On May 14, the girls’ rugby team celebrated not only their season but their seniors too, who played their last game before celebrating with a big team meal. The team said goodbye to seniors Kennedey Geraty, Elizabeth Blizzard, Alice Gipe, Josie McCarthy, Allison McCardle, Kailani Stroup, Liv Mortimore, and Elizabeth Johnson. The players clapped for them as they walked through a tunnel with their parents, carrying flowers and getting a final picture with their parents, their coaches, and a big sign of their name. 

After the basic ceremonial procedures, the team split up into black jerseys (The Dawgs) and regular t-shirts (Team Tussle) and played a brief game of rugby 7’s, which is a normal rugby game but with seven players as opposed to 15. The game was a rapid, high-contact, back-and-forth battle until halftime, in which The Dawgs brought the score from 7-14 to 14-14 with their last plays. The second half resumed with both teams on even footing before The Dawgs pulled away for a victory, concluding the first match 28-21. 

After a brief intermission, the head coach, Bernie Cantorna, invited any parents of the players who wished to play to come out on the field to join in a game of rugby “touch”, which substitutes tackles for touches or tags, and the environment on the field became much more chaotic. Before, teams were determined with jerseys and t-shirts, but now that the parents had joined in, every parent had just a shirt on, meaning there was no way of telling which parent played for which team. The game was incredibly back and forth because of the touch rule, with neither team being able to make a big play. The final game wrapped up with a tied score of 7-7. 

As seniors leave, the next step in the process is for new faces to step up and take the leadership role that they once did. Olivia Mortimore, who plans to head to Penn State to do something in the realm of agriculture but is still undecided, explained her thoughts in regard to filling the shoes of those graduating. “For upcoming seniors and leadership, do stuff with the team, go out and have fun, do bonding exercises, it really does make a difference on the field to know each other and care about each other.”

Having a leadership figure does make a change, and having a bond between your teammates will improve team morale and solidifies you as a team. It feels better to play and lose as a team rather than as an individual. “It really does make a difference on the field to know each other and care about each other. When you want your friends on the field to do well, it makes you want to do well,” Mortimore said. 

As for players who just want to join the team, it can be stressful given the type of sport rugby is. Rugby is an intense sport with no padding given to players. The physical demand that the sport calls for can be intimidating for some.

“Rugby is a very high-contact sport, and you can be scared to really get into it. But it’s always more fun when you’re confident in your skills and what you learned in practice,” senior Elizabeth Blizzard said. She plans to go to Penn State to study actuarial sciences.

After the team joined together for one last huddle, they were greeted with a team meal consisting of pizza, State High-themed cupcakes, and refreshments. Giving the seniors a heartwarming ending to their season.