Swarm goes undefeated in the opening round / Photo: Tim Scott
The Colorado girls’ high school league kicked off last weekend, and for the second year in a row, has embraced the 7s-only format this fall. There will be no state 15s title, but more importantly there is good participation across the varsity and JV divisions.
RELATED: Summit Wins Its 1st State 7s Title • Cassidy Bargell Named HS Player of Fall 2016 • Rugby Colorado Home Page
There are six rounds before the state 7s championship on Nov. 11, and the schedule takes an intriguing format. Last Saturday, the eight-team varsity field was divided into two pools of four teams, and each pool held its separate round robin. In Round 2, the teams will reconvene for an eight-team tournament, which will produce new rankings that will be used for Round 3 at the Air Force Academy. There, the eight teams will be separated once again into two pools, before being brought back together in Round 4. The format repeats for the final two rounds.
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In other words, the competition is constantly trying to stay balanced, accounting for fluctuations in squads’ numbers or other factors that might affect performance week to week.
Last Saturday, reigning state champion Summit Black went 3-0 against Legacy (28-12), Chaparral (20-0) and Fort Collins (28-0) in Pool A. 2016 runner-up Swarm headlined Pool B and went 3-0 against Summit White (41-0), Palmer (41-0 – result corrected by Swarm) and Glendale (29-0).
The JV division followed the same format as the varsity division Saturday. The Lumberjackies finished 3-0 in one pool, bettering East 10-5, Regis Jesuit 15-0 and Monarch 20-0 in a forfeit win. In the other pool, Fort Collins went undefeated after wins over Palmer (10-0), Summit Green (20-0) and Legacy (20-0).
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The competition enjoys a bye weekend for the Aspen Ruggerfest before resuming with the eight-team tournaments on Sept. 23.
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