Girls squad falls to North Central in championship match
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Anthony Gadson-agadson@timesuniononline.com
Only one of the two Warsaw Area Rugby teams won a state title Saturday in Elkhart, but both coaches deemed the season a success. Playing the rugby state championship matches at Elkhart’s Moose Rugby Grounds, the Warsaw girls first fell to perennial power North Central 34-24, followed by the boys winning the Division II championship with a 31-10 victory over Pike. “This group of young men started working during the first week of January, all the way to the title,” Warsaw boys head coach Mark Caruso said. “Dedication and leadership were what separated this team from the other teams we have had.” Beginning play in 2003, the championship is the boys first and one Caruso credits to the play of nine seniors, including finals MVP Jason Taylor, as well as all-state nominees Brandon Bergman, Marcos Rodriguez and Kyle Heckaman. “There are people who play rugby, and there are rugby players,” Caruso said. “This team had more rugby players than some teams I have played for in my career. Rugby players are willing to do the dirty work that is necessary to win matches, and to trust their mates to do the same. That goes from our all-state players to our rawest rookie." In the championship tilt, the Warsaw club got two tries (five-point plays, followed by two-point conversions) from Heckaman, as well as one each out of Jason Taylor, Austin Taylor, Luke Schumacher, while Jason Taylor also kicked a conversion and Vasco Ressano converted a pair. For the girls, they won the championship in 2005 and were in their second-straight title game, having also lost to North Central 12-5 in 2013. “What makes them so good is, they’re recognized as a school sport,” Warsaw girls coach Trevor Cracknell said of North Central, which has only lost once since their setback to Warsaw in the 2005 state championship match. “So they’re actually like a varsity team, so they get a lot of support from the school. On top of that, they always get a lot of numbers out. We took the field with 15 girls, which is just enough for a team. I didn’t have any substitutes to put out or anything like that. I think we counted 39 or so girls dressed out for them on the sideline. They’re only allowed to put out a roster of 23, but when you have that many, you basically have half a team that you can substitute.” One would think that North Central’s depth would have worn down Warsaw, but according to Cracknell, that wasn’t the case. “Actually, we did better late in the game,” he said. “They caught us real cold straight out the blocks.” North Central got a couple quick scores on Warsaw and built a 19-12 lead by the half, then increased it to 34-12 in the second half, before Warsaw came on down the stretch, cutting the lead to 34-24. “The clock just sort of ran out on us, because we were playing a lot better than them toward the end of the game,” Cracknell said. For the girls team, which finished the season at 9-1, Warsaw Community High School sophomore Sydney Sargis had two tries, while classmates Tahya Bruce and Alexis Devenney each had one. Triton junior Gabrielle Cretcher scored a pair of two-point conversions for the team. With three sophomores scoring all of the team’s tries, Cracknell likes what he has coming in future years, as well as how the team performed this year. “They did really well,” he said. “One thing about our team is, I only had half of my team that played the previous year. Eight of my girls returned and seven were brand new. We play a little fun fall season, then we play league in the spring. So, three of mine only came out this spring. From a perspective of a team, it’s not like we had a team of all juniors and seniors. I had one senior that was a four-year player and one junior that was a four-year player, because she played in eighth grade. The majority of my team was still young and in their first or second season. That counts a lot. Especially in those big games.” Cracknell’s four-year senior was Allyson Walls, who will play collegiately at Davenport University. “She’s definitely a leader on the team,” Cracknell said. “She’s a very physical player, so I’m going to lose that.” The only other senior on the team was Makinzie Hoagland, who was in her first year with the sport. “She was a real leader on the team, along with Allyson,” Cracknell said. “She’s a physical player too. I’m going to lose two good players, but I have a lot of real good players in my sophomores.” For now, Cracknell is just enjoying what his 2014 team was able to accomplish. “To go to the state finals, two years in a row, is a great achievement,” he said. And with his guys claiming the state championship, Caruso is also overjoyed with not only this year's team, but future ones as well. “I have enjoyed working with these gents this year,” he said. “They have learned to accept each other, their coaches and their roles as teammates. If the 15 players coming back keep developing as players and people, then we can definitely make a run at another title in the future. But for right now, I am ecstatic for the lads.”
