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East rugby tops Northwest in playoff game
Golden Bears win first-round playoff game 103-0
By Dan Hiner
Youngstown
The East rugby team wanted to put Northwest away early in its Division II first-round playoff game at Rayen Stadium.
The Golden Bears did, beating the Indians 103-0 on Friday night.
East will play the Avon Lake-Anthony Wayne winner in the second round. Avon Lake and Anthony Wayne will play today at noon.
Chaney head coach Bill Burton is back in charge of the Golden Bears. East head coach Tamara Gandy was suspended after the Ohio Rugby Union, the governing body for rugby in Ohio, notified East that she did not have a Level 200 coaching certificate.
The certificate focuses on player safety and is required to coach contact sports by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Burton led East to a Division III state title last season before starting the Chaney rugby program.
Burton will coach the Golden Bears for the rest of the season. Youngstown City Schools athletic director Rick Shepas said East and Chaney will try to hold joint practices throughout the postseason. Chaney is competing in the President’s Cup and will play its first-round game on May 18.
“It was unexpected,” Burton said. “I was getting ready for the President’s Cup, getting Chaney ready to go and rock and roll. I wasn’t thinking I was gonna be back at East for the playoffs. I got the phone call, said I had to do it an here I am.
“The kids, I’m familiar with all of ‘em, they’re familiar with me. It feels good to be back with these kids. Chaney’s where I’m at now and that’s where I’m gonna stay at. As long as I’m wearing an East High shirt I’m gonna do the best I can to get them success.”
The Golden Bears (7-0-1) led 24-0 midway through the first half. The Indians (4-3) trailed 55-0 at halftime.
“Honestly I was telling them to play fundamental rugby, don’t make any mistakes and to be honest with you, I didn’t want to put that many points on them,” Burton said. “The kids, they were playing hard and they were doing their thing.
“Respect to the game is important to me. I’m a little upset with my guys. I understand it’s a great achievement, but sometimes you have to have respect for the other team also.”
Nine different East players scored tries. Timmy Bowser led the way with four and Samuel Cartagena had three. Estavon Anderson, Treshon Stigall and Jarail Jenkins had two apiece.
Hunter Mathie made six conversions and Bowser made three.
“We saw that we can work together more,” Cartagena said. “Practice really gets us better working as a team, making sure we know where our playing is gonna be at without us having to look.”
East got their players in space and broke off long runs throughout the game. It was the same strategy the Golden Bears used to beat rival Chaney in the final game of the regular season.
“In practice, we made sure we stayed spread [out]. We worked on that more so we can be prepared for this game,” Cartagena said.
There were three divisions last season. This year, there are only two, and the playoff resembles the OHSAA’s football postseason.
East won’t play until next weekend. The time and date are still to be determined.
East has never seen Avon Lake or Anthony Wayne.
Avon Lake finished the season at 6-1 and is the top seed in the bracket. Avon Lake advanced to the tournament last season.
“Avon Lake is a traditional power in rugby,” Burton said. “They’re a very solid squad, very good squad. Very much like us, where they have a lot of their football team on [the roster]. They’re going to match up with us athletically. It’s going to be a very, very tough game for us should we go there.
“Anthony Wayne could pull this out, so we don’t know where we’re going. We’ll have to sit back and wait.”
Costly Penalty
East’s Eddie Bryant Jr. received a red card with 20:45 left in the game. Bryant was called for an illegal tackle. He was ejected and will be suspended for East’s next game.