Black and Blue romps Frenchtown
It didn’t take long for the Black and Blue rugby club to make a statement in its final home game of the season. Hosting Frenchtown at Evergreen Junior High, the Flathead Valley club scored in the first minute and counted five tries in the first 15 minutes on the way to a 64-5 rout in Montana Youth Rugby Association play on Saturday.
Senior Brenden Windauer scored a try in the shadow of the opening whistle, opening up the floodgates early. Todd Schlotfeldt and Blaine Newman touched tries in the first five minutes before a pair of strong runs from Austin Foucher resulted in back-to-back scores at the 15-minute mark, flattening a would-be tackler on the latter and giving the Black and Blue a 35-0 lead midway through the first half.
The Black and Blue led 47-0 with seven minutes to play in the half, getting tries from Tyler Hayward and Orie Mann.
Frenchtown snuck in its only score of the game before half, deflecting an attempted clearing kick by the Black and Blue before charging for a try in the left corner. They would miss the conversion and trail 47-5 at half.
The second half saw more of the same from the local side, Dalton Meredith rushing 60 yards up the middle of the field for an easy try and Juan Rodriguez finding room up the left side for a try from 40 yards out. Mann capped the scoring midway through the second half with his second try, falling on the ball in the end zone to record the final score of the game.
“We were planning on coming out pretty strong,” Mann said. “We were ready to roll today.”
The Black and Blue will take a week off from competition before heading to the state tournament in Corvallis. They enter as one of the favorites, along with perennial contenders Bitterroot, the meet’s host, and Simms, the only team to beat the Black and Blue this season.
“We’re feeling pretty confident coming into that, I think we have a good shot at winning,” Mann said. “We want to go in there with some steam and some confidence. Most everyone on the team right now is ready to roll.”