CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Clarksville Highlanders were among the six high school boy’s rugby teams in the Tennessee Rugby Association to play on Saturday, May 9 for state titles.
The team, made up of players from all high schools in Clarksville and Fort Campbell, fought for the “plate” or “Division III” state title.
Though several close matches throughout the year left the team with an unimpressive record of one win and four losses, Clarksville stepped up and defeated teams that had beaten them in the regular season to earn their spot in the final without a single home match throughout the run. The final step in the playoffs would be to defeat state plate champions, the Harpeth Harlequins.
Their regular season meeting ended with a Harlequins’ victory of 15 – 12. On the hottest day of the year so far, the teams met again in Murfreesboro at Middle Tennessee State University’s rugby grounds.
About 10 minutes into the game, the Clarksville forwards stole the ball from a Harpeth line-out. The Highlanders moved the ball with some solid passing. Breaking several tackles, Ty Bartlett (sophomore, West Creek) made a 70 meter run to the try line and touched it down for the first score of the match. Clarksville would score again ten minutes later when AJ Ogburn (senior, Ft Campbell) took an “Eight Man” pick off the back of a scrum and powered his way to the goal line. Clarksville went into halftime leading 10 – 0.
In the second half, Clarksville Captain Jake Jorstad (senior, Ft Campbell) took a quick tap of the ball and crashed through several would be tacklers to add another five points for the Highlanders. With the conversion by Jackson Sewell (sophomore, Ft Campbell), Clarksville led 17 – 5. Sewell then kicked the penalty for three more points with 15 minutes left in the game. Harpeth scored two more tries at the 47th and 53rd minute. Adding the conversion to one of the tries, they closed the score to 20 – 17 with seven minutes to go. Clarksville held on until Harpeth found the goal line at the 57th minute of the match. After the ensuing kickoff, Clarksville drove the Harlequin runner into touch which should have resulted in a Highlander throw in. However, time expired before Clarksville was able to run their play, ending the match with Clarksville losing to Harpeth, 20 – 22.
For the Highlander graduating class: DeMarcus August (Ft Campbell), Austin Beckius (Montgomery Central), Daniel Castagna (West Creek), Trystan Dessert (Clarksville Academy), Alex Fisher (Ft Campbell), AJ Ogburn (Ft Campbell), Jeff Taua’i (Northeast), and Captain Jake Jorstad (Ft Campbell, it was a disappointing end to a great journey. With a strong core of underclassmen returning next year, Clarksville Rugby has a bright future ahead.
Those interested in rugby or being part of the Highlander family should contact Coach Chris: peedie05@msn.com or Coach Rob: rattler4@hotmail.com.