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Rocky Mountain Rugby wins tier II national championship

Just one week after winning their second consecutive state championship, the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies won their very first national title.

SALT LAKE CITY — Just one week after winning their third consecutive state championship, the Rocky Mountain High School boys' rugby team traveled to Salt Lake City to compete at the high school national tournament to compete in 'Tier II.'

But what does 'Tier II' mean?

According to Flo Rugby:

"The Tier II teams all were accepted to Nationals, but were seeded lower than 8th in their original bracket (HS Club or Single-School) and so go into Tier II. So maybe it’s not the highest level, but it’s still a tournament that it takes a lot to win. First of all, you’ve got to win three games in a row in three days. In doing so, you need to be good, and have depth."

Being placed in Tier II fueled the Grizzlies hunger, blowing out their first two opponents, Utah's Snow Canyon (70-10) and United (55-17).

"You know, a small team like us coming from Idaho, we've never really come out to a huge tournament like this for 15's and coming out here and showing what we've got is huge to us, huge to Idaho, huge to our team," Garrett Beck told Flo Rugby.

In the championship game, the Grizzlies beat Eastside (WA) 24-23.

WATCH: 2019 Idaho high school state rugby championship

"Being able to go to these tournaments and being successful really puts Idaho on the map and helps the sport of rugby grow," Jaxson Pabst said.

Congrats to the Grizzlies!

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