Backs cpt Leanna Rosberg / Photo: Teresa Million Giesselmann
After graduating 12 seniors from its 2016 national championship team, Wayne State College knew it had a rebuilding season ahead of it. Starting in late August, the Wildcats played games every weekend save one, and surprised itself en route to a western regional championship. Wayne State College is happy to return to Marietta, Ga., for the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) national championship and does so as the only final four returner from 2016.
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Photo: Teresa Million Giesselmann
“After last year’s super duper team, I thought we could advance to the Sweet 16 this year, but I didn’t expect to go to the final four because we’re just younger,” Wayne State College coach Darrin Barner recalled his expectations for fall 2017. “We had five juniors who are now seniors and all good athletes, and we knew that we’d have to base our entire season around their talents.”
Among those important seniors are forwards captain Turner MacPhee at flanker and backs captain Leanna Rosberg at scrumhalf. They were charged with molding a host of new athletes – none with prior rugby experience – into a cohesive unit. Fortunately, a packed fall schedule provided those opportunities, and the Wildcats pushed itself against DI and DII teams like Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas University, Missouri and Kansas State.
Photo: Ellie Thuy Tran
“That was the measuring stick game, to judge how far we could go the rest of the year,” Barner said of the 39-22 win over DII Kansas State. “We had anticipated a really hard challenge against them due to their success in their playoff division [last year]. We kinda rose to the occasion and surprised ourselves in how well we played. To beat a school with that enrollment size, it was a big boost for everybody. Ever since then, we’ve had a little more swagger.”
That confidence buoyed Wayne State College into the NSCRO Round of 16 last weekend. The Wildcats shut out SUNY Oneonta 69-0 and beat Colorado College 48-19 for the final four berth.
Photo: Teresa Million Giesselmann
“The games were closer than the scores would say,” Barner said. “We had to work for everything and just got out to early leads to be comfortable.
“The thing with this team, it’s all 15 players contributing equally,” the coach continued. “We’re not relying on anybody to pull us through. … We run a really balanced type of offense between our forwards and backs, and we really emphasize defense. But we haven’t changed anything from a year ago as far as strategy goes.”
Photo: Teresa Million Giesselmann
With those two wins last weekend, Wayne State College is 15-0 across all games this fall. The final four occurs Dec. 2-3 at Life University in Marietta, Ga. Gustavus Adolphus awaits in the semifinals, and although Barner knows little of the team, its post-season wins against MSU Moorhead, Denison and Rochester speak highly of the Minnesota squad. On the other side of the bracket, Bentley and York College will compete for a national championship berth.
Barner indicated that the team is calm, and the return trip to Marietta brings some comfort in terms of familiarity. Wayne State College is the only final four returner from 2016, as Cortland moved to DII, Colgate graduated a big senior class, and Lee University dropped a heart-breaker to York (33-29) in the quarterfinals.
Photo: Ellie Thuy Tran
“We are kind of excited, as our number one sponsor, Rod Tompkins, is making the trip down to cheer us on,” Barner added. “Mr. Tompkins is the one who developed our 20-acre rugby park and clubhouse. Along with him will be our Dean of Students, Dr. Carstens. It will an honor to have them on our sideline for these big games ahead.”
Wayne State College has six NSCRO titles across 7s and 15s, and will have to get past new opponents for a seventh. For more information on NSCRO and the championships, visit www.nscro.org.