The Boulder Valley Lions High School Rugby Team faced an inexperienced Cherry Creek side at home on Saturday and put together a great display of team rugby to secure a 53-0 win.

The Lions started out the game at pace, taking the opening kick off and moving the ball through the hands and down the field before a penalty for obstruction stopped the movement. Cherry Creek elected to kick the ball back to Boulder from the penalty but the kick was knocked on in the Lions' half.

Shane Foutz then stole the hook on the Creek scrum down; Ryan Buckmaster picked up the ball from the weak side of the scrum and charged down field. He did a beautiful job of drawing the opposing winger to him and passed the ball to Charlie Barkmeier who was in close support. Charlie raced the remaining 35 meters and beat the fullback to the corner to open the Lions scoring. The Lions were unable to convert the try and led 5-0 after three and a half minutes.

For the next ten minutes the Lions did a good job of putting together several phases of possession and pressuring Cherry Creek. The pressure paid off as Cherry Creek was penalized ten meters out from their goal. Bryant Welch took the quick tap penalty and scored in the corner. Again the try was not converted from the corner but the Lions now had a 10 - 0 lead.

After the Lion's second score, Cherry Creek mounted an attack into the Lions' half of the field. The Lions were penalized for a dangerous tackle when one of the Lions failed to wrap his arms in the tackle. The penalty led to the Lions player being "sin binned" for 10 minutes and the Lions playing a man short.

Fortunately for the Lions, they were up to the task of playing shorthanded. The lads from Boulder County turned the ball over from a Cherry Creek ruck and Charlie Barkmeier quickly moved the ball out of the ruck and into fly half Tyler Fitzgerald's hands who raced in for a 65 meter try against the, out of position, Cherry Creek side. Tyler converted his own try to make the score 17 - 0 eighteen minutes into the match.

Boulder took the kick off after the score and it moved it smartly up the field with series of quick rucks. After maintaining possession for seven phases and moving the ball to within 10 meters of the goal line, Noah Kendall took a pass off of the ruck and charged in for a score. The conversion attempt failed and the Lions led 22 - 0.

Late in the first half Cherry Creek mounted another attack into the Boulder end. This was quickly turned around when Tyler Fitzgerald picked up an errant Cherry Creek pass and noticed that the Cherry Creek fullback was not at home. Tyler booted the ball down the field inside the Cherry Creek 22 meter line, chased his kick and tackled the Creek player pinning them deep. Creek was penalized for not releasing the ball in the tackle; Charlie Barkmeier took the quick tap and trotted in for a center post score. Tyler drilled the conversion making the score at half time 29 - 0.

In the second half, the Lions did not let the stiff wind in their face slow them down. The Lions again moved the ball down the field with a series rucks and Charlie Barkmeier scored his third try of the day picking up the ball from a ruck and diving over the try line. Ryan Buckmaster split the post with a drop kick on the conversion to make the score 36 - 0 two minutes into the second half. In the next series of play, the Lions pinned Cherry Creek deep in their own half and played superb pressur defense which resulted in Gary Schut scoring by touching down a blocked Cherry Creek kick for another Lions' try. The kick was unsuccessful making the score 41 - 0.

As play continued the Lions again found themselves inside the Cherry Creek 22 meter line. A scrum down was awarded to the Lions. The hook was secured by Kory Sweeney, but the ball squirted out the side of the scrum, scrum half Matt Johns did a great job of cleaning the ball up and getting it to fly half Gary Schut who ran in for his second try of the day. The kick was missed and the Lions now led 46 - 0.

The Lions would finish the scoring for the day after a series of rucks deep in their own territory. Ryan Buckmaster took a pass of the back of the ruck and ran around the Creek defense to score from 80 meters out. Charlie Barkmeier converted the center post score with drop kick and the match ended at 53 - 0.

The Lions saw standout play from Tyler Fitzgerald, Noah Kendall, Charlie Barkmeier, Bryant Welch, Ryan Buckmaster, Brent Schlagel, Rocky Ashby and Gary Schut. It was also exciting to watch freshmen Matt Johns, Daniel Johs and Mitch West go out and have a positive impact on the match. The Lions did a good job of going forward, using space and passing during the match. In addition they tackled well and reset their positioning well through several phases of play.