Costa Ruggers Battle In Las Vegas International 7s
The Mira Costa Ruggers found more success on the second day of the tournament. The Boys Green side opened play against the British Columbia Elite. Captain Evan Anderson opened the scoring with a nifty 26 meter run & converted the kick for a 7-0 lead. Unfortunately, the boys from Canada managed to put up 2 late scores to defeat Costa 7-14. The last match was against Southeast (United States). The boys gave up an early Try but it was pretty much all Costa after that as Aiden Martinez found the Try Zone, Evan Anderson converted. Then just before half Jordan Corral sprinted 46 meters before making a beautiful offload to Anderson who then found Jaren Cortez. After half Reed Vabrey and Martinez found the Try Zone 28-17.
The Gold side took on our friends, View Park HS of LA. The first half saw the Mustangs trying to play the Knights game and it was a bad decision as they gave up 22 first half points. The second half saw Costa playing their game as they controlled the ball until they could find Tony Cascadden on an overlap which they did twice making the final 10-22. The final match was against Shawnigan Lake HS (Vancouver, Canada) and it was a thriller as they traded scores. It was the Tony Cascadden show as he went weak side off a scrum for a 34 meter score & he converted the Try. Matt Vensel added a Try from 48. Down 12-19 no time left Cascadden got around the Canadian winger for a 68 meter romp. Unfortunately, the conversion failed giving the Mustangs a 17-19 loss for a 1-3-1 overall record.
The Lady ruggers had gone 0-3 the day before but were without their star Ashley Brownsberger. The first match of the day was against the Mt. Boucherie Bears from West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The Mustangs crushed the Canadians 45-0 with Brownsberger, Cece Morriss, Alyssa Boras and Camille Boll all scoring. The victory pitted the Ladies against the Summit HS (Colorado) Swarm for the Shield Championship. The ladies gave up a few Trys on defense but once again their offense was unstoppable as they blew out the Swarm as they won the Shield Championship-the first championship of any kind in the girls’ program.