Mountain View’s on a Mission

Only one varsity team is still undefeated in the West Ada (Idaho) school district: Mountain View High School. The Mavericks spent the unexpected bye week tidying up its game and returned with two big shutouts on Sept. 22, improving to 4-0 after two rounds. The evening prior, Mountain View’s JV team went 1-1 and sits in second place behind Rocky Mountain Black.

RELATED: Rocky Mountain Takes Early West Ada Lead (Sept 15, 2020)

There are five regular-season rounds before the playoffs, so while Mountain View appreciates Tuesday’s successes, there’s no sense of complacency in the ranks. There are several founding members who played in and lost the 2018 final (the league’s first championship), and six of seven starters from the 2019 title match remain. Last year also ended in a runner-up finish.

“They know what it feels like to lose and won’t let that happen again,” Mountain View High School head coach Rich Hersey said. “They know it hurts and how disappointing it is.”

The drive is there, and it’s amplified by a ton of experience and continuity. Players are also active during the high school club 15s season in the spring, and take the opportunity to play up with select sides like TOA and 5785. They travel to high-profile events like the Las Vegas / Los Angeles Invitational 7s, North America 7s and Regional Cup Tournaments, and they draw inspiration from people like current assistant coach Emele Tanupo, a Meridian native who earned her USA U18 caps last year.

“The senior class has developed together for the past 3-4 years and they’ve brought all of this talent forward,” Hersey said. “So there are certainly expectations that this is the year to [win the title].”

Hersey is also part of the continuity. His sons introduced him to the sport 12 years ago and he immediately fell in love with it. He was an eager volunteer and eventually coach, serving the Furies, TOA and 5785. He was exposed to the girls through the 15s club and select sides, and then when the Furies split the girls into separate Mountain View and Centennial teams, he took over the former in spring 2019. That fall, he became the Mavericks head coach for the high school 7s season.

“They’re way more fun to coach,” Hersey said of his girls’ players. “They just absorb the instruction and implement things we’re working on. They really try to perform for the coaches.”

Jada Medellin is the captain and one of three crucial seniors who set expectations for the squad.

“She is an all-around great player,” Hersey said of the 7s hooker. “She’s talented in all respects, but she’s so successful because of her rugby IQ. She understands the law, which contributes to her always being in the right place at the right time in any given situation. She’s got great field awareness, and knows where and what side to attack so she can create space for teammates.”

When that space does open up, Medellin has some great options in terms of a finishing pass. Senior Deborah Davis comes from a rugby family and her older sister, Jada, is currently playing rugby at Central Washington University. Davis is fast, strong, has great hands and a solid stiff-arm.

“She has the things you look for in a back: She finds space and then outruns everyone,” Hersey said. “But what I love about Deb as far as being a back: When we face some of the tougher teams in this league – and we did this last year, too – we put her on assignment. ‘Mark up 12. You’ll go against her on defense all night.’ It’s always their strongest, most explosive player. And she manages to get in front of them and make the tackle or slow them down and buy some time for her teammates to assist.”

Senior Justice Rupp is also a back and, like Medellin and Davis, brings that select-side experience to the squad.

“It’s deceptive how fast she is because when she runs, her movements are so graceful and effortless,” Hersey said. “She is very fast. And if I had an award for stiff-arms, she would win it every week. She uses her speed to get on the edge and then as soon as she’s on the sideline it’s a stiff-arm. It’s so hard to tackle her.”

Madison Diefenbach handles the kicking game. After struggling a bit in week one, the senior missed just one dropkick in 12 attempts during Tuesday’s matches, and now sits in second place for points scored (31) in the league. Sophomore Lola Stubbs has returned to the starting line and manages the game from halfback, as has junior Cailey Ingram, who has the skill set to influence the game as a back or forward.

As for rising talent, watch for sophomore Avery Morgan, who is in her third year playing at the high school level. She wanted to play rugby in 8th grade but the lack of numbers meant joining the boys’ team. The Furies submitted a waiver to USA Rugby requesting permission for Morgan to play with the girls’ high school club, and it was granted. She thrived in that environment, and it shows today.

“She just killed it [Tuesday] night,” Hersey praised. “She was in position over the ball and ready for the poach, I don’t know how many times. There were 5-6 times that she poached the ball and ran away with it but another 5-6 times where she drew not-releasing penalties from the other team.”

Hersey indicated that the team spends a lot of time on stealing possession and speeding up the game. If they can get the poach and quickly transition to offense, they’ll connect through offloads and move to space for a speedy breakaway. It takes a well synced team to execute that game soundly, and fortunately, there is a lot familiarity between the varsity starters. It’s a boon, especially considering that Mountain View is running light. There are 10 players on the varsity side and eight on JV, and yet there are few apprehensions about vulnerability.

“The starting seven never want to come out,” Hersey said of the varsity team. “They’ll be tired and gassed and it’s time to pull them out, and they’re giving me the stink eye. There are tears. And it’s hard to single out one player for a sub, because they’re all playing at a high level and so well together.”

In the opening week of the West Ada high school 7s season, Mountain View went 4-0. Varsity beat Meridian 22-10 and Eagle 17-0. JV beat Meridian 22-10 and Eagle 10-5. Despite the double wins, Hersey was impressed with Meridian and expects the team to contend later in the season.

“The first week we learned a lot about ourselves,” Hersey said. “We came into the matches with a plan and structure, and after watching film, we certainly recognized areas that we needed to work on and improve. So that was our focus the last two weeks.”

RELATED: Varsity & JV scores & standings

Wildfire smoke postponed round two by a week, but that gave the league an extra week of preparation. The Mavericks readied for 2019 champion Rocky Mountain and Centennial.

“Rocky Mountain is always tough and recruits better than anybody else in the district,” Hersey said. “They always have so many girls and talent and so much depth. We’ll always be nervous about playing Rocky.”

The defense sang as Mountain View varsity beat Rocky Mountain 33-0 and Centennial 54-0. Six different players scored tries, and now Medellin, Rupp and Morgan have four tries for the season thus far. The JV side split games against Rocky Mountain’s two JV sides: 17-14 win against Purple and 24-10 loss to Black.

RELATED: Varsity stats c/o Rugby Idaho

“It’s a long season, so you have to focus on one week at a time,” Hersey considered the wins’ significance. “We have to play these teams over and over again the next four weeks, so you can’t think about the whole series yet. Anything can happen. We’re just going to identify the strengths of our next opponent and then focus on what we need to do to beat those strengths.”

RELATED: JV stats c/o Rugby Idaho

Mountain View is on a mission but overall the team feels lucky to be able to play at all. Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin all postponed their championship (i.e., main) seasons this fall due to Covid-19. Indiana (touch 7s) and Utah (tackle 7s) are scheduled to start playing in October, but the pandemic changes expectations daily. The West Ada school district, to TRB’s knowledge, is the only high school championship season occurring this fall for high school girls’ rugby.

“We feel pretty special to be playing right now, and there’s definitely a different feel to it,” Hersey explained sanitation protocols and crowd-control measures like limiting game-day attendance to parents. “It feels like this season and these games are more important because we’re finally able to play again. We played one game in the spring and then the season was canceled. So we’re making every concession and adjustment needed to create that opportunity where we can play. Everyone’s taking it seriously.”