The Chilliwack Progress Wednesday, March 12, 2014
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The Chilliwack
Progress Eric
Welsh 604.702.5572 • sports@theprogress.com
Chilliwack rugby players Bermuda bound Two Chilliwack teens will represent Canada in an international rugby tournament. Mitchell Byrne and Brohan Jansen left today, and they’ll arrive in Bermuda Thursday. They’ll both play for an invitational U-15 squad put together by tour manager Rick Bourne. Of the 15 players making the grade, only four are from BC. Byrne is a 14 year old student at Chilliwack Middle School. He represented the Fraser Valley East zone at last summer’s provincial tournament in Victoria. His team finished second to the Island South squad. Byrne plays rugby in the spring and summer and football in the fall. He was an all-star running back last year, playing for the bantam Chilliwack Giants. Jansen is also a Grade 9 student at CMS, and he did the Bermuda tour last year. He was so impressive, in fact, that he was named MVP of his team. At various points, Jansen has represented the Fraser Valley, British Columbia and Canada in competition. He plays locally for the Chilliwack Crusaders Rugby Club, and was his team’s MVP last year. Byrne, Jansen and their new teammates have been practicing since November at Jericho Beach in Vancouver. After nine days away, they’ll be back in Chilliwack March 28.
Brohan Jansen (left) and Mitchell Byrne are playing for Canada’s U15 rugby team, and are heading to Bermuda for a tournament. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Stars take Fraser Valley title
Soggy conditions couldn’t stop the Chilliwack Stars from winning a Fraser Valley soccer championship last weekend. The U-13 Chilliwack
girls took on the Abbotsford Hurricane, winning 2-1 in a dramatic shootout. Inactive for four weeks leading up the game, the locals looked rusty in the opening half and trailed 1-0 at the break. A lineup change helped turn the tables in the second half, with co-captains Annalise Wilkinson and Ashley Tizzard moving from defence to midfield. Their presence got the
Chilliwack offence rolling. Darian Bisschop set up the first Stars goal with a chip over the Abbotsford D. Katie Murphy ran onto the loose ball and beat the Hurricane keeper with a rocket from 19 yards out. Wilkinson then dropped back to defence, joined by Annalise Van Ruitenberg and Sierra Jensen. Together, they kept the Abbotsford
shooters to the outside, making life far easier for Chilliwack netminder Kyra Wiens. The score was 1-1 through full time, and overtime solved nothing. Wiens made four stellar stops in the shooting, punching one shot inches over the crossbar. Her teammates put three into the Hurricane net to take the shootout 3-2. Wiens and Wilkinson were the players of the game.
Some choices are hard.
● The Chilliwack Crusader rugby men are 0-3 in early-season play, dropping their most recent match on the road last weekend. Chilliwack fell 20-0 to the University of British Columbia. They visit the Surrey Beavers Saturday before finally returning home for a game against Richmond March 22.
Husker kicker on CFL radar Valley Huskers kicker Dan Erickson is one of 15 BC Football Conference stars invited to the BC Lions spring evaluation camp. Erickson will be put through the paces in late April, going through the same procedures that are used at the Canadian Football League and National Football League scouting combines. His height and weight will be measured, and Erickson will be challenged to post good numbers in the bench press, broad jump and vertical jump. The defending Cullen Cup champion Vancouver Island Raiders will have three players at the camp
— wideout Whitman Tomusiak, running back Aston Galloway and defensive lineman Ash Gayat. The Langley Rams send Chilliwack native Evan Foster (defensive line), Anthony Daley (offensive line), Nathan Lund (running back), Steve Thomas (kicker) and Malcolm Williams (wideout). The Okanagan Sun send defensive lineman Jonas Gering, linebacker Brandon Donkers and defensive backs Jack Rush and Brennan Van Nistelrooy. The Kamloops Broncos send defensive lineman Braden McCarthy and wideout Derek Yachison.
Some are easy.
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