The Santa Barbara Stingrays U18 rugby squad came out with a thrilling back-and-forth 34-33 win over Lamorinda on Saturday at Wilder Park in Orinda, CA.
The Stingrays were led by Isaiah Kitt, who earned Man of the Match after three second-half tries and showcasing his dynamic running.
Luca Wiesenthal put Santa Barbara out in front early, converting a try in the corner to go up 5-0.
Lamorinda then took a 7-5 lead following a converted penalty try after a pair of yellow cards were given to the Stingrays.
Despite being down to 13 players, the Santa Barbara duo of Davey Rissel and Marley Lammers combined for a successful try to retake the lead at 10-7.
However, Lamorinda punched right back with back-to-back tries to carry a strong 19-10 lead into halftime.
The Stingrays came out of the break firing, with Kitt finishing off a series of runs from AJ Gomez, Tallon Smit and Javi Tinoco. Manny Verdugo then kicked the conversion to cut the lead down to 19-17.
A few minutes later, Wiesenthal passed the ball off to Olliver Andrews, who ripped off a 70-meter run for a try, and Verdugo converted to vault the Stingrays to a 24-19 lead.
Lamorinda then took advantage of another Santa Barbara penalty and secured another try to regain a 26-24 advantage.
Kitt then took over for the Stingrays, answering strong Lamorinda defense by breaking through a whopping nine defenders and diving for a score to give his squad a 29-26 lead.
After Lamorinda scored again to take a 33-29 lead, Santa Barbara had one last chance to take the lead as the time was winding down.
It was Kitt once again pulling through for the Stingrays, as he took the ball from Lamers and scampered 50 meters past five defenders for his third and final try, this one the game-winner.
Despite a missed conversion, Santa Barbara came away with the 34-33 win as the final whistle blew.
“I could not be prouder of these boys,” Stingrays coach Forrest Galante said. “Lamorinda is a big, physical team but we dominated in the lineouts and our scrum held its own. All of the boys made big contributions today.”