High-school Rugby: Dexter Devils Win Local Derby

Conditions were far from perfect on Tuesday at Scranton Middle School – light, but persistent rain made ball-handling a challenge and Brighton’s artificial surface potentially treacherous – but Dexter’s coaches had reason for satisfaction as their depleted squad dominated the Bulldogs in the annual derby match. Led by a hat-trick of tries from captain Jake Rayer (Sr), Dexter dominated from beginning to end, despite an unfamiliar look to the XV, brought on by a series of injuries in what is already, by the standards of recent seasons, a very small squad. But while a solid win over local rivals from Division II is certainly cause for pleasure, the Devils know that a much sterner test awaits them at home in their final regular-season match in Division I, on Wednesday (13 May) against Troy United. The visitors will be playing for their playoff lives when the teams meet at Manly Bennett Field, Merrill Road, Hamburg at 6 pm and playoff position for the Devils will also be determined by this match -- of great significance with the western division looking as strong as ever. Dexter will be looking for a good result and hoping for a big turnout of supporters on the touchline.

Last Tuesday, Dexter’s XV was precisely that – fifteen fully-fit men. A season-ending injury had already eliminated three-quarter Tyler Smokovitz (Detroit CC, Sr), meaning that, for the first time in years, the Devils active squad now consists exclusively of players from DHS. Forward Derek Melinsky and back Angelos Bairactaris (Srs) are both still out, while they were joined last week by backs Tristin Staebler, Derek Wittenberg, Jared Juback, and Torrin Bates (Srs). When Spencer Vollmers (Sr), clearly under the weather despite a superb try, had to come out at half-time, the Devils were forced to play the entire second half with fourteen men.

So the starting line-up had a somewhat unfamiliar look, despite the presence of a number of stalwarts in their usual positions: a front row of Noah Keen (Sr), Tyler Even (Jr), and Vollmers, was supported by locks Aidan Hochrein (Sr) and new starter, big but agile Clayton Drenner (Jr), with Nathanial Orlowski (Jr) celebrating his seventeenth birthday at open-side flanker, where he was as fierce as ever, and speedster Justin Tomshany (Sr) moved to blind-side flanker; Nick Hubbard (Sr) showed again that he is up for any challenge, playing no 8. Neil Makin (So) was in his usual position of scrum-half, but captain Rayer moved to fly-half, while Erick Leon (Sr) left the pack to play inside centre, with Luke Sagmeister (Sr) outside him. Chris Bryson (Sr) showed his versatility by moving from no 8 to left wing, while Sean Wakefield (Jr) was at right wing. The Dexter faithful, peering through the rain at such an unfamiliar back line, must have been reassured to see Adam Haas (Sr) in his customary position of full-back.

The Devils have struggled all season for power in the pack and for penetration from the three-quarters, so an early offensive score to calm derby-night nerves was highly desirable and it duly came. After five minutes, about 35 metres out, Even won a heel-against-the-head (when the hooker wins the ball in a scrum where the opposition has the put-in), Makin moved the ball quickly to Rayer who, darting down the blind side, fed the ball neatly to Wakefield, and he jinked and powered 20 metres to the Brighton in-goal area. While Even’s success against opposition hookers is hardly news, Dexter fans were probably more surprised on Tuesday to see some successes from kicks in open play: the first came after seventeen minutes, when Rayer was able to chase his own grubber from half-way into the opposition 22-metre area, then take advantage of the Astroturf bounce and some defensive handling errors to run the ball in for a 10-0 lead. A few minutes later another superb kick and chase – this time from Haas – looked to have secured the Devils a five-metre scrum – only for the referee to determine that Haas, not the defender, had taken the ball into the in-goal area, where Dexter’s full-back had downed him after running at least 60 metres behind his own kick. With the Devils in disarray, Brighton took the 22-metre drop-kick quickly, chased it down, and eluded the Dexter defense to score an unconverted try. But any thoughts of a Brighton come-back were extinguished when a Dexter maul moved Even downfield before the hooker’s pass found Rayer, who ran the ball in for his second try, which he converted, making it 17-5. Minutes later the Devils pleased head coaches Paul Burke and Doug Karaska (not to mention their assistants Steve Turosky and John Merz) by reacting quicker to the loose ball on the ground than they had all season, when Vollmers picked up a ball freed from a ruck and belied his position (and health on the day) by sprinting fifty metres for the fourth Dexter try of the half, to give Dexter a half-time lead of 22-5.

The Devils showed their flexibility when Vollmers’ half-time departure moved Hubbard to prop, with Bryson shifting from wing to no 8 for set pieces. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were unable to cash in their man advantage, as the Devils continued to assert their superiority, first when Makin’s distribution from a ruck started a move that led to Rayer’s hat-trick, with Sagmeister’s conversion giving Dexter a 29-5 lead. A somewhat panicked fly-hack from the scrum-half then found its way eventually and fortuitously into the powerful arms of the ubiquitous Bryson who was too strong for the opposition defense, to take the score to 36-5 with the conversion. Leon and Sagmeister had been a strong, albeit entirely new, combination at centre throughout the match (both powerful in defense and agile in offense), so it is was fitting that the latter muscled over for the last try of the night, which he followed with a conversion, to take the final score to 43-5.

After the match Coach Burke expressed satisfaction with the result and with the work of the men playing in unfamiliar positions, but called for focus in preparation for the much bigger challenge of the Troy match and the playoffs beyond.

Dexter’s squad list, with further details of the Dexter Rugby program, may be accessed here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lsw6yjvxtvhit0h/DRFC%20Team%20Sheet%202015.pdf?dl=0. For further information on Dexter Rugby, go to the Facebook page for “Dexter Rugby” or to the club web site: www.dexterrugby.com. Follow DRFC on Twitter @DexterRugby. Photo credits: Gina Bryson.