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Jonas Emilsson

The Centennial Coyotes waited five years to start up a senior boys rugby team.

Thanks to a 15-5 victory over the Bishop Grandin Ghosts in this week’s Kram Game of the Week, it took them only five games to reach five wins.

With just one game left to play in the regular season, the school that was first introduced to the Calgary high school sports scene in 2004/2005 has a legitimate chance to finish their first year in senior boys rugby with a perfect regular season.

“We expected middle of the pack to be honest, but we have far exceeded that,” said Coyotes’ head coach Brandon Chmilar about his teams’ expectations heading into the season. “We actually had a lot more rugby players in our school than what we knew of.

“We’re a fun team. They’re never too uptight, they’re pretty loose, and they’re good friends on and off the field.”

Calgary High School Sports
Brecken Stuart scored two tries and Matt Festejo converted a penalty kick to take care of the Coyotes scoring.

James McCallion crossed the line for the Ghosts’ only try of the game.

The Coyotes’ perfect season was teetering on the edge for much of the first half as the 0-3-1 Ghosts seemed determined to snag their first win of the season.

The Grandin squad deployed a near perfect defensive first half by playing quick, in-your-face defense to keep the Coyotes from gaining any momentum.

Unfortunately for the Ghosts, they were unable to take advantage of their stellar defensive play and put points on the board to give them an advantage on the scoreboard.

Calgary High School Sports
The first half ended with both teams deadlocked at zeros.

But something must have been said by the Coyotes’ coaches during their half-time huddle to get the team in the right frame of mind for the second half because they came out a looking like a different team.

“We were making mental errors and taking too many penalties that were knocking us back and knocking us back,” said Chmilar about his teams’ first half performance. “You can’t take that many penalties in this game.”

Suddenly, the boys in green seemed to find an offensive groove, and they started to finally enjoy a territorial advantage.

“We stopped focusing so much on the ref and started doing our own thing, said Coyotes’ flanker Johan Grobbelaar.” “We started sticking together and then it went much better.”

The offensive pressure paid off when Stuart scored his first try of the game thanks to a slick pass by Grobbelaar.

Calgary High School Sports
Ten minutes later Stuart rumbled in for his second major of the game to give the Coyotes a 12-0 lead.

With just three minutes remaining the Ghosts made things interesting when McCallion snapped up a loose ball at midfield and tore down the field to touch down for five points.

But a converted penalty kick by Festejo sealed the victory for the Coyotes, preserving their improbable run at an undefeated inaugural season for the time being.

On Friday, the Coyotes will face the Bishop O’Byrne Bobcats, another team that owns an undefeated record.

Check out Kram Interactive for more game photos.