Summit girls rugby tunes up Palmer

The Summit girls rugby team handily defeated Palmer 37-5 on Saturday in a friendly matchup ahead of the Tigers’ massive 16-team tournament next weekend that will feature the top squads in the state.

Because Saturday’s matchup in Breckenridge was a game featuring 15 players from each team, it didn’t count as a league contest — games with seven players on each team in the Lead 7s Series are the ones that really count — and Summit played mostly freshmen and sophomores with a couple juniors in the mix.

The Tigers held the Palmer Terrors scoreless through the first half, taking a 22-0 lead into the break, and controlled the game throughout.

“It was a really young team so for them to stay organized, compete and almost pull off the shutout, that’s always good because that’s the part you want the most — control your defense,” coach Karl Barth said after the game. “I thought it was great. There were some really good efforts by some young players.”

Barth highlighted the play of Izzy Keller, who as team captain provided leadership for the young squad, PK Vincze and Abbey Daughtery, who had some big runs and scored trys for the Tigers.

“It was good because those girls all played leadership roles as freshmen and sophomores, and it’s nice to see them step up,” Barth said.

Next Saturday, Summit will field two teams in the varsity tournament — its Black and White squads. The Black team is undefeated at 3-0 and comes into the tournament with the No. 2 seed. Meanwhile, the White team stands at 2-1.

Joining Summit at the tournament will be state powerhouses, Legacy, Glendale and West Side.

Should Summit and West Side meet on Saturday — as they are expected to — it will be a rematch of last year’s state championship, which Summit won 10-5 to secure its ninth-straight title.

Games begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and the final is slated for about 2:30 p.m.

“It’s going to be nonstop action,” Barth predicted. “There’s a lot of good athletes from other teams and there’s going to be a lot of speed.”