The Union boys rugby team stormed into the championship match of the Rugby Oregon Varsity Premiership division with a 56-29 semifinal win on Saturday over the Portland Pumas.
Union will face Newberg in the state championship match at 3 p.m. this Saturday at Lents Park in southeast Portland. Union (11-0) beat Newberg 14-0 in one half-game during the regular season.
In the semifinal win over the Pumas, Union hustled to a 41-5 halftime lead as seven players contributed to the scoring. Austin Holloway, Tristan Sperling, Kyle Vermuelen, Chris Berry, Tre’von Turner, Tyler Dione and Brendon Curle scored before halftime for Union. Curle added two second half tries and Dione one for Union.
This will be the second championship match in as many seasons for the Union program, which is completing its second year. Prairie beat Union for the Varsity Premiership Cup in 2014, a result that Union coach David Curle said has motivated his team this spring.
Despite the win over Newberg in the regular-season mini-game, David Curle said he expects a tight contest for the title.
Since the Union program was established about 17 months ago it has a record of 42 wins, four losses and one tie over two spring 15-a-side seasons, and seven-a-side play last summer and fall.
Lincoln 50, Prairie 24 — In the second-tier semifinals for the teams that finished in places 5-8 during the regular season, Lincoln of Portland outscored Prairie in a high-intensity contest. Freshman Brendan May was named Prairie’s man of the match, according to coach John Fletcher.
Prairie will face Battle Ground in the final match of the season at 9 a.m. this Saturday at Lents Park. Reynolds of Troutdale beat Battle Ground 59-29 in the consolation semifinals. No details from that match were reported to The Columbian.
Fletcher said an influx of players who have made the Prairie middle school program successful bodes well for the future of his high school program.
