This article was originally published on May 24
On Saturday, May 25, at the West Ottawa HS Rugby Stadium (3700 140th Avenue, Holland, MI; 4.30 pm kick-off), the Dexter Devils A team, of the DHS Rugby Club, will play the biggest match in the short history of high-school Rugby in Dexter – for the Division One State Championship, against Grandville.
Devils teams have been to the Division I semi-finals before, but this is the first time that Dexter Rugby Football Club has played for it all. Dexter, with eleven starters from DHS and four from Grass Lake HS, will be the underdogs, playing against a program that starts developing its players in 7th grade and currently has, it is said, over one hundred boys playing Rugby; three Grandville starters on Saturday’s team have played together for six years. Dexter boasts its own record numbers this year, but with around forty boys playing on two teams; only six of Saturday’s starting fifteen played Rugby even last year.
How did the Devils and Grandville get to the final?
The DRFC A team was undefeated in Division I East and beat West Ottawa, of Holland, and Forest Hills, from the Grand Rapids suburbs, in, respectively, the State quarter-finals and semi-finals, hosted at DHS a week ago. Forest Hills is currently ranked no 27 in the nation among club teams, the only Michigan team in either the club or single-school rankings published by rugbymag.com.
Grandville also ran the table, but in the stronger Division I West, and then, in last Saturday’s play-offs, overwhelmed first Washtenaw 88-3 (the Devils defeated their local rivals 53-0 in Ann Arbor earlier this season) and then Rockford 48-0.
How do they line up?
Grandville, from the greater Grand Rapids area – the heart of Michigan high school Rugby -- will have far more experience, but the Dexter team has had to learn fast this year. The Devils went to the Midwest Boys’ Championship in Elkhart, Indiana, three weeks ago, and performed creditably, giving Ohio giants Westerville, currently eleventh club in the nation, a real scare, losing just 19-10, then defeating Fishers 15-14, after being 14-5 down, before running out of steam against Archbishop Moeller, losing 17-5, despite scoring first.
However, the Midwest tournament and Dexter’s last league match – a tight 28-21 victory away to Dearborn – reminded Dexter fans that the forwards lack experience and can struggle against a well-prepared, powerful opponent, while the half-backs can be hurried into mistakes, and the three-quarters can be punished for handling errors. It has not helped Dexter to play in what is clearly the weaker of the two top Michigan divisions but the Championship match will show just how much and how quickly the Devils have learned from matches against tougher opposition. Grandville will certainly be very strong and very well-drilled, while the Devils will rely on speed and inventiveness, hoping that their trademark “chaos Rugby” (recycling possession as rapidly as possible, often with unconventional passing) will unsettle their powerful opponent. Both Grandville’s head coach, Adam Sheren, and Dexter’s coaches Paul Burke and Doug Karaska, have remarked that the team that makes the fewer mistakes will win. Dexter will reflect long on that observation, remembering that the Devils might have beaten Westerville but for an errant pass, bobbled into the hands of an onrushing opposition back, and for a ball lost in a maul – both turnovers occurring within metres of the Worms’ try line. Those errors were caused by the speed, strength, and experience of the opposition. Grandville can be expected to play just as hard.
Who is in the Dexter line-up?
Dexter’s front five against Grandville will consist of props Zack Wallace (Grass Lake, Sr) and Jonah Hancock (DHS, Jr), hooker Ryan Calhoun (DHS, Sr), and locks Viktor Morris (DHS, Jr), and Tony Esposito (DHS, Sr). This is the least-experienced part of the Devils’ team, with only Calhoun (who has had a very strong season) bringing more than a season’s knowledge to the Championship match; Hancock did not even come into the team until half-way through this season. However, in Wallace Dexter has a very powerful forward who can lead the tight five, and every other starter has played big in key matches. Grandville will look to push Dexter around, both in the tight and in the loose; how the Devils respond might well decide the match. The Devils will be without Jackson HS Senior Leo Hinkle, whose play at lock has been excellent this year – injury and suspension have, unfortunately, ruled him out.
The Devils’ loose forwards – flankers Keoni Koch and Alexis Barberio (both DHS Srs) and no 8 Spencer Flannery (Grass Lake HS, Sr) – have more experience than the front five: the agile Koch and the marauding, powerful Flannery both played on last year’s team, but Koch is carrying an injury and will be watched anxiously by the Dexter fans in the stands at West Ottawa’s new Rugby stadium; Flannery is, in the words of the coaches, an “impact player”, who has attracted attention from college programs -- if he can stay on the field, he could play a very important role for the Devils.
The half-backs, DHS Juniors Guy Burke (scrum-half) and Gordon Makin (fly-half), have played together for two years and are battle-hardened, but the Devils will need these key pivot men to keep their heads, make the right decisions quickly, move the ball fast on offense against quick and experienced opposite numbers, and, on defense, tackle very hard against – in all likelihood – bigger men.
The centers, too, are familiar faces – DHS Senior Tony Shiguango at inside center and Grass Lake Senior Eddie Alexander at outside center. Their experience, tackling, and ability to get the ball wide, plus Shiguango’s kicking, will all be key. Neither winger played until this year, but both are among the most important men on the team: Grass Lake Junior Corey Robinett must be one of the best goal-kickers in the Midwest (he is also an excellent place-kicker for Grass Lake HS in the American code of football) and the Devils will hope that his boot is true on Saturday, while DHS Senior Matt Kasten is the undoubted star of the team – very few opponents have been able to get near him when he has had the chance to run at full speed, while Devils’ followers will also know that Kasten’s love of the weight room has helped to make him a ferocious tackler. The Grandville coaches watched Kasten score all three tries in the Devils’ semi-final victory over Forest Hills and they will certainly have worked this week on plans to stop him. How Dexter counters their attempts to keep the ball away from Kasten and to hold him up when he gets it will be one of the keys to the match.
Fullback Adam Haas, the only sophomore on the team (DHS), is an excellent tackler, but he will need the support of the Dexter three-quarters when he fields big kicks; Grandville will hope to isolate him and win the ball, while Dexter will plan on a coordinated response from the back line.
Dexter’s substitutes will be from the Devils’ first ever true B team, eliminated from the Division III playoffs in the semi-finals by Rockford B. At least some of Jake Rayer, Chris Bryson, Derek Wittenberg, Tristin Staebler, Nick Person, Eric Leon, Anthony Bell, Thore Sibbel, Nick Hubbard, Andrew Schwartz, Kyle Parm, and Tyler Even (all DHS) will see playing time. In schoolboy Rugby substitution rules are exactly the same as at the senior level – no rotation – so calls to the bench will be crucial, especially against a team with Grandville’s depth.
What Will Happen on Saturday?
This will certainly be Dexter’s toughest match of the season – so much at stake, and for a team with relatively little experience. Last year the Devils lost a very tight semi-final to Rockford 14-7, despite playing excellent defense: struggles at the line-out -- always an area of concern -- and a couple of lapses in open play cost the match. Rockford lost in last year’s final to West Ottawa, who had to fight very hard to defeat Grandville in the semi-finals; Grandville will certainly believe this is the year to add to their Division I Championship of 2010. In Saturday’s final, if the starting XV don’t freeze, if the pack can hold, if the half-backs can endure the pressure, and if the three-quarters can move the ball, Dexter’s chaos offense can do some damage, but the match might well be decided by how the Devils defend against Grandville’s power and how Dexter’s bench matches up against Grandville’s.
However, win or lose, there can be no doubt that Saturday will see the end of the Devils best-ever season, and, with far more players returning next year than in any previous year, Rugby in the north-west corner of Washtenaw County looks in pretty good health.
Dexter’s team sheet for Saturday’s Championship match, with further details of the Dexter Rugby program, may be accessed here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nqxqiu44nxy621b/DRFC%20Team%20Sheet%2025%20May%202013.pdf.
The home page of the Grandville Rugby Club is here: http://www.grandvillerugby.net/index.htm.
For more information on Dexter Rugby, go to the Facebook page for “Dexter Rugby 2013” or to the club web site: www.dexterrugby.com.
Scoring updates will be available on Saturday via the DRFC Twitter feed: @DexterRugby.
The Michigan Youth Rugby Association website has more information about the playoffs: http://www.rugbymichigan.com/.