The Atavus Academy Utah girls team was short on numbers at the Rocky Mountain Challenge this past weekend, but that did not slow the squad down from winning the varsity bracket title.

Atavus arrived in Aurora, CO, for the RMC with only 16 players, and through injuries ended up fielding only 13 players. With a yellow card in the final minutes of its 46-7 championship win over Colorado, Utah ended the weekend with 12 players on the field.

But the team prevailed regardless. Using a speedy offload game and taking advantage of its pace and fitness, the Atavus Utah team was able to work loop moves in the backline and, at least on attack, didn't look shorthanded at all.



On defense, once again, superior pace and fitness allowed Atavus to cover enough ground to keep teams at bay. The results speak for themselves. Atavus Academy Utah defeated Texoma 32-7, Indianapolis 34-0, Wisconsin 15-12, and Colorado 46-7. That Wisconsin game was on Sunday morning with 13 players and lived up to its pre-tournament billing as Atavus' toughest game of the weekend. Wisconsin led 7-5 at halftime, but Utah worked to stay out of contact as much as possible and make Wisconsin run. With offloads and a bit more of a sevens approach to their game, the Utah women scored twice to lead 15-7 and held on 15-12.



"[Our game] was fluid, and that's how it was at practice," Utah's McKay Peisley said. "And just working as a team and [with] fluidity... and we realized we all needed to step up more."