The B.C. Secondary Schools Rugby Union’s landscape is looking familiar to the South Delta Sun Devils as the regular season hits the stretch run.
The province’s No. 1 ranked 3A team has taken a couple of big steps towards locking up top spot in the Fraser Valley West Pool Group with wins over Mountain and Elgin Park to improve to 3-0 on the season.
The Devils travelled to Langley two weeks ago to pull out a hard-hard-fought 31-23 victory over Mountain. The Eagles entered the tilt ranked eighth in the province.
It was then off to South Surrey on Thursday to face Elgin in a battle of 2-0 teams.
The South Delta took control early and went on to the impressive 32-7 win on tries from Callum McLeod, Evan Paterson, Max Cantlon, Colten McDougall, Andrew Kraft and Ethan Troniak.
The Sun Devils will host DW Poppy (1-2) on Thursday then conclude their league schedule April 30 in Cloverdale against Lord Tweedsmuir (1-2).
A couple opponents during last year’s memorable run to the program’s first-ever B.C. title are looming on the horizon.
Robert Bateman fell to South Delta in the provincial championship game and the Abbotsford school is currently ranked No. 2 in the province and unbeaten in the Fraser Valley East Pool.
However, a potential rematch in the Fraser Valley final is hardly a certainty if the Earl Marriott Mariners are back in the equation.
The South Surrey powerhouse is currently part of the five-team BCSSRU Premier League with Carson Graham, Oak Bay, St. George’s and Shawnigan Lake.
If the Mariners finish out of the top four they come down to the 3A tier for the post-season. That’s what happened a year ago when they defeated South Delta in the Fraser Valley final but fell to Bateman in the provincial semis.
Marriott currently sits 0-2 in Premier play but were competitive in matches against Oak Bay (47-36) and Carson Graham (31-19).
The Sun Devils will also continue their BCSSRU Stadium Series schedule against No. 3 ranked Claremont of Victoria on May 3 at Brentwood College. They got past No. 4 Kelowna 17-7 in their opening game back on April 5.
