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Show V Page 5 IP Sports Calgary Captures Third Gup Title The Calgary Canucks posted a convincing 27-0 win over the Denver Barbarians Sunday to take , ..... . ., Photo Pgt McDowell their third straight Challenge Cup Championship The Calgary Canucks gained their third straight Park City Rugby Challenge Cup championship Sunday, a feat never before accomplished accom-plished by another side. The Canadian club dispatched the Denver Barbarians in rather easy fashion in the final match, 27-0. Calgary scored in the first five minutes, taking charge early over the battered side from Colorado, obviously hurting from earlier encounters with rugged Zebra and Irvine Coast. The Canucks breezed through their first match by whipping Monterey 18-0, although there was speculaton that they weren't as strong as in 1976 and 1977 before their opening efforts. Three long-distance trys against Monterey dispelled those rumors before they gained much credibility, and it was obvious that the vigorous rucking and mauling style seen in previous years was still very much in practice. Denver advanced in almost the same fashion, taking advantage of Zebra's early game mistakes and winning handily, 17-4. The other lower bracket game found Irvine Coast using their switch and loop maneuvers with great effectiveness effec-tiveness against Dead Goat, prevailing 18-10. Denver and Irvine would meet in the lower bracket semi-finals, each displaying excellent rugby skills in both the set play and in the loose. But the surprise of the tournament was the Park City Muckers. Finding themselves in the midst of the best competition they had seen all year, the Muckers were not given much chance to advance in the tournament. When the home side faced a powerful aggregate from Portland known as the Jesters in the second match on Saturday, many hoped that they would just give the Oregon club a good game. Good game indeed! In the opening moments, the Muckers won the ball' from the lineout and kicked over the Portland backline. A fortunate for-tunate bounce into onrushing Scott Thompson's hands suddenly gave Park City the early scoring chance they needed. The Jester fullback lng across was dra and Thompson transferred to Don Sturges for the try. Bill Hart converted for the Muckers who gained the lead, 6-0. Portland came back in the first half with a fine try of their own, winning a ruck near the Mucker line and running blindside for the try in the corner. At halftime it was Park City 6, Portland 4 with the Jesters winning most of the ball in both the set and in the loose. The Muckers held off the Jesters in the second half displaying a stubborn defense de-fense against this powerful side. Bruce Reid added a try for Park City which was once again converted by Hart. Skip Schirf booted a penalty goal to round out Park City scoring. The Muckers were never headed, although a last-second try by the Jesters made the final score 15-11. This set the stage for the finest match of the tournament, tour-nament, the upper bracket semi-final between Calgary and Park City. The Muckers' confidence had been given a tremendous boost in the Jester match, and they were positive they could more than give the Canucks a good game. Once again the early going was the key. The Canucks found that their vaunted handling game was being blunted time and again by some aggressive tackling. Hart, Thompson, Evil Wallace and Mike Johnson made some notable stops. When Schirf, Thompson and Johnson very nearly scored on a backline movement of their own, Park City gained a penalty on the subsequent ruck near the Canuck line. The Muckers ran the same penalty play which has worked so well for them all season near the opponent's line, with Calgary taking the fake and Wallace reaching in-goal virtually untouched. When Hart converted to make the score 6-0 Park City, the Canucks knew they were up against an inspired club. The first half ended with each side getting one more opportunity. Don Sturges saved the Muckers with a sideline tackle on one occasion, oc-casion, and the fortunes of good living saved the Canucks when Schirf bob-bled bob-bled a sure try near their line. The Muckers maintained main-tained their six point edge at the interval. In the second half the Canucks desperately tried to get on the scoreboard, but cross the Park City line they never did. About mid-way through the period they narrowed the gap to three points with a penalty kick, and the stage was set for some last minute drama not likely to be soon forgotten by all who were there. Calgary kept driving, and their rucking and mauling continued to provide them with scoring chances. Park City was defending more and more, and when a ruck developed on the Mucker line, the home side was called for offside. With only thirty seconds remaining, Calgary put the tying points through the uprights, and the match was thrown into overtime. over-time. It took the Canucks only five minutes to sew up the game as they continued to ride the momentum they had gained through the last twenty minutes of regulation time. When Park City failed to cover a spoiled tap from the lineout, the Canucks swept the ball from the floor and transferred to their outside out-side center for the winning try, dashing the Muckers' hopes for an appearance in the championship match In the other semi-final, the Barbarians were forced to play very hard against a physical Irvine Coast club. In the later moments of this very close game, Irvine's physical tactics slipped over the fine line between hard play and misconduct, and they payed the price. One Irvine Ir-vine player was sent off by the referee (no replacement allowed) and several other penalties occurred which Denver took advantage of, the Barbarians gaining a 11-6 11-6 triumph to attain the Sunday Sun-day championship against Calgary. Sunday's matches were played in less than ideal conditions, as the delightful autumn weather of Saturday was replaced by a cold rain and steady winds from the Wednesday, September 20, 1 978 Three In A Row For PCHS south. Denver was hopeful the wet track would slow the Canuck game to a crawl, and the Canucks were mindful that the Denver side would probably want tb get them into a forward's game. But the Denver strategy was altered by the Canucks' spoiling of possession in the set pieces, especially in the lineouts. And when the ball went down the loose, Calgary always had more players on hand with valued second and third phase possession. The Barbarian side was soon stricken with another in a string of tournament tour-nament injuries when their outside center went off with a pulled hamstring. After a mistake in their end which resulted in a Calgary try, the Barbarians made a valiant attempt to get back in the game. Two well placed kicks into touch put them into scoring position, and they were beginning to apply pressure on the Canucks when a high center kick was fielded by the Canadian fullback near his line. Instead of kicking to touch, the Canucks worked a fullback-wing switch near Continued on Page 7 The Park HTgh Miners posted their longest winning string in recent memory Friday, beating Intermoun-tain Intermoun-tain 8-2 in Brigham City. The victory was the third in a row for Park City and it sends them into this Friday's league opener against South Summit with an um-blemished um-blemished 3-0 record. Again it was defense that was largely responsible for the win. The Miners exploded ex-ploded for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage scrim-mage but then were unable to cross the goal line for the remainder of the game. Junior Mark Uriarte took the opening kickoff to the Park City 40 and on first down, quarterback Norm Sagona handed off to tailback Rob Jones. Jones burst through a hole opened by Les Gurski, Ray Owens and Jeff Riehl on the left side and romped 60 yards for the touchdown. Jim Higham's point-after kick was wide but an Inter-mountain Inter-mountain penalty gave the Miners another chance. They elected to go for two on the second attempt and Jerry Johnson went into the end zone, following the same people who sprang Jones. Intermountain tallied their only score on a second quarter quar-ter safety. The host team had penetrated to the Miner five-yard five-yard line but defense held and Park City took over. Sagona tried to give the Miners some breathing room but the quarterback was tackled in the end zone for two points. Sagona, who started for the Miners and played the entire contest, is the third Park City quarterback in as many games. Tim King started star-ted the season as the number one signal caller but was replaced in the second game by B.J. Tatomer. Sagona got the nod Friday because ','Jie -had the best week of practice," prac-tice," according to head coach Bob Burns. Sagona also will get the starting assignment against South Summit in this Friday's league contest, Burns said. t Although unable to score after the opening play, Park City moved the ball against Intermountain. However, they bogged down when they got in close, turning the ball over on mistakes or penalties. "We played with a lot s; ' p. I: bsi .... m g-j Conserve water Dy placing rjj more intensity than in the previous games," Burns said. This was due in part to the fact that the coach started 22 players, using separate offensive of-fensive and defensive teams. One of the game's highlights was Park City's first completed pass of the season. Sagona hit Higham in the first quarter for a 35-yard 35-yard gain but the Miners were unable to capitalize. Park City barely missed their second touchdown in the fourth quarter. Mickey Henrion intercepted a pass at the Intermountain 15 but fumbled the ball away when he was tackled on the ten. Intermountain combined a running and passing attack that resulted in sporadic gains but which was unable to produce any sustained drives. South Summit Park City hosts perennial league power South Summit this Friday at 4 p.m. and although the task is not an enviable one, neither is it an impossible one, according to Burns. One problem facing the young coach, however, will be the absence of his top three tailbacks. Outstanding prospect Kip Foote was lost for the season in the first Intermountain In-termountain game, Rob Jones suffered a badly bruised lower back last Friday and will be out for a couple games and Howard Davidson will be on vacation for the next two contests. Despite this, Burns contends, con-tends, "If we can stop some of their key people and play a mistake-free ball game, we have a shot at winning." The coach said he has been pleased with his team's efforts ef-forts to date but noted, "This Friday we play a really good football team, They-are the defending 1-A state , champions cham-pions and' they have more speed than any team we've faced. They also have good size and are well-coached." South Summit runs a wishbone offense using a quarterback power sweep, a sprint draw and the wishbone wish-bone option as their basic weapons of attack. They also throw and are not adverse to trying a flea-flicker or other razzle dazzle plays. In the preseason, South Summit defeated Wasatch 34-12 and Morgan 14-12 overtime over-time before falling to Grants-ville Grants-ville 9-6. V NEW CONSTRUCTION, REMODEL, REPAIR, SEWER & WATER CALL Potty bt 05. Plumbinq JIM AT 649-9497 or STANLEY AT 649-7981 TIP OF THE WEEK: pi gap WflEflTGH. FENGE&DEGKGO. HIGH QUALITY WORK REASONABLE PRICES CALL FOR FREE ESTIMATE PHONE 648287 "WOOD IS GOOD" J m ind Audi, H0TS N T8WN! COMPARE OUR PRICES You won't beat them anywhere in Park City 24 HOUR SERVICE ON EKTACHROME SLIDES Quick delivery on other film, too. KODAK AND TRANSAM ERICA PROCESSING We use the best film processors available. We wouldn't send your film anywhere else. THE Park City, Utah 523 Main Street |