After knocking off state champs, York County fueled rugby team ‘just getting started’

Time had already expired in the Charlotte Tigers rugby team’s match with defending North Carolina state champion Chapel Hill needing a score or turnover to end the game, but Tiger coach Erik Saxton had left the sideline, unable to watch as Chapel Hill drove closer and closer to the potentially game winning score.

The Tigers were deep in their own territory nursing a five-point lead as Saxton took refuge in the back of a pickup truck for the final play.

“I had to walk away from the sideline,” Saxton said.

“I couldn’t take it because there was nothing else that I could do at that point. There was no magic speech I could give them, so I just had to leave. There were about 400 people on the sideline, but you could hear a pin drop. Had they scored they would have gotten five points and the kick would have given them two more and the win.”

But the Tigers made a goalline stand, forcing a Chapel Hill fumble to finally stop the drive and knock off the North Carolina champions 15-10. While it was a huge win, it was just one of several for the Tigers, who are ranked seventh in the nation after dispatching three state champions in their first six matches of the season.

“We are ranked seventh in the nation and for a team on the east coast, and especially from the Carolinas, that is unheard of,” Saxton said. “It’s the highest a team from North or South Carolina has ever been ranked.”

The run may be unprecedented for a team in this region.

“In our first five matches, we beat three state champions, Saxton said.

“We beat the Georgia state champions from East Cobb 28-14, we beat Wando, the South Carolina state champions, 17-10 and last weekend we beat Chapel Hill, who was the North Carolina state champions, 15-10. You just don’t do that. Everyone recognizes that because most teams won’t see three state champions in their schedule all year, including playoffs, but we started like that with two of those games on the road.”

The Tigers are undoubtedly one of the country’s top teams, but it’s not by accident.

The club team was founded seven years ago, but this is the first class of seniors who began playing in middle school and who have come up through the ranks together.

“Our feeder system is great,” Saxton said.

“There aren’t many teams that have a system like we do where we have 13 middle school teams. They are all part of us, but some of them will go on to play for their high school if they are lucky enough to have a team, but the best of the best will come to play for the Tigers. It’s an open team, but these kids have to earn their roster spot and there’s no guaranteed playing time at all.”

Four players who have come up through the ranks and are huge contributors to the Tigers success have local ties. Clover’s Michael Wilder, a Hickory Grove student, Fort Mill students Jack Brown and Trey Reed and Fort Mill home schooled student Ezekiel Hobbs have come up together and are enjoying their time on one of the nation’s top rugby teams.

“Rugby is one of those sports where you try it and get hooked,” Saxton said. “When people find us, they stick to us. Trey is an offensive lineman at Fort Mill High School in football and blocks the whole game. In rugby, he gets to use those skills but also gets to run with the ball, play defense and gets to do all of that every game. We call football off-season rugby.

“Everybody gets to do everything, so it’s good for football players, lacrosse players, soccer players or anyone who wants to do a little bit of everything.”

Reed, who is an all-American rugby player, said he initially came out to find a sport to play in the football off-season.

“I was looking for a sport other than football to play when I was in seventh grade and I saw an ad in the paper,” Reed said. “Plus, my dad played rugby in college so I went to try out and have loved it ever since. I’m an offensive lineman in football so I don’t get to touch the ball a whole lot, and that is pretty much what drew me to the sport.”

Saxton said Reed has a natural feel for the game and has improved since first coming out.

“Trey is one of our forwards,” he said. “He tends to be in the middle of the field and is a power guy. The picture everyone pictures in rugby is the scrum where eight players fight to get possession of the ball and he’s at the front of that.”

Brown said he was drawn to the pace of the game, but Saxton said the Fort Mill senior’s track and field and wrestling background have made for a seamless transition.

“Jack is a wing, so he has to be able to one-on-one tackle anyone in space and usually the guy he’s up against is just as fast as he is,” Saxton said. “He’s got track and wrestling skills and that’s ideal for his position, because one-on-one he’ll bring down anybody.”

Hobbs and Reed had similar reasons for first joining the team, but Hobbs has found his own niche to become a star for the Tigers.

“I started because I wanted to get better at football, but I started to play rugby and actually quit playing football because rugby was so fun,” Hobbs said. “Rugby is a tough sport. People need to be aggressive, have IQ and speed to play the game. It’s a fun sport, but there is a lot that goes into it. And anyone can run the ball, that’s basically the best part.”

Hobbs has fit in nicely at flanker for the Tigers.

“Zeke is a flanker, so he’s basically a heat-seeking missile on defense and on attack he has to be like a wolverine, clawing and scratching to get the ball,” Saxton said. “He can do a little bit of what Jack does and a little of what Trey does.”

Wilder is the first freshman to ever start for the Tigers. He said watching his brother, Wesley who is now a Clemson University rugby star, got him interested in the sport.

“It looked really fun watching my brother play, so I thought I’d try it out and I fell in love with it,” said Wilder, who is a hooker on the team.”

Together they have the Tigers soaring the national rankings and making a name for themselves. Although the Tigers have hovered around 12th or 13th in the nation for the past couple of seasons, this is the best team they’ve fielded and they aren’t looking to slow down any time soon.

“We’re a family,” Reed said. “That’s one of the best parts because everyone bonds really well and it helps us a lot in the games.”

“This team works as one,” Saxton added.

“We started this seven years ago, but this is the first team where we’ve had seniors who started in sixth grade with us. That’s a big thing, but they have also played with or against each other for a number of years because a lot of these guys started in middle school. At a certain point everyone gets it and knows their roles and I think this team has figured it out.

“We’re playing really well right now, but we still have a long way to go to finish how we want to, but I think this team can do just that. Knocking off three state champions is unheard of, but we’re just getting started.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 8:11 PM with the headline "After knocking off state champs, York County fueled rugby team ‘just getting started’."