The Western men's rugby team snatched the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference lead from Washington State University en route to a 31-18 victory. “We played a full game. That’s something we’ve been working on. The game’s 80 minutes long and we never took our foot of the pedal and we got it done,” head coach Paul Horne said. The Vikings went into the second half leading 21-7, but early in the second period the Cougars attempted to surmount a comeback following a kick-ahead try. “Their possession was coming off our giving it up, but you know we weathered that little storm. I think they scored one and got back into the game a little bit,” Horne said. “Then it was all us after that. It was a good win for us today,” Horne said. Western’s Britt Parkhill sealed the victory with a breakout try that extended the Vikings’ lead to 13 points following a successful conversion from Noah Hanks. Leading his team to victory, Parkhill scored two tries against the Cougars. “It’s an awesome feeling and it was really good to put the game away, but it was a really good team game. I didn’t just do it by myself. All the boys out there helped; I just touched the ball down,” Parkhill said. “Our defense really one us the game out there today.” The ball remained in the Cougar’s territory for a majority of the game. “They created offense from our turnovers, so we weren’t too concerned because they weren’t able to create any offense on their own,” Horne said. “We were playing as strong in the last 10 minutes as we were in the first 10 minutes, but that’s also a tribute to the guys work ethic and they were much fitter than the other team today,” Horne said. Western’s next home game is against the University of Washington on Saturday, March 5.
