CINCINNATI — Most schools are closed for the summer, but students at Withrow High in Cincinnati went back just for one day to honor their winning rugby team.
What You Need To Know
- Withrow HS Boys Rugby won the Single School Div. 2 State title, defeating Watkins 36-34
- Withrow's school community honored the team with a pep rally
- Withrow's coach Nathan Myers started the program seven years ago
- Five Withrow seniors will be playing college rugby and three scored scholarships
They held a pep rally to celebrate the team winning the Single School Division 2 State Championship on June 3.
The Tigers beat the defending champions, the Watkins Warriors, 36 to 34.
“We just had the motor,” said Ja’Mez Early, who was voted MVP of the finals. “They came out flat and we just took control of it.”
The Tigers ran up 36 points quickly and then spent the rest of the match keeping the Warriors from catching up. In the end, it was just a two-point difference. Watkins scored a try (similar to a touchdown in football) but missed the conversion kick to tie it.
“We made the best of it and I think that’s why we came out on top,” Early said.
There were a number of differences between the two teams that make the Withrow win even more impressive.
In addition to being defending champions, many of the Warriors have been playing together since they were kids in middle school, said Elijah Doyle, a Watkins alumnus who now plays for Thomas More University. Doyle was there to cheer on his former team. “It was so close in the end,” he said. “I give Withrow credit.
In contrast, none of the Withrow players had touched a rugby ball before joining the Tigers team in high school.
“Each year, the challenge is the same, we have guys who’ve never played a minute of rugby or even seen it on Youtube or television,” said Nathan Meyers, a teacher and the team’s head coach. “We teach them how to play the game and teach them how to care about excellence when it comes to being a student of the game,” he said. “And over the course of the spring, you see their eyes light up when it clicks and they get it and they’re having the time of their lives.”
“Coach Myer drove me to be a better player and a better man,” Early said. “I applaud him for that. Hands down.”
Most Withrow students live below the poverty line and the last time any boys' team won a state championship was in 1950.
“It means so much for our team and our program and what we represent,” Myers said. “It also means way more than we even know for Withrow High School, for Cincinnati public schools, and for Cincinnati as a city.”
Five seniors will be going on to play college rugby, here in Ohio and across the country. Three received scholarships. At the pep rally, all of the players and coaches received additional recognition they won’t soon forget.
“Getting all the congratulations and everything, it feels amazing,” Early said.