After a strong scrimmage match against Valhalla, the Boys’ Varsity rugby team played a close match against Patrick Henry High School. Coronado had given up two tries and lost team captain Sam Glauser to a yellow card early in the match. As junior Cal Frank stepped in as team captain, “The tide would slowly begin to turn behind strong defense and a brilliant jackal play by James Cook,” says Coach Trujillo. “A rugby jackal play is when an opposing player gets tackled; meanwhile, a defender drives over the tackled player ripping the ball away from them before their support arrives.” Senior James Cook frequently plays this role of the jackal, creating turnovers for Coronado.
After team captain Glauser rejoined the match after his yellow card, he would lead the team in Coronado’s first try of the match. He ran the ball on the outside, soon assisted by Ben Cahill who completed the try. Diego DeOrlow then scored the conversion putting Coronado on the board at 7-10. Now that the boys had momentum, Cal Frank dominated the field by “repeatedly running through the Patrick Henry defense like a Godzilla stomping through the streets of Tokyo,” comments Trujillo. Frank would eventually complete a try, breaking six tackles on the run.
The second half of the match was, once again, dominated by Glauser and Frank in scoring tries. Unfortunately, Coronado lost one of its best players, Harrison Bartell, to an injury, which gave Patrick Henry time to recover and regroup. While Patrick Henry took a one-point lead, “Coronado’s superior fitness would take over once again giving Teddy Hendrickson opportunity to push through the defense and in for the winning score,” commented Trujillo. The final score was 40-34, in favor of Coronado.
The Varsity Girls played three matches last weekend, the first against Westview High School. The match started with some crushing tackles from Sasha Wong, Araceli Flores, and Nessa Hudson. By the end of the first half, Coronado had only scored one try by senior Rose Ty with a conversion, making the score 7-0. In the second half, Rose Ty and Nessa Hudson both completed tries—the final score being 21-0. The second match against Junipero Serra High School went similarly, in favor of Coronado. “Stefany James was on fire today making many tackles including one that prevented a score after Serra tried to kick over our defense to their own fast player,” Trujillo says. The final score of this game was 21-7. The girls’ limited bench would make their third match against Mira Mesa more difficult. They lost this game 7-22.
