Sow Canyon HS out of Utah left their tour of Arizona with a 1-1 record after beating Scottsdale/Tempe Friday and losing to Red Mountain on Saturday.

Scottsdale and Tempe have merged their teams for this season due to numbers issues, and while they are still figuring out how to work together, the team boasts some big, bruising forwards. Snow Canyon prevailed 35-5, but it wasn’t easy for them.

After Red Mountain beat the Utah visitors 49-17 on Saturday, Red Mountain Head Coach OJ Hawea said he was pleased with his team’s performance, but also added that Snow Canyon liked had little time to recover from Friday’s game.

“We did well,” said Hawea. “We controlled the tempo and Malik Vano did a good job at flyhalf putting the ball behind them. But we know Snow Canyon got pounded a bit on Friday. It was a physically bruising game for them so I think we got the easier end of the pair of games.”

Still, Red Mountain performed admirably and set themselves up for being, once again, the top team in the state. Kristian Sanchez continues to play solid rugby at scrumhalf, keeping the attack moving and ensuring there’s quick ball out of the rucks. Prop Pesai Pulotu was a force up front and repeatedly knocked the opposition back in the breakdown.

Hawea said he wants to continue to play teams outside his state to see where they stand.

“We’ve got to get out and play the likes of Snow Canyon, United, Santa Monica,” he said. “We feel we’re in the mix, but we’ve got to play those teams.”