The Missoula Stampede defeated Gallatin 42-15 on a rainy Saturday to win the Montana Youth Rugby Boys D1 championship.
It rained all day and that made it difficult for both teams.
But for Missoula, their plan to compete at a national level helped them deal with that and the competition from their rivals in Gallatin.
The Stampede toured Washington earlier in the season, they were part of the Elite level of the Montana Invitational, and then played in the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.
Wins were hard to come by in that group of games, but they were very competitive in the losses (Fort Hunt 29 Missoula 25 was an example) and did beat Eastside twice as well as Kahuku.
"I think Nationals really helped us prepare because of the superior competition there," said Missoula Head Coach Scott Miller. "I actually think my guys were still a little tired from the big trip. That paired with the downpour made it a sloppy win."
