The Cochrane Bears floundered in the early going in the bronze medal game against the Sturgeon Composite. And with that 10 minutes behind them, they went on to completely dominate their opponents and execute a near perfect 51-7 win, June 9, at the Calgary Rugby Union.

The post-game jubilation was louder and prouder than the more subdued celebration when they won silver at the provincials on a rained-drenched field in Strathmore last June. There was good reason.

Team captain Lloyd Rogers gushed proudly about the accomplishments of a team that had a much short bench, a large number of first-time players and an outdoor season shortened by the late spring.

Bears captain Lloyd Rogers accepts the plaque for the bronze medal win.

"This, to me, is a dream come true because we started with five guys who had never even played before, and they played their hearts out," says Rogers. "Everyone took the lead out there and they made those plays and they'd never even touched a rugby ball in their life and we made them champions. I couldn't be happier."

The Bears had to go through Sturgeon to make the gold final last year and that game was a much closer 14-5 defensive struggle.

"I'm surprised and happy," says Rodgers of the lopsided win. "It was a hard game. We know they lost a lot of their seniors, we lost a lot of our seniors, but we came together as a team and we showed them why we deserved to be in the finals."

One of those first-year players is multi-sport athlete Austin Jarvorsky, who quarterbacked the Bow Valley Bobcats and was recently named MVP Back for the Bears. He was successful on four tries in the bronze final.

Javorsky has played the sport for three months now, after being encouraged by other players and the coaches, and plans on continuing with the Bow Valley Rugby Club.

Austin Javorsky fends off a Sturgeon Composite player. He was successful on four tries in the game."Rugby is a great sport and I love playing it. It's a whole new experience and it's just awesome. It was a good choice."

There were also a lot of good choices made on the field and Head Coach Karl Bauer and assistant Jez Rogers couldn't be prouder of their performance. Bauer says it was their best game by a mile.

"I do not think the boys have ever managed to follow a game plan that well," says Bauer. "They were always in position, they were always set up. It took us about 10 minutes, but once they figured it out we just hammered the other team, hammered away at them the entire game."

Even when Sturgeon scored their only successful try in the latter part of the second half, the Bears responded by scoring three quick ones of their own to leave no doubt whose game this was.

It was a total team effort in bringing home the medal.

"It didn't matter who we had in. Our subs stepped up and did the exact same thing as our starters. I was really impressed with them."

With a short season, the weekend helped the team come together and play as a complete unit.

"That was a completely different team than we had yesterday. Same boys but they played absolutely fantastic. They even rucked the ball if they had to which is really rare for a back line in this province and rugby in general. Our boys stepped up hugely on that today."

Early in the tournament, the Bears secured a spot in the medals round with a 19-7 win over Hunting Hills, of the Red Deer area, fuelled by a strong second half. Whether it would be for gold or bronze was determined by Robert Thirsk High School. Thirsk shone in their 21-0 win over the Bears in their first-ever meeting.

"They had a couple guys who were a little bit bigger than our guys and they were able to keep grinding us down. That little extra edge on the forwards made us commit to an inside defense that opened up holes on the outside."

"They just outplayed us. Still, it's better to lose that game than to lose against someone you should have beat."

Being short in both numbers and physicality in forwards meant the Bears strategy was built around the speed of their backs. Staying healthy to battle through the provincials was a concern for a team, especially with their forwards. They had players sidelined with injuries and others playing injured.

Next year should be interested, says Bauer. They're not losing as many graduating players and have a solid core to build upon.

"We need a few more guys and if we get a little more size we'll be in a really good spot."

Sir Winston Churchill, the #1 ranked tier II team going into the provincials, went on to win the gold against the #3 Robert Thirsk. The Bears were ranked second.