Rain no deterrent as experienced Barons win home opener
Oakwood Baron Lucas Hammond looked as though he had been glazed in mud.
Standing atop the water-saturated grass behind his school, he shared his team’s élan for their messy battle against Martingrove Bears, April 26.
“These are the best games to play in the mud and rain. It’s pretty disgusting,” he said. “Some of the guys were a bit nervous, they didn’t want to get dirty but near the end of it everyone was working together.”
Unite they did as somewhere in the mire that was Oakwood’s field, Martingrove’s defence was buried.
The Barons bulldozed their way through all lines, winning 63-0.
In the first half Adonis Perez and Rolando Argueta started off the scoring, notching two tries. Goal kicker Aidan Girard went 1/2 on the converts. Hammond would add two more tries of his own with Girard connecting again.
Not one player deviated from the gameplan, assistant coach Lloyd Dobson said.
“The guys played hard and had a good fun game in the mud,” he said. “We just played our style.
“No one tried too much one-man stuff.”
Heading into the second, Hammond said the squad was on fire.
“I think in the second we started playing more as a team,” he said. “The new guys started to pick it up quickly.”
Contributing to the score sheet were Khalil Ryan with two, Perez and Hammond adding one more each, Girard and Louell Taya with single tries.
Girard would convert four times on the 12 tries.
Though the score was lop-sided, Martingrove coach Greg Saylor commended Oakwood for their talent.
Saylor said the Bears are starting to develop their team in the hopes of being competitive.
“Our program is not (at Oakwood’s level) yet but we hope it will be,” he said.
Showing signs of life for the deflated Bears was fullback Alex Gargaro and fly-half John Lee.
Lee did his best to keep morale up and to focus his teammates’ attention.
“I was just giving them advice on how to properly position themselves on the field, lining up with the defence, getting the opportunity to attack,” he said. “To be honest, facing an experienced team like this, all you can do is learn from the game.”