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Moeller rugby gives it the ‘old high school try’
Moeller High School’s rugby program includes a “traditional” squad that plays in the spring and a rugby “sevens” team that plays in the fall. (Courtesy: Dominic DeNoma)

Moeller rugby gives it the ‘old high school try’

CINCINNATI — Nothing says friendship and brotherhood more than what looks like unorganized mayhem on a grassy field. Moeller High School rugby’s head coach and players use those words often to describe the allure and attraction of rugby. Their friends, their brothers got them involved; the sport itself keeps them hooked.

In 2007, maybe 2008 – Dominic DeNoma isn’t quite sure of the year – friends practiced at a park in Indian Hill, hoping to start a team at Moeller. Since their coach did not work at Moeller, the school declined to sponsor, until the players “roped in” Doug Rosfeld, then an assistant football coach, to lead them. Steve Coleman succeeded Rosfeld; DeNoma, a Montgomery resident and 2011 Moeller graduate, is in his third season as head coach.

Moeller fields a “traditional” 15-man rugby team in the spring, and a rugby sevens team in the fall.

“The great thing about Moeller rugby is it’s just got a great community, and it’s all community, and it’s all about friendship and brotherhood,” DeNoma said. “And my friends on my football team really recruited me to come out, and there (were) quite a few of us who did both football and rugby, and it was just a great way to continue to build those relationships and compete together on the field. So they did a really good job of recruiting me and that’s why I fell in love with the sport.”

Moeller High School’s rugby seniors. (Courtesy: Dominic DeNoma)

His players tell similar stories. Senior Joe Fitzpatrick followed his brother, Jack, who played at Moeller. Michael Farthing said a friend got him involved. “I wasn’t really doing anything, so that’s why I did it,” he said. Stefan Crist was recruited by his math teacher who is also a coach.

Liam O’Daniel is a member of the rookie squad; his brother and friends played, and he joined them.

“My brother got me into it and just a really fun sport, and I kept playing it,” Asher Sargent, another rugby rookie, said.

Friendly brotherly peer pressure also convinced Andrew Bellman. “My brother was playing, and then he met his brother (pointing to a teammate), and they were … yapping in my ear, telling me I should play. So I started playing,” Bellman said.

Rugby is not a fad sport – the first laws were written in 1845 and the first international matches played in 1871. It is, however, relatively new on the high school level in Ohio. DeNoma begins with the basics – passing, rucking, tackling (a ruck is when players on their feet surround a ball on the ground), and the laws.

“But over the past few years, the Rookie Rugby League and the youth league in Cincinnati has continued to grow, and we’re starting to see some of those guys come to our school and come into our program, which helps to have them be ahead of the curve with their skills and knowledge of the game,” DeNoma said. “The best tool is playing the game, so we try to scrimmage as best we can.”

Learning is ongoing.

“I haven’t fully understood it yet. I don’t know all the rules still. I guess it takes a while to learn, you just have to play to figure it out. It just takes, like, a bunch of time and games before you actually learn,” Crist said.

“I didn’t know anything about it before I started,” Farthing said.

“I just knew that you could throw the ball backwards and hit people,” O’Daniel said.

The sport’s physical nature may worry some parents, but DeNoma pushes against that narrative.

“Our contact is very regulated, and those are the main rules of the game,” he said. “Tackling is so much more regulated than football, with the laws in place, so everything has to be below the nipple, so no high tackles around the neck.”

A number of current players are or have been involved in football; others wrestle or play soccer. Farthing runs track in the spring. DeNoma played football at Moeller. There are about 75 players in the program, with three “sides” – one varsity and two junior varsity. Some play both sevens in the fall and full rugby in the spring.

Moeller rugby coach Dominic DeNoma. (Courtesy: Tammy Rosenfeldt)

DeNoma also runs Rookie Rugby Cincinnati, for boys and girls in kindergarten through eighth grade and uses fields at Moeller and St. Xavier High School. Players in fifth grade and older play tackle; younger players are in touch leagues with the emphasis on skills. Rugby Rats, for ages 3 to 5, gathers for 30 minutes once a week, “just to put a ball in their hands, have fun, try to pass and kick it a little bit,” DeNoma said.

Older groups compete in statewide tournaments.

“It’s just a great opportunity to spread interest in the game and start them younger, so we have more of those kids coming to Moeller who know how to pass and ruck and tackle, and then create a demand for other high schools to put pressure on them to develop their own programs and clubs,” DeNoma said.

Rugby is more popular in the northern part of Ohio. Programs in Southwest Ohio include Moeller, St. Xavier, Walnut Hills, Withrow and Dayton-area schools. Walnut Hills and Withrow combine their fall teams; that club won the 2023 state championship. DeNoma teaches at Withrow.

Moeller plays its home games on a field behind the school, and competes in out-of-state tournaments. They have traveled to Nashville and St. Louis in recent seasons.

Experience, not winning, is the goal.

“It is a great sport. Those kids are a little lost, and it does look different, and it can be physical, you don’t know what’s going on, but once they play that first game is when it clicks for them, and then just everything starts making sense,” DeNoma said. “And so it’s fun to see kids shine in other ways we wouldn’t see.”

For the players, memories will be of times with teammates; of shared moments trying something new.

“It’s not like football or basketball, where sometimes you can have an individual star rise above the rest,” Fitzpatrick said.

“And it’s a ton of fun just to work with people in the community that it’s built around, because of that culture, because of the way the game works, the community actually rises out of it, one of the best I’ve ever been in.”

Moeller Rugby Roster

Seniors – Ashton Abraham, Peter Bachman, Richard Bader, Andrew Bellman, Josh Burkey, Stefan Crist, Joe Fitzpatrick, Campbell Glinski, Liam Hais, Alex Mitchell, Luca Nebadze, Cam Pico, Ethan Reeves, Gabriel Sargent, Hayden Sauer, William Sauer, Maxamus Warnecke.

Juniors – Kenne Benneth, Peter Foss, Derrick Gibson, Akeim Hill, Brennan laake, Jacob Means, Brady Newlin, Isaias Nyktas, Henry Ocariz, Aiden O’Daniel, Rudeger Reno, Simon Shine, Nkosi Watts, Mason Zerhusen.

Sophomores – Michael Farthing, Sylas Marion, Mason Mirizzi, Quinn Turner, Nikolas Vaske, Samuel Warnecke.

Freshmen – Chase Heidrich.

For more information about the Rugby Rookie Cincinnati program, visit its Facebook page.

This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.

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