Both Rugby Oregon high school state championships on Saturday were claimed by teams from Southwest Washington. The Clark County Warriors Red team completed an undefeated season to win the Club Championship title, and Prairie won the Varsity Premiership for teams with players from one high school.
Prairie beat Union in the Varsity Premiership final, avenging an earlier loss to the Titans’ first-year team.
Clark County Warriors 34, Eastside Tsunami 14 — A defensive stand late in the first half keyed the second championship in as many seasons for the Camas-based Clark County team.
With the Warriors leading 19-14, Eastside made a strong push. But Clark County held off the larger Eastside players, Brock Busch collected a loose ball one yard from the goal line, kicked the ball into space and then recovered the ball himself.
“That defensive stand defined who we are,” Busch said.
Jessie Kiesser put the Warriors ahead 24-14 by scoring his second try of the match early in the second half.
Charles Bronson then gave Clark County more breathing room with about 15 minutes left. Bronson intercepted an Eastside pass and broke through three tacklers to score a try. Izaak Heredia kicked that conversion and added a late three-point penalty kick to conclude the scoring.
Blake Ingram scored a try and two successful conversion kicks in the first half for the Warriors. Michael DiGenova scored the game’s first try. Justin Straup assisted on Kiesser’s first try, a score that gave Clark County an early 19-7 lead.
Players who contributed on defense in the championship effort included team captain Jason Vailea, DiGenova, Matt Walser, Ingram, Busch, Matt Danis, Luc LeVasseur, Kiesser, Julian Svaricek, Taj Albeck, Grant Morrison, Grant Hardy, Tanner Aldridge, Straup, Jared Holley, Heredia, Chase Lea, and Bronson.
Prairie 20, Union 12 — The Wolf Pack won the championship for teams representing a single high school. Details from this match were not available.
Union beat Prairie 25-7 on April 12 in the only regular-season match between the teams. Union, in its first season as a single-school team, was the regular-season champion in the Varsity Premiership.
But Prairie qualified for the top-level state tournament on the final day of the regular season then beat No. 2 seed Reynolds 36-24.
Union’s only other loss this season was to Reynolds.
Pendleton 27, Clark County Black 22 — In a consolation match, the second Clark County Warriors club team came up just short of a tying try as time ran out. Ryan Gingrich scored three tries to lead the way for the Warriors Black team.
