Denver East Coach Bill Baer Celibrates victory with his players
Photo by Frank Berta
Westminster’s North Stadium was the venue for the High School Rugby Boys State Championship between Denver East and the Aurora Saracens.
Following a ceremony commemorating twenty-five years of high school rugby in Colorado, the teams squared in an exciting championship match worthy of the occasion.
Both teams were perfect in penalty kicks and conversions for the evening, and the kicking game kept the contest tight. Two penalty kicks plus a converted try kept Aurora leading throughout the half, but three penalty kicks by East made for a back and forth battle. Aurora held a thin 13-9 lead at the end of the first thirty minutes.
In the second half, East scored two converted trys to take a ten-point lead. The Saracens rallied with a try with eight minutes remaining, but were unable to build on the momentum against a tough and fit East defense. When time expired Denver East became the 2009 Colorado High School State Champions, defeating the Aurora Saracens by a score of 23-20.
The game marked East’s eighth straight championship game and their first state title since 2004.
A try is similar to football's touchdown and is worth five points. A successful conversion (extra point) scores two additional points.
Rugby is normally played in two forty-minute halves (thirty for high school) with a ten-minute halftime. The clock continues to run through the game unless a serious injury prompts the referee to stop time.
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