Cole Felix pulls down a South Doyle attacker with Jon Layne and Austin Dozier in support.

Raptors' Facer, Smith named tournament MVPs

Brentwood Home Page news reports
Ravenwood became the first Tennessee high school to win both the boys and girls state rugby championship in the same season when the Raptors clubs took both titles in the recent 7’s tournament.

Both teams were 5 of 5 on the day. It started with three victories each in pool play, followed by semifinal wins over Cheatham Central (girls) and Overton (boys), leading up to the finals in Knoxville.

Ashley Smith and Jared Facer were tournament MVPS.

The finals pitted the RHS boys team against previously undefeated and USA South Region powerhouse South Doyle. And the girls had a rematch with the always potent Maryville squad. Both final matches were full of drama and incredibly intense.

“What an amazing and historic day,” Coach Richard Boone said.

Boone said the Raptors players “have all elevated the program to a new height.  This championship goes out to all of the boys and girls in our program . . . but especially those who have been training for the past few months with Coach Eddie (Buckner), those that competed in this event, and those that supported us on-site.”

Rugby 7’s is now referred to as Olympic rugby, since it is a form of the game that will be played in the 2016 Olympics. The teams will begin preparing soon for the 15’s season, the traditional form of rugby.

Boys final: Ravenwood 29, South Doyle 21

In attempt to create a “storm” of scoring from the first whistle, the Ravenwood staff decided to go with the quickest squad first for the initial 7 minutes and it paid off huge. Before South Doyle’s players could catch their breath, they were down by four tries. South Doyle made mistake after mistake under Ravenwood’s pressure and the Raptors made them pay.

Ravenwood boys celebrate winning the state 7's title.

Less than one minute into the match, Geoff Nelson started the scoring after a great pass by Travis Vickers. Vickers gathered a ball and off-loaded to Nelson, whose run literally left the South Doyle faithful in shock and awe. Henry Alexander converted the try to increase the pressure.

Not to be outdone, Jared Facer touched down the next two tries using incredible moves and pace. Alexander missed both conversions, but made up for it with his hustle in support of another great run by Nelson, touching down a loose ball in the try-zone for 5.  He converted his own try to make it a 24-point lead.  Before the half ended, South Doyle had taken advantage of what RHS called “a poor call by the official,” to close within 24-7.

In the second half, South Doyle tried to turn the tables and pull off the improbable comeback with pressure of its own.  After another questionable call, South Doyle converted its second try to make it 24–14.

Facer and the Raptors responded with a security try (conversion missed) to push the advantage to 29 -14. Ravenwood’s defending was superb. Austin Dozier, Adam Byrd, Jonathan Layne, Hunter Dickerson, Vickers, Cole Felix, Zach Donahue, and Facer “were nothing short of phenomenal throughout this match.”

It took the Raptors’ opponents to the final play of the match to score their third try and conversion to make the final tally 29–21. 

“But it was too little too late, the Raptors were victorious and the day was ours . . . the dream had been pressed into reality.  Hard tackling, high pressure, and speed won the match.”

Facer scored a “hat-trick” of tries and played tremendous defense the whole match.  Just as in the previous four matches, he caught players from behind time and time again.  His efforts helped to secure the team victory and his place in the RHS club’s history, as he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

The on-field support and play of Dane Felix, Ethan Long, Adam Hall, Jacob Jackson, and Cameron Carter was too much for any of our opponents to deal with.

“The depth that these boys represented and those that trained with them for the past few months proved to be the main ingredient for success.”

Kristen Tuttle is supported by Anna Darbashi in the line-out against Maryville while Casey Rasmussen waits for the ball.

Girls final: Ravenwood 12, Maryville 0

After the boys match, the girls had to immediately shake the euphoria and play the final match of the tournament.  The Lady Raptors took the same approach as the boys in using their most experienced and speedy players. This time, however, Maryville was up to the task and played mostly in the Ravenwood end of the pitch for the first 6:50 of the match.

Maryville played to its strength and chose to keep the ball with its forwards and star-fly half in an attempt to play the game more like 15’s rugby and pound the ball through the RHS center.  Aside from one long counter-attack Anna Darbashi run up the middle to give Ravenwood some relief and a few kicks by RHS backs, the Lady Raptors played defense.

The Lady Raptors were amazing, though, in this defensive effort with the sure tackling of Anna Darbashi, Kenya Freeman, Casey Rasmussen and Caitlin Boone. The RHS girls team did not miss a tackle when it counted most, and they were supported in their efforts by Kristin Tuttle, Morgan Rasmussen and Ashley Smith.

The biggest play of the first half, and arguably the whole match came in the remaining seconds when the ball was cleaned up by Freeman. Freeman took off down the sideline from about 5 yards shy of Ravenwood’s try zone.

The Maryville defense caught her at about the 30-yard line, but she off-loaded the ball to a supporting Morgan Rasmussen who scampered the rest of the way only stumbling once before dotting down center post for the first try of the match. Boone converted the try which completed the 180 on Maryville.

This last second try and conversion crushed Maryville’s spirit after such a valiant effort to score, only to come up empty and give up the first and “full points” of the match.

In the first four matches, Holly Flatt, Maryam Kabir and Olivia Donahue played an immense amount of minutes to secure “rest time” for their teammates leading up to the finals. It was a huge contributing factor as it took a lot out of the Lady Raptors to defend for the majority of the first half, before settling in for the second stanza.

The Lady Raptors are now two-time 7's state champs and also won last year's 15's championship.

The second half saw Ravenwood build on its first-half defensive showing with added energy and pressure. For most of the half, the Lady Raptors played in the Maryville end of the pitch. Every penetrating run that Maryville had was eaten up by a hotly pursuing Smith and they simply had no answer.

Then after a scrum right in the attacking third, about 20 yards out, Boone picked up the ball from the scrum-half position and took off around the weak-side. She fended off one opponent and then a second in the try-zone to end the scoring for the match and Maryville’s hopes for a comeback. Boone missed the conversion, but no matter, as the championship Card was punched and the Lady Raptors danced proudly along with their fellow club mates as Olympic Rugby Champions – 2011!

Smith was again all over the field in this match, as in the previous four, making tackles on defense and penetrating runs on offense.  Due to her scoring prowess, incredible tackling skills, and overall passion in this event, she was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

This was the second straight 7’s Championship for the Lady Raptors, who are currently back-to-back 7’s and 15’s Division I girls state champions.

Boys roster: Henry Alexander, Adam Byrd, Cameron Carter, Hunter Dickerson, Zach Donahue, Austin Dozier, Jared Facer (tournament MVP), Cole Felix, Dane Felix, Adam Hall, Jacob Jackson, Jonathan Layne, Evan Long, Geoff Nelson, Travis Vickers

Girls roster: Caitlin Boone, Anna Darbashi, Holly Flatt, Kenya Freeman, Maryam Kabir, Olivia Donahue, Kristin Tuttle, Casey Rasmussen, Morgan Rasmussen, Ashley Smith (tournament MVP), Katie Swann (injured reserve).

Coaches: Eddie Buckner, Evan Summerville, Richard Boone, Jesse Boone

Additional players/supporters (on site): Bryce Svenson, Connor Malchow

Additional 7’s players: Christopher Shuff, Dillon Balmaseda, Jake Dagostino, Sam Graham, Sean Kenmuir, Evan Summerville (player/assistant coach)