Skill, determination and teamwork brought the boys rugby team to the Division II semifinals, where they had a tough 42-14 loss to Brookline. Despite the loss, the team looks back on the season with pride and hopes to make it all the way next season.
The team ended the regular season with a 4-1-1 record and entered the postseason as the number one seed with a three game win streak, but it took effort to get there. They began the season with a 1-0-1 record. In their next matchup, the team had a 23-21 loss to Milton, a Division I team. Coach Dominic McNeil believes that despite the loss, this game was actually their turning point.
“We proved to ourselves that we can play with Division I opposition, and good Division I opposition,” McNeil said. “So it just gave this team a lot of belief.”
Undeterred by the loss, the team took what they learned from the game and used it in practice, with a large focus on teamwork and communication, which they maintained for the rest of the season.
“We can’t let each other down; we have to keep each other’s heads up,” senior captain Gavin Murphy said.
Clearly, it worked, as the team was able to win every remaining regular season game, and that momentum carried over into the playoffs, where they defeated Chelmsford 47-19 in the first round.
“Winning that first playoff game showed us we could win States if we keep this up,” sophomore Tommy Barna said before their loss on Friday.
The win advanced the team to the semifinals and reinforced their confidence that had been building throughout the season. What was once a team struggling to find success became a team that proved its ability to win over and over again, even if the season ended short of their ultimate goal.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of in terms of their effort and commitment,” McNeil said.
Many players suggested a major part of that transformation was the team’s fitness. Their practices ran two to three hours long and incorporated intense drills that helped build an endurance advantage late in games.
“Our conditioning was on point, and it is one of the many reasons why we won so many games in the second half,” junior Frazier Bosch said.
Their style of play was just as important as conditioning, relying on speed and precision rather than just physicality to score.
“The thing that separated us was probably our skills and ability to use our backs effectively and run past [the opposing defense],” Bosch said.
Every game allowed the team to improve and better themselves in all aspects. Win or lose, they worked together to hone their skills and enhance their teamwork.
“After each game, we set objectives on what to improve, and that helped us going forward,” Barna said.
McNeil said he has been coaching long enough to understand that talent can only take a team so far, and he credits the team’s determination for their success.
“This is a very resilient group,” McNeil said. “We’ve had some injuries, we’ve had some difficulties during matches and challenges, but they’ve come back from every single challenge. Our identity is resilience; no matter the challenge, we overcome it and move on.”
Junior Wyatt Smith felt the team understood its own potential from day one, and that confidence never wavered.
“It took a different kind of drive from our guys this year, a different kind of dedication,” Smith said. “We recognized at the start of the season that we had a team with the athletic ability and the possibility to get this far.”
Despite the season not ending how they had hoped, the team remains proud of how far they came. The semifinal loss hurts, but it doesn’t erase the progress they made.
“I’m very proud of the boys and really grateful for their commitment and competitiveness, and the way they finished this season,” McNeil said.
