Scottsdale Crowned Arizona’s HS Champ

At a time when Covid-19 has stressed rugby participation across the country, Scottsdale Wolves Rugby Club was able to field stand-alone squads for three Rugby Arizona girls’ divisions: U14, U16 and high school. The Wolves won the high school title, finished runner-up to the Big Dogs in U16, and the U14s played motley squads all spring.

“It’s the first time we’ve been able to do that – field three separate squads – and I would even say that, with the girls’ rugby here, it’s the first time anyone’s been able to that,” Scottsdale girls’ coach Jeremy Parenteau said. “Some teams are able to field sides in multiple divisions, but they’re using [eligible] players on both teams.

“We are very fortunate with numbers this year, especially with Covid and how that affected a lot of things,” he added. “Other programs were hurt by it, but for some reason, we grew pretty significantly compared to last year, which was great.”

Parenteau started the girls’ program back in 2013, a year after the first girls’ high school team started in Mesa. He spent 10 years coaching the boys’ high school team while Ted Brandt, Tami Thomas and Astrid Ramos invested in the girls – and continue to do so to this day – and then joined the girl’s high school staff last season. Parenteau also coaches the men’s club team.

“It makes for long days but I like the challenge,” Parenteau said of the double duty. “I have to stay on top of my game because I have to be able to coach the high school girls at a certain level and with 7s, and then I have to transition to coaching adults with different skill levels and playing 15s. I have to know what I’m doing and keep providing good, engaging practices so that people aren’t tuning out and getting bored.”

Coaching stability and program longevity are both attractive attributes for newcomers considering the sport, and Parenteau indicated that this year’s recruits were all friends and family of current players. It also helped that the boys’ and girls’ high school programs and the men’s club team practiced at the same location this season. That type of visibility breeds connection within the club and lends shape to the larger rugby world. Scottsdale used to field a women’s team but it merged with another team in the early aughts. Parenteau knows that a women’s program would further stimulate the girls’ numbers, and suspects that the growing alumnae base will be the driver behind that project.

The entire girls’ program trained together during the week and then separated on game day, but there was still flexibility to test players at different levels.

“In the beginning you could see the hesitancy of the younger girls, even from the ones who came from the U14s and are currently 9th graders,” Parenteau said of joint training. “Of all the teams, we by far have the most upperclassmen, so you saw some intimidation from the younger players – which I completely understand. As the season went on, they got more comfortable, and then they were getting opportunities – and looking forward to opportunities – to play up an age grade. It builds their confidence and that’s going to carry them forward.”

Overall the coach kept distinct squads, but some junior high players featured as U16 reserves, and same with the U16s on the high school bench. Brooke Taylor, for example, is a U14 player who has a ton of potential and banked quite a few minutes with the U16s.

“I started her in the playoff and championship games for U16,” Parenteau said. “She had a huge impact on that side and in the games. She has a lot ahead of her as far as rugby goes.”

There were four U16 teams in the Rugby Arizona competition so there was more playing time to spread around. The high school division, however, had only two teams – Scottsdale and Sahuarita – and they played each other all spring long.

“It was a little difficult playing the same team,” Parenteau said. “It can hurt motivation. It’s just more exciting playing different teams and preparing mentally and physically for different players and strategies. One thing that I did like as far as Sahuarita was concerned: They were a challenge every week. We played six times, won four and tied twice. So the girls never took them for granted. It helped keep them focused on the ultimate goal: Winning the championship.”

There were other motivators to play well. There’s a group of seniors who have been playing for some time, and they had the chance to end their high school careers with a very special title.

“We’ve always had our own side, but most of the time, we’d get all of the players from the area together at one location, create teams, and then play,” Parenteau said of years prior to 2020. “Last year was our first-ever girls’ high school season where we had enough teams to create a schedule and play out a season. We completed the season – and we were undefeated – but Covid interrupted playoffs. So last year was supposed to the first championship games [for the high school age grade].”

McKenna Dunlop is a senior captain and has been playing since she was eight years old. The scrumhalf/hooker dislocated her hip during sophomore year, and so being back on the pitch after surgery – and stronger and fitter than ever – has been celebration worthy.

Junior Elanna Field is the other captain, “and probably our best player,” Parenteau said of the center. “She’s a great leader, a hard worker, and one of those players you can really build a team around.”

Field lived up to the praise during the April 24 championship match against Sahuarita, scoring four tries in Scottsdale’s 37-0 victory.

“They played good rugby, solid on defense, solid on offense, good ball movement,” Parenteau said. “The game looked how it should in the culmination of a season. You’re working all spring, building a game plan, building all these skills, and then hope to play your best at the end – and they did.”

If an official MVP had been chosen, then Parenteau would have picked Field, not only for her offense but also tackle completion. The junior also set up Dunlop, Parenteau’s daughter, for a try, which is an atypical occurrence. Dunlop is a good distributor and uses her field vision to put teammates into space, but when Field quick-tapped through a penalty, she got the offload out of the tackle to Dunlop for the try.

Seniors Angel Lucero and Autumn Coppock also showed well. Lucero, who is heading to DI Grand Canyon University in the fall, brought her always-tenacious tackling and work rate to the pitch. As sweeper she tracked down what seemed like a given breakaway try, but Lucero pulled down the ballcarrier to preserve the shutout. Coppock has been playing since middle school but her trajectory this season has been impressive. She’s improved a lot and developed into a really solid player who ran and tackled well in the final.

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“Winning the first high school championship meant a lot, especially to the seniors,” Parenteau spoke to legitimacy. “Some of these girls have been around so long and been through the struggles year after year of basically showing up on Saturday, counting how many people are there, and then, ‘O.K., let’s play a game.’ Even the younger classes understand it. They have really good bonds with each other and support each other.”

Scottsdale’s U16 team won its semifinal 31-0 against Sahuarita, but that game was played on April 24 instead of the originally scheduled April 17 playoff date. That meant the team had to play two games on finals day instead of one.

“They handled it well and understood it was going to be a challenge to play two games while the Big Dogs rested,” Parenteau said of the 24-10 loss. “At the same time, they felt they gave it their best and put it all out there and just came up short. They’re were OK with that. Obviously they would have loved to win but usually you see a lot of heads down, tears, people upset when they lose a championship, but they were good. They were excited to play and are looking toward the future.”

The future brings lots of exciting prospects. First, there’s the players themselves, like U16 captain Keleni Jacobs. She was one of four Scottsdale players who traveled to the Tropical 7s in Orlando to pick up with Maui Wahine. The sophomore caught the attention of collegiate recruiters, who reported in force to the first big high school tournament of the Covid era. Players participate in the Arizona Bobcats – which Parenteau also used to coach – as well as Rhino Rugby Academy, Stars and Atlantis, and they relay the scouting information to teammates back home. Parenteau also makes sure the players are educated about the opportunities at the collegiate level, because the support in that segment of the game is thriving.

More of the team will have first-hand experience in a big tournament and vibrant recruiting ground this summer, when Scottsdale reports to NAI 7s in Salt Lake City.

“It was at the request of the seniors, who really want to go as a team,” Parenteau said. “When the seniors were there last, they were freshmen or sophomores, and they had to play in the high school division. So now they’re excited to go and actually be equal to the other programs as far as age goes.”

The Bobcats are taking U14 and U16 teams to Utah, so the Wolves will send some of their players with the state all-star program. But the team won’t start training until June, getting the month of May off first.

“I always do summer sessions for our girls. And they actually want it, so it’s great,” Parenteau said. “We’ll meet a couple of times a week, they’ll work on their skills, and then we’ll start building toward the NAI in July.

“It also goes back to why we were able to grow a bit this year,” the coach continued. “With the newfound publicity [from the championship win], if we get interest from new players, the summer sessions give them an opportunity to play sooner rather than later. We have a fall season, but we won’t start practicing until late September. So if someone is interested now, September is a long time to wait and they’ll likely lose interest and move onto something else.”

Parenteau is poised and ready for continued growth, and even though his daughter is aging out of the program, he doesn’t intend to leave his post.

“I didn’t start coaching for my kids but because I want to coach. I enjoy coaching,” Parenteau closed. “And we have a good thing going with the girls and I want to make sure it thrives. I want to keep growing and fielding multiple, independent sides, so there are more opportunities to develop. And with all the publicity that has come out of this, I really hope other teams grow, too. The more girls playing, the better.”