A very young Merritt Secondary senior girls rugby team failed to win a game at the B.C. High School Championships on the weekend, but the squad returned from Port Alberni on Vancouver Island with a wealth of experience that should pay dividends in the years to come.

In their opening match, the MSS team faced number-one seeded Abbotsford and lost to the two-time defending provincial champions 44-0.

“Our girls played well,” said Merritt head coach Molly Brigden. “We held them to just two tries in the second half.”

Brigden wasn’t quite as pleased with her team’s second outing, a rough affair that saw the Panthers fall to Lake City (from William’s Lake) 50-0.

“It was quite a dirty game,” said Brigden. “It resulted in some injuries. Unfortunately, our players didn’t seem to demonstrate the will to win, and many of the things that should have been second nature to them just didn’t appear.”

In their third and last contest of the three-day tournament, MSS faced off against their zone rivals, the Valleyview Vikings.

Despite twice losing to the Vikes by large margins during the regular season, the Panthers gave their Kamloops rivals a whale of a game in a narrow 15-10 defeat.

“The girls played awesome,” said Brigden. “It was a very evenly-matched game. I was very impressed with how our younger players stepped up, and how our veterns helped guide the plays on the field.”

Merritt’s ‘Player of the Game’ in each of its three matches were Jaycee Chenier (twice) and Shai Thomson.

Abbotsford Secon-dary repeated as AA provincial champions with Robert Bateman (also from Abbotsford) second and Brentwood College third. Abbotsford also won this year’s provincial 7-aside title back in April.

The AAA provincial title went to G.P. Vanier Secondary (Courtenay), while perennial powerhouse Semiahmoo from White Rock took the Tier 2 crown.

While the high school rugby season is officially over, several players from Merritt will be in Kamloops this weekend attending a tryout camp for the Zone 2 team that will be competing at the B.C. Summer Games in Nanaimo in July.