Red Mountain bounced back from a series of canceled games to defeat Ahwatukee this past weekend and finish the Rugby Arizona regular season undefeated for the 5th year in a row.

The Red Mountain team hadn't played a meaningful game since the Ra Puriri Invitational, and needed to win to clinch 1st against abig, physical Ahwatukee team.

"They are the biggest team we have come against so far and after their close loss to Phoenix last week, they were looking to bring something extra into the game," said Red Mountain Coach OJ hawea. "Having not played in over a month took its toll on us early and we weren't able to get moving well against their massive forward pack.  Our defense was organized well, but also wasn't good enough to put any pressure on their attack."

But at the 18th minute, Red Mountain scored its first try, and added two more to lead 19-0.

Ahwatukee used their size in the forwards well and came out strong in the second to put some pressure on Red MOuntain.  Led by Siope Kolamatangi and the Leha brothers up front, Ahwatukee was hard to stop.

But Red Mountain did manage to absorb the pressure and then score.

"We have some veteran leaders who locked us in after that led by co-captains Cody Hakes and Brydon Horne," said hawea. "They were able to settle the team in and get back to work."  

One more try, this time from Rayvon Williamson, who had a fantastic game at blindside flanker, finished off the Red MOuntain scored. Ahwatukee kept up the work rate and scored late. Final score, Red Mountain4 5, Ahwatukee 5.

Halfback combo Jonah Wahlberg and Christian Wilhelm had a terrific battle with counterparts combo in Caleb Watters and Alani Maafu. 

Arizona now moves into playoffs with Red Mountain playing Phoenix in one semifinal and Ahwatukee playing Arrowhead in the other.  Ahwatukee and Arrowhead played a close game in league play earlier with Ahwatukee taking a two-point win.  Phoenix will be coming into their semi with a lot of confidence after a good win against Ahwatukee last week and beating Red Mountain in a preseason game earlier in the year. 

Hawea noted that when his team beat Phoenix in league play, Phoenix was missing some key players.