook have all had strong seasons for Bluevale.
“We’re really, really young this year and to be honest, I didn’t expect us to do this well,” said VanKoughnett.
“There’s KCI, W-O and the rest of us. If we play well in the playoffs, we can still make CWOSSA and that would be a great accomplishment,” VanKoughnett added.
In past years, three WCSSAA teams have advanced to the CWOSSA championship along with a representative from District 8, which doesn’t have a rugby league this year.
The Grand River Renegades finished with a 6-0 record in the WCSSAA league’s second-tier after a 29-5 win over the Huron Heights Huskies.