Colorado Springs defeated PAC 22-5 this weekend in Rugby Colorado league play and it was a big win for the Grizzlies as they try to claw their way back to the top of the DI league.

With the victory, Colorado Springs is now tied with East HS at 4-1 in the Boys HS DI league. 

“We had to keep the momentum going,” said Colorado Springs Coach Otis McGregor, whose team also beat Chaparral 97-0 on the previous Wednesday. “We knew we were behind in the standings.”

This was the Tab Hicks Memorial game, played annually to remember the former Colorado Springs coach who died of cancer. The game is held on the team’s last home game of the year, and this year the Grizzlies remember their old coach playing a team they’d never faced before.

“We hadn’t seen them before,” said McGregor. “But our tight ball worked really well for us. Our forwards had a good game.”

Hooker and captain Pat Donovan led the forwards while the Grizzlies also benefited from some other players stepping in to unfamiliar roles. Seung Han has been solid for Colorado Springs at center, but when flyhalf Zeb Roberson went down injured, he moved into the flyhalf position, where he’d never played before, and performed very well. Still acting a bit like a center, Han led the attack and ran hard in the interior channels, and tackled well, also.

Flanker Cameron Grause is almost brand new to rugby but showed well this weekend, displaying some natural rugby instincts and strong tackling ability. 

PAC worked the ball well from the base of the ruck and were tough in the midfield, but Colorado Springs were a little stronger up front.

And so it’s down to who gets the best seeds in Colorado. The Grizzlies have Regis Jesuit (2-1) and Cherry Creek (0-3) in the final two games of the regular season, while East, idle this past weekend, faces 1-3 Chaparral and 3-2 PAC.

All eight teams will go into the playoffs, seeded based on their regular-season finish. With every team having lost at least one game, and three teams with only one loss, the seedings are still very much up in the air.