The Ascent of Columbia Central HS

There’s only one rugby team at Columbia Central High School, and it belongs to the girls. For coach Dan LaFond, who’s been with the program since its inception (2013), that has more to do with the availability of coaches than anything else, especially since the girls’ roster tops 50 members. But the Lions had humble, winless beginnings that contrast with today’s impending trip to the Tennessee state final and debut at the Girls’ High School National Invitational Tournament (NIT), which will be contested 45 minutes from home. [Photos: Carla LaFond]

In 2013, a sophomore asked first-year teacher and then-football coach LaFond about sponsoring a new club: girls’ rugby. He acquiesced, but confessed – in the way that one does when current opinions face 180 degrees from the past – that he wasn’t the biggest girls’ sports fan in those days. LaFond and those 17 founding members also had zero rugby knowledge, and thus a “Little Rascals of Rugby” season, as coined by LaFond, evolved.

“We lost every game by 60-70 points that they just stopped keeping score,” LaFond said. “But despite always losing and never scoring a point, the girls had so much fun. The next year [2014] we picked up a few more players and won our first game at a tournament. We lost our minds. You would have thought we won the national championship.” 

Still, it was the only game that Columbia won that season, but a pattern of incremental gains was in the process of rooting itself. 2015 was an important year, as today’s seniors entered Columbia Central as freshmen.

“They came in with a lot of athleticism and enthusiasm, and then as a coach, I started to really understand the game better,” LaFond reflected on the team’s first winning season. “The culture of the sport is so healthy and positive. The teams that would murder us would be so kind and gracious, taking the time to explain things to us. … Being a football player and playing other sports, you see how vicious and unsportsmanlike competitors can be in other sports. But everyone was so supportive and just wanted to grow the game.”

LaFond lauded long-time Ravenwood Raptors coach Richard Boone, who has mentored the young coach throughout this growth process. In 2016, the teams met in the conference championship, and it marked the first time that Columbia beat Ravenwood.

“Coach Boone is the conference director and is so dedicated to building the sport that when he shook my hand [after the 2016 conference final], there wasn’t a twinge of anger or frustration,” LaFond said. “He was so thrilled that we grew to a place where we could play at this level.”

But that wasn’t the case for everyone in the district. Teams that beat Columbia in the early years – Blackman and Brentwood – weakened or temporarily disbanded. Meanwhile, the high school added rugby as an officially sponsored sport, and LaFond thanked Tennessee Rugby Association state director Al Overton for testifying in front of the school board to aid that process. The student body rallied around the team, and then the community interest followed. For example, during this year’s conference championship against Ravenwood, LaFond estimated that 450 spectators were present. Friday night games regularly draw 200-300 fans.

The pillars were in place: The school and student body supported the team; players were buying in and producing winning seasons; and the community was intrigued. So the team started forming new goals.

“We were winning and then not going any further,” LaFond said of success beyond conference play, specifically McMinn, which ended Columbia’s post-seasons the previous two years. “That comes down to the coach; I had to figure something out. And it was the Class of 2018 and their hard work that really pushed me. The seniors today have been the driving force.”

The team watches lots of footage, and LaFond pointed to Penn State, Life and Notre Dame College as models for game play. Additionally, LaFond left football and is fully committed to the rugby team, which played its first season of fall 7s in 2017 and finished second overall. That outing helped individual skills greatly, and then Columbia banked some more knowledge against in-state opponents at Nash Bash. Combined with the driving force of the seniors, Columbia went 5-0 in league, defeated Ravenwood for the conference title, and just unseated McMinn 72-24 during last weekend’s regional championship. The state final is next.

“That was a huge milestone,” LaFond said of the McMinn win. “They are beyond the moon. We were The Little Team That Could, but we’re not the underdog anymore.”

Since two-thirds of Tennessee’s rugby players compete in Middle Tennessee, the conference sends two teams to Division I and Division II state competitions. And thus, Columbia and Ravenwood will meet in this weekend’s state final.

“We’re going to focus on our game of supporting each other and everyone doing their job,” LaFond looked ahead. “I’m hard on them [at practice]. We have a team that’s undefeated but I don’t want them to feel undefeated. … Confidence can be a dangerous place to be. Ravenwood, in my humble opinion, is the best coached women’s team in the state. Although Richard Boone has a young team and we physically outmatch them, he’ll have a smart team that knows how to take advantage of you. I have to ground the team in reality: Your coach is a novice and their coach is a veteran.”

Fortunately Columbia has that Class of 2018 to set the tone for the 52-deep roster. LaFond asserted that there was no superstar who would make or break the team’s performance; however, he did acknowledge the tackling prowess of senior Serena White, “who is a brick house and unstoppable with the ball.” In the backs, Faith Edwards is just as sure in her tackle completion and support in the rucks.

As for up-and-coming talent, watch for sophomore scrumhalf Meredith Coffie, who is a great ballhandler and calming presence, and junior outside center Makenzie Liles, who has great speed and vision.

Columbia is certainly on the radar. The team has sent multiple players to the LVI with the Tennessee Tri-Stars and USA South Panthers, and Adrionna Duncan (Life University) will be the program’s second DI Elite collegiate player after last year’s Siontra Miller was recruited by Lindenwood University. Coach LaFond will join Germantown’s Heidi Whitman this June and lead the Tri-Stars to the Regional Cup Tournament in Fishers, Ind.

And now the wider community will have the opportunity to view Columbia in two weekends, as the NIT is only 45 minutes away in Mufreesboro. The team is taking a light attitude, excited to see some of the best high school rugby play out in its backyard, and have a go at it.

“It’s overwhelming. Thinking about everything, I never thought we’d be heading to States in six years,” LaFond said. “It’s a phenomenal feeling to take a team from nothing to something.”

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