The Yale Lions Senior boys rugby program began its season this past week with two games. Yale is running two squads this year, one in the AA league and one in the AAA. The AA played Abbotsford Collegiate Panthers and won 19-5. Caleb reardon scored two tries and Ken Presnilla got one. Jesse Cotton chipped in with two converts. The AA Lions had stifling defence and were able to play most of the game in the Panthers end of the field.  The following day the Lions AAA squad opened their regular season against East Abbotsford rival Robert Bateman Timberwolves. Last year, these two teams battled to a 22-22 draw and it is always exciting when these teams meet. Bateman opened the scoring with a penalty kick to take the lead 3-0. Yale battled back though and chipped in with their own penalty kick by Jared Johnston. Yale then crossed the line for the first time this season with a great angle run from outside centre Joel Schmidt who scored between the posts to take an 8-3 lead. Yale was dominating the play with great ball retention from the big forward pack and solid defence. Their hard work was rewarded when winger Christian Styles passed the ball inside to centre Kris Baranowski who scored in the corner to take a 13-3  lead. However, Bateman was not done and due to great penalty kicking they were able to make the halftime score 13-9.  In the second half Yale began to roll and dominated the play. Eighthman Aaron Sawatsky broke away and outran Bateman defenders to score in the corner. Then fullback Odell Brown crashed through the middle and carried over three defenders across the line to score under the posts, which Johnston converted. Hook Aaron Vandale, who was crashing the ball throughout the game, was rewarded when he took the ball over the line off of a penalty from 10 meters out. The final score by the Lions came from lock Alan Makarewicz, who was tackled, released the ball then took it again and ran across the line. Bateman was able to score their only try late in the game to make the final score 42-16 in favour of the Lions. Yale now face last year's Fraser valley Champions Earl Marriott Wednesday at Yale.