Saturday, April 13, 2019
Cowboys’ fledglng rugby program dismantles Canton
By Dan Hiner
Youngstown
The Chaney rugby team got off to a tough start. The Cowboys went 0-2 to start the season, with loses to 2018 Division III state runner-up Shaker Heights and Pennsylvania Division I champion Moon Township, Pa.
But the Cowboys beat Canton Area 53-0 on Friday at Chaney High School for their second consecutive win.
Chaney (2-2, 2-0 Divsion III East) had nine players scored tries and Jason Jackson converted five of nine conversions.
“[The players] have really come together,” Chaney head coach Bill Burton said. “They’re all friends. They truly are a family.
“There’s no selfishness on this team at all, and it’s something as a coach you love to see.”
Burton said the strength of the team is the “big guys.” And Shawn Rollins proved that.
Rollins scored twice for the Cowboys. Midway through the second half, he also delivered a big hit on Canton’s Winston Brown in the middle of the pitch.
Rollins said the team’s philosophy is to hit opponents hard in the first half so they question running in the open field later in the match.
“Big guys like the motive to this game because we’re in the middle so we get the ball a lot more,” Rollins said. “It’s just crash so we can move yards. We get yards, ruck and do it again.”
The Cowboys’ forwards prevented Canton (0-4) from progressing the ball up the field. Canton didn’t get within 20 yards of the Cowboys’ try line.
“JR Tellington and Christian Jones are our two inside centers,” Burton said. “Anthony Pratt, Tyler Sims and My’Twan [Cottle], that center of our defense just overwhelmed ‘em to the point they couldn’t get anything rolling. I mean they did a great job.”
Players like Elijah Smith and Rashawn Perkins put their athleticism on display after their forwards made tackles.
Smith broke long runs following scrums and rucks while Perkins recovered a turnover in Canton’s in-goal area.
“We put a lot of effort into this,” Perkins said. “We’re having fun with my teammates and joking.”
Some of the jokes were on display following Rollins’ first score in the first half.
Jackson missed the conversion attempt wide of the upright, and before he had a chance to turn around, Rollins yelled “I did that for you and that what you do.”
“I haven’t practiced for like a week,” Jackson said. “Yeah, I was a little rusty but I got it together though.”
Burton scheduled tougher teams in the first half of the year so the Chaney players understood they needed to play rugby and not rely on athleticism.
Chaney recorded the first win in program history against Mentor on March 31. The Cowboys will play Massillon Perry on Thursday at Chaney for a chance at a three-game winning streak.
“It’s very similar to what happened last year [with East],” Burton said. “It got a bunch of new guys. They’re really starting to learn the game. They’re really starting to come together.”