École Earl Marriott Secondary junior rugby team caps undefeated season with provincials win

The École Earl Marriott Secondary Mariners are this year's provincial junior rugby champions, finishing an undefeated season with a 19-17 victory over West Vancouver's Collingwood Secondary in the final last month.

The École Earl Marriott Secondary boys are the best in B.C., taking the provincial title in junior rugby to finish a dominant season undefeated on the field.

The Mariners junior boys fended off West Vancouver rivals Collingwood Secondary 19-17 in the final at South Surrey Athletic Park last month, experiencing victory in their hometown on home turf.

“This is by far the most special group of kids that I’ve had the privilege to coach,” said Taylor Howes, an EMS alumnus who went through the school’s rugby program. “They’re a different breed, they literally live and breathe the sport.”

Earl Marriott started the season ranked first, coming out of a kickoff tournament that saw them take commanding leads in many games. In season play, they beat Collingwood 31-0 in season play and gained a commanding win over Vancouver’s St. Georges School 76-7 – last year’s number one ranked team – among their top-scoring outings.

“From that tournament on, you could tell that our group was a special group, and that momentum carried on,” said Howes. “That win over St. Georges kind of put the rest of the province on notice.”

Ahead of provincials, they also swept the regional South Fraser championships, with a semifinal win over Grandview Heights Secondary 81-12 and a 57-0 blowout in the finals against the Fleetwood Park Secondary Dragons.

Those victories primed the boys for their provincial run, though Howes noted they maintained a humble mindset, with last year’s third-place finish still fresh in the memory of many of the Grade 10s on the team.

“As the number one team, we have the targets on our back, and going into the tournament, anything can happen,” he said. “We had to keep an anything-can-happen kind of attitude, and I was quite proud of the boys and they were switched on and knew they had to give it everything.”

On day one of provincials, Earl Marriott came out the gate with victory over Carson Graham Secondary, putting up 40 unanswered points against the North Vancouver team. They followed that win with a 24-5 quarterfinal against Kelowna’s Rutland Senior Secondary and a 32-17 semifinal win over Shawnigan Lake School, setting them up for an electric final.

“Shawnigan Lake was definitely our toughest competition leading up to that point in the season,” said Howes. “That was the most points any team had scored on us in any game, so it was a really good test for our boys heading into the final.”

Unlike every previous game in the season, EMS quickly found themselves in unfamiliar territory: behind. Five minutes into the game, the team captain sustained an injury, and the highly motivated Collingwood boys took the lead 8-0, marking the first time that the Mariners had trailed in a game all season and putting EMS on their back foot.

“It was a very high skill play,” said Howes. “We basically had to put it back onto the players and have them respond and see how they could dig deep and build some resilience.”

To the relief of everyone on the sidelines, the team answered the call, flipping the score to 14-10 by the end of the first half. The Mariners began the second half putting up another try in the fray of back-and-forth momentum, widening the lead to 19-10.

Despite a hard-fought push by the Collingwood boys, the score was 19-17 EMS when the final whistle sounded, prompting the entire Earl Marriott rugby program to storm the field in celebration.

“It wasn’t just our juniors, it was Grade 8s and seniors – there were probably close to 100 kids that joined the pile in the middle of the field celebrating with our crew, which was a memory the kids won’t forget,” said Howes. “We told them to go out there and make a memory, and sports has the ability to create experiences that you won’t get in any other aspect of life.”

As someone relatively young in his coaching career, Howes said it was a dream to lead a team like this year’s juniors, and he gave special thanks to senior coach Adam Roberts, Grade 8 coach Bryn Johnson, and assistant coach and fellow alum Daniel Lee for their guidance and encouragement to continue as a part of the rugby program.

And for the Grade 9s returning to the junior team next year, Howes hopes the team can repeat next year while maintaining the same humble mindset that ensured victory this year.

“It was quite a journey this year, it was a special group of kids and we’re super grateful and proud of the boys that they pulled through,” he said.