MEN’S RUGBY EARN SILVER AFTER TOUGH BATTLE AGAINST LORDS
It was a late try by the Lords that put them over the top to defeat the Grizzlies 21-15 in a tight gold medal game.
The Georgian Grizzlies men's rugby team played in the gold medal final on Saturday afternoon against the Durham Lords at the Civic Field in Oshawa.
It was a battle of the two teams who finished tops of their division during the regular season. The Grizzlies were first in the west while the Lords claimed the east division title.
It was also the first game between these two teams in men's rugby, with Durham re-entering the OCAA just this season.
After the pre-game hype, it was the hometown Lords who got off to a solid start with first half tries by James Stockwood (Bowmanville) and John Stewart (Whitby).
The Grizzlies responded late in the first half with Donovan Jacko (Brampton) pushing through with a try to get Georgian on the board.
Georgian kept that momentum going in the second half as Nathaniel Brown (Everett) powered his way to the end zone to score a big try for the Grizzlies.
That was followed shortly by Jayden Wheeler (Keswick) who gave Georgian their first lead of the game with an impressive scoring play.
The Grizzlies tried their best to hold the one point advantage but it wasn't to be as Durham's Daniel Cooper (Uxbridge) scored a late try in the final minutes to seal a 21-15 win for the Lords, who claimed the gold medal.
In the end, both teams scored three tries but the Lords hit all three of their convert kicks which made the difference.
Despite the loss, it's been an incredible run for Georgian as they have won the OCAA west division championship in each of the last four seasons.
They have also earned a medal in each of the last four seasons with a run of silver (2015-16), gold (2016-2017), bronze (2017-18) and silver (2018-19).
OCAA Silver Medalists - Georgian Grizzlies