Silver felt like gold to the PGSS Polars.
The local high school girls rugby team met the Houston Wolverines in Saturday's final game of the northern championships. On their home field, the Polars battled the favoured Wolverines for every inch of ground and dominated the second half. Houston, however, was the better side in the first half and walked off the pitch with a 22-0 decision.
"This was a heck of a game," said PGSS coach Jeremy Greenfield. "They banded together and they fought hard.
"It's amazing to see these kids come together like this," he added. "I'm looking forward to sevens season in the fall. I'm going to have quite a contending team."
In the late stages of Saturday's contest, the Polars had the Wolverines pinned on their goal line for several minutes but couldn't push the ball across for a major score.
For the Polars, the silver medal was an improvement on the bronze they won in the same tournament last year. And, this time, they were a more inexperienced team.
"We're playing a pretty rookie squad of [Grades] 9s and 10s for the most part, playing senior ball," Greenfield said. "It's just been 100 per cent improvement this year. At this point in time, I'm really wishing this was the start of our season, not the end. Up in the north here, we just don't get enough games in."
The season lasted one month. During that time, the Polars played three home games and eight tournament contests.
Rebecca Read, a Grade 11 PGSS captain, was thrilled with silver at the championships.
"This is our first silver medal since I've been in Grade 8," said Read, a scrum half and inside centre. "Every other year we've always taken home bronze. I'm very proud of our team, starting off as rookies. We've improved significantly. In this game, we really came together and everyone should hold their head up high."
Fellow PGSS captain Hailee Forsyth, a Grade 9 standoff, was equally proud of the Polars' result.
"I think it's pretty amazing," she said. "We did the best we've ever done."
The Polars finished the tournament with a 2-2 record. They lost their opener 34-12 to the Wolverines and then beat the Kelly Road Roadrunners by scores of 17-7 and 30-15.
In the senior boys final, the Columneetza Cougars of Williams Lake defeated the Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof 31-0. In the game for bronze, Houston downed PGSS 20-5.
In the junior boys division, Kelly Road claimed gold thanks to a 41-0 win against Nechako Valley.
The northern championships were not a qualifier for provincials.
