On a splendidly sunny day at Lake Stevens Community Park, the Eastside Lions and Chuckanut Bay Rugby Club faced off in an entertaining match that ended up with an emphatic victory for Eastside.
The game started with Eastside asserting their intent. Their forwards worked meticulously downfield, setting up Parker Jackson to go over in the corner for the opening try. Jerry Fleming slotted the extras from the touchline. Chuckanut responded, and when Eastside was penalized for a high tackle they put the kick over to make it 7-3.
Eastside quickly regrouped; Fleming put up three points to punish a not-rolling-away penalty, and at the 20minute mark, Fleming intercepted a Chuckanut pass and ran in untouched. His conversion made it 17-3.
As the game progressed, the Lions' relentless drives kept the pressure on. In the 25th minute, Lawson Barton's powerful surge was followed by a skillful finish from flanker Julian Notoa. Not long after, another penalty inside Chuckanut's 22 led to a quick score by Julius Leapai from a smart pass by scrumhalf Noah Clarke. Fleming again converted made it 29-3.
Chuckanut's resilience shone through as the first half drew to a close. In a spectacular team effort, they scored through Jacob Halliburton and the half ended 29-8 for Eastside.
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The second half saw no drop in intensity from Eastside. An early try from Asa Young, set up by Tristan Lolo, pushed the score to 36-8 following Fleming’s conversion. Jackson then quickly ran in two tries, completing his hat-trick to make it 48-8. The scoring concluded with a display of lineout ingenuity involving Dane Padgett and Barton, culminating in a try on the narrow side of the lineout by Padgett at hooker. That made it 53-8.
Eastside remains undefeated in Washington and continues to build on their results. They are now 4-0 in Rugby Washington and face off with Rainier next week.
For their part, Rainier was off this week but shut out Chuckanut 47-0 last week. The Highlanders were smacked hard with injuries early but are now getting fully healthy and with solid depth they are improving.
