Snow Canyon's Wyatt Parry, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
MESA, Ariz. – Snow Canyon’s rugby club traveled a long way for match Saturday – but it was worth it.
The Warrior ruggers made their way down to the Phoenix area and battled the top prep club team in Red Mountain, beating RM 24-12.
“We have a great relationship with them and they have a very good team,” said Snow Canyon coach Michael Puriri. “They draw from the entire Mesa area, plus some schools outside of Mesa. And they are very gracious hosts. The families of the players host us at their homes and then they feed us. They put on a luau for us.”
The 9th and 10th-grade team beat up on Red Mountain 52-0, followed by the varsity game. Although it was much closer at 24-12, the outcome was never seriously in doubt.
“We came out a little flat and the kids know it,” Puriri said. “I think a lot of the kids stayed up too late last night. Although we started out slow, we got some good drives before halftime and then we got some scores in the second half and were able to start subbing in a lot of our b-side players.”
Puriri said that although the reserves didn’t score much, they did play great defense and kept the score under control.
“With the b-side boys in, we did not run the score up anymore on them,” Puriri said. “But those boys played well enough to defend and it was a good opportunity for them.”
The Snow Canyon squad put together the solid outing behind the usual solid play of guys like Wyatt Parry and Andy Day, but Puriri said it was a real team effort.
“It was a good team win,” he said. “No one guy stood out. All of them were outstanding. We could have done better and they know it. We’ll work on some things this week. But today was a total team win.”
The regular season begins for rugby club teams in March, though there are several tournament coming up before the season begins, including next weekend’s “Referee Warm-up Tournament” at SCHS (A,B, Mix, 9/10 teams participating).
For more information on Snow Canyon rugby, click here.
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Sauni Nio scores a try, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brooks Maile, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Tucker Lamoreaux, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Wyatt Parry, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Wyatt Parry, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Wyatt Parry scores a try, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Mikaera Puriri, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Andy Day, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brooks Maile, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Brooks Maile, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Kameron Webster, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Kameron Webster, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Josh Hoppie, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon's Wyatt Parry, Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon vs. Red Mountain, Mesa, AZ. Jan. 27, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m.
Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.