WINONA LAKE — The Warsaw Area Rugby Clubs are both having successful seasons and are vying for a spot in the state finals. The Warsaw boys team, which is comprised of players not only from Warsaw, but Plymouth and Whitko as well, earned a spot in the Division II state semifinals by defeating Leo 54-12 Wednesday in Winona Lake. A year after competing in the state finals, the girls look to have a pretty good shot in this year’s state tournament. They will be in action again Saturday in Fishers. “We’re fairly confident,” Warsaw girls head coach Trevor Cracknell.” Both Warsaw squads finished North Division play at 6-0, and the Leo victory left the boys with an 8-1 overall record, as their only setback came on April 23 against the Penn JV, 20-10. To put the loss in perspective, the Penn varsity team finished third in the nation. The Warsaw boys will now face Angola in Saturday’s state semifinals in Fishers. By reaching the state semifinals, the boys are already in new ground, as the farthest they had gotten since their inception in 2003 was the quarterfinals. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors this year,” Warsaw boys head coach Mark Caruso said about the difference between this year and previous ones. “We have guys that have been playing three years, and you usually have guys that have straggled out for one season. This year, we probably have 10 guys that have played at least two years, and nine freshmen.” Showing improvement over the course of the year, Warsaw only beat Leo 20-15 back on April 26, but dismantled the Lions in the rematch. To get that kind of improvement, the team’s benefitted from some high numbers, which has been organic, as it’s not a sport in the forefront of people’s minds. “It’s a lot of word of mouth,” Caruso said about the growth of the program. “We also have fall season for kids that aren’t playing football. We get extra bodies that way, then those guys invite their buddies that were playing football.” And like football, contact is the name of the game. Following the guidelines of the more common American sport, the rugby coaches know the new players may need a course in the sport, which has laws instead of rules. “I’ve played about 25 years and I still don’t know all the laws,” Caruso said. “There’s just a bunch of basic stuff they all know, then little nuances that if they play through a season, they’re able to see situation where something weird happened, then they find out, ‘Hey, that’s a law.’ We go over a lot of things, but there’s just so much stuff that rarely happens, that when it does, you have to explain it to them.” And area kids are being introduced to the sport at a younger age, as Cracknell has been working with some of them in Warsaw Community Schools. “I’ve been working with the middle schools, so I’ve been able to go in and work with physical education classes in the schools,” he said. “It’s great to get the younger players out,” Cracknell added. “The earlier you can get them out and playing, the better.” This year, seventh and eighth grade teams began in the state, leading to better play at the high school level. “It’s a fun sport for kids to come watch and play,” Warsaw boys assistant coach Mike Burke said. “They hook on right away.” The contact of the sport may be the biggest selling point, and the girls relish it as much as the boys. “For girls, it’s really the only contact sport they have,” Cracknell said. “They don’t really have football. There’s not really hockey or lacrosse around here. So, it’s the only true contact sport for girls. A lot of the girls grew up watching their brothers play football, wishing they could play. They like to come out here and hit. The guys hit and the girls hit just as hard.” And the Warsaw girls aren’t just out to hit, they’re out to win. At 7-0 this season, the Warsaw girls have outscored their opponents 407-66 and hope to duplicate the success of the 2005 team, which won a state title. “We’re not really having much trouble this year,” Cracknell said. “It’s been a great year. We only have two seniors on the team, so we’re relatively young. We’ve really come together and they’re really playing hard together. We have some really good athletes with a lot of pace.” In Saturday’s semifinals, Warsaw’s girls team will play the winner of today’s quarterfinal between Penn and Carmel. In the regular season, Warsaw downed Penn 49-12 and beat Carmel 57-10. Looming in the state championship on May 31 would probably be North Central, which defeated Warsaw 12-5 in last years’ state title match. “We’re hoping to beat North Central this year,” Cracknell said. “We won it in 2005 and there’s only been two teams, since we’ve been playing in 2003, that have actually beaten North Central in the championship. We’ve done it once and nearly did it last year. Hopefully, we’ll got back and do it this year.”
