High school and middle school rugby state champions were crowned this past weekend at the MTSU Sports Club Complex. Four area teams made it to their respective finals, and Oakland became champs with a 24-15 win over Houston.
The Patriots fell behind early 10-0 against Houston in the Plate championship, but used several long runs to break the game wide open. Oakland’s Jordan Odom took the ball 50 meters down the sideline for the try, which is worth five points and Jerome Reese added a two-point kick.
A few minutes later, Houston scored again to take a 15-12 advantage. Late in the game, Reese and Zach Barnes took control and brought home the championship.
Barnes scored twice on runs of 60 and 65 meters as Houston lost control of the ball deep in their territory. Barnes picked it up and raced for the score.
After another Houston turnover, Reese picked up the ball and made several moves to score the final try of the game.
“It’s very demoralizing, and it takes a lot out of them, Oakland head coach Josh Peay said. “We started out flat and those three long runs really gave us a boost.”
Reese’s performance earned him MVP honors.
“It’s good, we worked hard all year for it and it paid off,” Barnes said about winning the championship.
Oakland celebrated the title by eating pizza off of their plate trophy.
Peay was a member of the first state championship team in 2001, when they were known as the Muddogs. Back then only six teams were part of the first year of Tennessee High School Rugby. Riverdale also had a team, but the school didn’t recognize it. They were known as the Rutherford County Chiefs.
Two other local teams fell to rugby power Brentwood on Mother’s Day.
In the girls bowl, Siegel fell 12-7, while Riverdale was shutout in the boys bowl 20-0.
The sport is now passed down to the middle school level. Four teams made to the state tournament, including Siegel. The Stars ended their debut season losing to Woodland 25-0 in the finals.
On Saturday, an All-Star game will take place at Siegel with the best players from the area taking part. The girls contest begins at 2 p.m. and boys game will follow.
According to commissioner, Mark Williams about 50 teams play in the state, which is not sanctioned by the TSSAA, but instead by Tennessee High School Rugby.
The teams are broken into three conferences, the Middle Tennessee, West and Smoky Mountain. At the end of the regular season, conference tournaments take place. The finishing order decides which state championship the qualifying teams participate in.
For example here was the finishing order of the Middle Tennessee conference that made it to the four-team state tournament:
Boys
No. 1 Father Ryan
No. 2 Ravenwood
No. 3 Riverdale
No. 4 Brentwood
No. 5 Coffee County
No. 6 Oakland
Girls
No. 1 Ravenwood
No. 2 Brentwood
No. 3 Siegel
In the Boys tournament, Father Ryan and Ravenwood played for the top prize, the Cup. Riverdale and Brentwood went for the Bowl and Oakland and Coffee County competed for the Plate. In the girls, Ravenwood played for the Cup and Brentwood and Siegel battled for the Bowl. There was no plate championship.
Each tournament has four teams; the conference that won their respective title the previous season earns their conference two teams in the following year’s tournament.
For example, Oakland won the plate title, so the Middle Tennessee conference will have two teams in each boys tournament in 2011. |
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