GRR: Eastside Lions
Eastside Lions laid down a nice market with a 29-5 defeat of rivals Rainier Highlands Saturday in Washington state.
In snowy conditions, that became more messy after the sun showed up toe convert it all to slush, Eastside got two tries from Lewis Chambers and tries from Kai Holec and Parker Jackson.
Eastside also got a penalty try, while Kellen Eskridge added a conversion.
The Eastside Lions wrapped up a quick two-game tour of Arizona with victories over both Red Mountain and Tempe.
The Lions beat Red Mountain 29-0 Friday night, scoring four tries and posting a clean scoresheet.
On Saturday, Tempe was a tough nut to crack for a while but Eastside led 12-0 at halftime.
Eastside continued their strong run of results in Washington state with a 31-8 defeat of rivals Liberty at Pat Ryan Memorial Field.
This was an intense clash between two very good teams. Liberty started off with a blast, making a penetrating run down the right wing that took some desperate defense from Eastside to prevent an early score. It was an early wakeup call for the Lions.
In a preseason game for the Washington-based team, the Eastside Lions made the trip down south to Northern California to play the Marin Highlanders.
This was the second year in a row that the Lions played Marin to start their season. It is tough to find practice fields, let along game fields, in Washington until March comes around, so this trip is hugely valuable to Eastside.
The Rainier Highlanders held off the Eastside Lions to win the Rugby Washington Boys HS final this past weekend.
It was a tight playoff throughout as Rainier beat Liberty only by 19-14 in the semifinals. Eastside, the #1 seed, took down Budd Bay 31-5.