Bulldogs pull off three-peat

By Lethbridge Herald on June 12, 2024.

jace Forsyth photo The Winston Churchill Bulldogs won their third consecutive Tier 2 provincial rugby banner in Red Deer on Saturday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Winston Churchill Bulldogs varsity boys rugby team pulled off the three-peat as Tier 2 Boys provincial champions over the weekend in Red Deer.

The Bulldogs defeated West Central 63-0 in the final on Saturday after defeating them 69-0  and Strathmore 75-0 on Friday.

“It’s always exciting to go win a provincial championship ,” said Jonathan Dick, Bulldogs head coach.

“But I think for the guys who are in Grade 12, when they’ve done it all three years (of) their high school career, it’s definitely something special.”

Leadership and commitment is what led the team to provincial victory.

“We obviously had some leadership with guys that had experience from being there the last couple (of) years and so they knew what to expect,” said Dick.

“And just like all season long, our guys were committed to the program ,and committed to working hard, and trying to get better day by day, which they did, and peaked at the right time.”

Some of the younger players were able to get some game time during the tournament.

“The hope is obviously that’ll kind of transfer over to next year where they’ve been there and want to get back there again and kind of keep that rolling over and over again,” said Dick.

Churchill’s wins were lopsided and were  due to the Tier 2 level still struggling for teams at the tournament.

“I think provincially, right now, Tier 2 boys is I’d say struggling a little bit,” said Dick.

“We had some teams that kind of backed out of the tournament … last minute which is unfortunate … But part of it too is (a) couple of the teams that were up there are pretty young and they’re still working on developing their program and kind of rebuilding post COVID.”

The Chinook Coyotes won silver after losing the Tier 1 boys final to HTA 52-17.