Budd Bay out of Olympia, Wash. defeated Seattle 24-12 in the last game of the Rugby Washington Summer Sevens Series to win the state Boys HS 7s championship and a gold medal in the Washington State Games.

Seattle huddles up. Alex Goff photo.

Kent, in the dark kit, trying to shove the ball over v Eastside. Alex Goff photo.

Teams played throughout the summer, getting three points for a win, two for a tie and one for a loss. 

Going into the fourth and final tournament of the series, Seattle led Budd Bay 30 points to 28. But during Sunday’s action, Seattle was upended by Liberty 24-7, and while they won their other two games, Budd Bay defeated Eastside, Kent, and Rainier (in a close one) to deadlock the two teams at 37 points with one game to go.

Just as scripted, that one game was Budd Bay v Seattle.

And in the final, a bigger, more physical Budd Bay team powered through Seattle to win the Washington State Games Gold Medal with 40 points to Seattle’s 38. Seattle took the silver, while Kent, with wins over Liberty and Eastside, took the bronze.

It was a long wait for Budd Bay for the final game and the key for them was hydration on a warm day in Covington, Wash., and getting rest for that final clash.

“It ended up being the championship game, the last game of the day,” said Seattle Coach Steve Brennan. “Our boys needed to stay in the structure they wanted to play and not get drawn into a physical confrontation. Our team has really dug pretty deep this summer. One tournament we had only seven players for the four games.”

“We felt we should have won that game in the Liberty game,” added Seattle’s Will Brennan, who scored four tries against Kent. “We knew we needed to work on our kickoffs and our tackling on their big boys.”

“It guess it ended up that the last game was for all the marbles,” added Budd Bay Coach Trevor Anderson, who also coached the Barbarians to a state 15s title. “We had a close game against Rainier Plateau; they were a physical side. Offensively we felt we had the firepower and we needed the defense. We came in knowing we needed to put points on the board and that’s what the guys are doing. The idea of winning an State Games gold medal was important to them.” 

“We’ve been playing pretty well as a team and we wanted to take a 7s title as well as 15s,” said Budd Bay’s Levi Krocker. “We just needed to play smart.”

Budd Bay won by hitting hard and forcing turnovers, which they punished severely. They had a good combination of power and pace. Seattle tried to play a more fluid game, keeping out of the grasp of defenders, but Budd Bay closed down the space too quickly.

Meanwhile, Kent’s late run came from them moving the ball on offense, stretching defenses and always looking for there open man.

“This was Kent’s first 7s team ever so to get third was really nice,” said Kent player Brandon Burn. “We love the competition and playing against these tough teams. We focussed on making the ball do the work and go sideline to sideline and it worked. We’re excited.”

- Additional Reporting by Owen Goff