High-school Rugby Playoffs: Dexter Devils Beat Reigning Champions, Lose in Semi-final

For the fourth successive year Dexter Rugby Football Club advanced to the semi-finals of the Michigan Division I high-school Rugby championship and, for the fourth time in a row, the Devils proved themselves the best team in the eastern half of the state. But dreams of a third successive appearance in the championship match proved elusive on Saturday, when a tight quarter-final victory over defending champions Grand Rapids Catholic Central was followed by a semi-final defeat to a strong, fast, well-drilled Rockford, who looked on the day a good bet to win the state championship.

MYRA playoffs – quarter-finals and semi-finals in a single day – are intense, demanding occasions. One hundred minutes of Rugby for the winners of the quarter-finals (the maximum minutes the ruling federation allows for youth players in a single day ); lose and you go home. The four best Western-Division teams, with their varsity and middle-school programs, against the top four Eastern-Division teams in the quarter-finals and then, for the quarter-final winners, fifty more minutes to decide who will play in the final, two weeks later at West Ottawa’s stadium in Holland, MI, when the State championship is decided. Dexter players know how hard is the route to Holland. Three years ago, as Eastern division champions, they beat GRCC in the quarter-finals before losing narrowly to a fancied Rockford side in the semi-final; two years ago, again as Eastern champions, the Devils beat West Ottawa and then Forest Hills, to qualify for the final, where they lost narrowly to Grandville; a year ago, the Devils beat Rockford and then West Ottawa, only to lose narrowly to GRCC in the final. Each year, the Devils were the only eastern side to make the semi-finals.

Last Saturday, at Athens High School in Troy, where Troy United hosted the playoffs, the top high-school Rugby teams from across the state gathered for another intense day. As the Dexter team and supporters headed along I-696 and up I-75 that morning, eyes were on the weather – the light, quick Devils team would benefit from a dry, fast pitch and a dry ball against the defending champions, but the persistent rain meant that conditions would not favor them, and when they saw the long grass in Troy they had further reason to worry. CC might be the fourth seed in the west, but no one doubted that their hands would be hard to prize from the championship trophy, and so it proved.

For the first time all season, head coaches Paul Burke and Doug Karaska, with assistants John Merz and Steve Turosky, were able to name the same line-up as in the previous match (a tight home win against Troy): a front row of Noah Keen (Sr), Tyler Even (Jr) and Nick Hubbard (Sr); a second row of Aidan Hochrein and Justin Tomshany (both Srs); Erick Leon (Sr) and Nathaniel Orlowski (Jr) at flanker; Chris Bryson (Sr) at no 8; Neil Makin (So) at scrum-half and Tristin Staebler (Sr) at fly-half; captain Jake Rayer and Derek Wittenberg (both Srs) at inside and outside centre, respectively; Sean Wakefield (Jr) and Luke Sagmeister (Sr) on the wing, and Adam Haas (Sr) at full-back. At half-time Spencer Vollmers came into the pack and Torrin Bates came on at wing (both Srs). Every man played his part in a trademark Dexter 2015 win: relentless defense and an opportunistic try.

The numerous Dexter supporters were disappointed to see the Devils go down early, as a rare heel-against-the-head provided CC with good ball inside the Dexter 22-metre line, which they ran in for a try just to the right of the posts; the try was duly converted and the Devils were 7-0 down after five minutes. But ten minutes later Staebler burst through midfield to hack a loose ball towards the CC posts; Rayer ran on and took the bounce, clearing the defense to score and then convert his own try. The lead came for good four minutes later when Staebler kicked through again and was obstructed; Rayer converted the penalty and Dexter led 10-7. In the second half CC decided to keep the ball tight and hammer the lighter Dexter scrum, which made for 22½ very tense minutes for the Devils supporters. Yet again, ferocious team defense, with the entire Dexter pack outstanding, supported by excellent work from the backs, especially Wittenberg, Bates, and Haas, somehow kept the ball out of the Devils’ in-goal area – but only just.

Exhausted by the effort in difficult conditions, the Devils refueled with a lunch that testified, once again, to the excellent support DRFC teams have always received. Birmingham, they learned, had held the Devils’ semi-final opponent Rockford tight for a half, only to lose quite heavily. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Troy had gone down narrowly to unbeaten Grandville, and West Ottawa had overwhelmed Dearborn. Yet again, the west had dominated.

As the teams warmed up, bad news reached the Dexter faithful: captain Rayer, suffering from a recurrence of an old injury, would not be able to play; the Devils had lost the season’s top scorer (and scorer of all the morning’s points). The Devils’ coaches decided to play Spencer Vollmers (in his first year of Rugby) at his “natural position” at inside centre, where he could make good use of his speed and strength, with Bates, also in his first year, on the wing. Sagmeister came on later, as did (in the pack) Clayton Drenner (Jr; surprisingly agile for a big, powerful man), while Jared Juback (Sr) would come on at half-time at full-back. The small size of Dexter’s 2015 squad and its relative lack of experience was in stark contrast to Rockford’s, where seven men, probably with at least four years of Rugby behind them, would come off the bench.

It was clear by kick-off that this would be a difficult match and it became a great deal clearer six minutes into the first half when good position for the Devils turned into a seven-point deficit. At a scrum on Rockford’s five-metre line, Dexter conceded a heel-against-the-head and Rockford’s fly-half, combining speed and power, raced the entire length of the field to touch down under the posts. The Devils would soon find out that Rockford also had men just as quick on each wing, as they played excellent fifteen-man Rugby to run in two more scores. Dexter was up against its best opponent of the year. Even the sin-binning of a Rockford forward for punching in the ruck did little to help Dexter, especially as that yellow card was quickly followed by the sin-binning of the Devils’ full-back for a dangerous tackle. There was, it has to be said, something of an edge to this match, as to the morning’s, and Dexter followers noticed that Rockford seemed, in particular, determined to target Staebler, whose interceptions had hurt them so much in last year’s quarter-final.

Fourteen-on-fourteen Rockford remained as dangerous as before, although the speedy right-winger who scored their third try might have benefited from a convenient obstruction. However, there could be no complaints about the score – Rockford had been clearly superior – and the Devils desperately needed a score early in the second half. It didn’t come; instead Rockford scored a fourth try to make it 24-0. Late in the match Bates stepped up and coolly scored a penalty goal for the Devils’ only points, but Rockford then scored and converted a fifth try to make the final score 31-3. The Devils did create a few scoring chances of their own – for example, the scrum-half’s up-and-under that he nearly ran on to, only for a big Rockford man to step in his way, leaving the Dexter sophomore calling out to the referee loudly, but in vain, “Obstruction, sir!”; several good drives by forwards Even and Bryson; and those intelligent kicks through midfield from Staebler that have been a major source of points all season. But the Rockford defense was very solid and – unlike most opponents this year – also very quick, so there was no room to exploit behind their three-quarters.

In short, Rockford played the same sort of game as Dexter, but they were fitter, faster, and stronger, and they inflicted Dexter’s biggest defeat to an in-state opponent in four years. However, this defeat threw into relief Dexter’s season and brought home the realization that, perhaps, this team had consistently punched above its weight, with its stirring comebacks, determined defense, and opportunistic counter-attacks.

As the disconsolate Devils trudged off the field their fans gathered to clap and cheer the seventeen seniors (including the injured Derek Melinsky and Angelos Bairactaris) who would never wear a Dexter shirt again. Most of the players were able to console themselves with thoughts of prom night -- their anxious dates would be happy that there were no black eyes to spoil prom photographs and devalue expensive coiffures -- while the Devils’ coaches and their juniors and sophomores turned their minds to plans for rebuilding next year. Later Coach Burke told his team: “You played so hard, with such passion and grit; you should be very proud. I am.”

(In the second semi-final, West Ottawa lost to Grandville in a soccer-style penalty shoot-out, after a 30-30 draw).

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.