Perrysburg’s state championship girls rugby team — Front Row (Left to Right) – Laneigh Shinners, Madeline DiDio, Maggie Mantel, McKenna Biami, Ailey Merrick, Stella Skolmowski, Coach Dan Ketterman, Ava Sholtis, Adina Castillo, Sophie Rahe, Ellie Cole, Alex Morley, Jaz Shepler, Lulu Zeisloft, Camyn, Alina Stretavski, Maggie-Mae Nixon, Alivia Lehman, Coach Brandon Smith
Back Row (Left to Right) – Lilah Ortman, Amille Youngblood, Amara Perez, Emma Thomford, Captain - Kenzie Morris, Vice Captain – Kate Magoun, Faith Smallwood, Evelyn Okenka, Catherine Kerber, Coach Marc Goddard
Not Pictured – Angela Ruffin and Kaitlin Schmidt
OBETZ, Ohio — The Perrysburg girls rugby club won its third successive state championship title at Fortress Obetz in suburban Columbus, dominating Brunswick, 56-10, in the final on Saturday, May 27.
Perrysburg coach Marc Goddard said his Perrysburg team was on a mission.
“Maybe it’s a slight advantage — we have international coaches, and we know the game very well,” Goddard said.
“The girls have committed. They will run through brick walls for each other. They just want to win. They are hungry.”
Goddard says girls rugby is like no other sport.
“There is no other sport for them where they can go around hitting each other,” Goddard said.
“Above the sport and the costs and everything else, they have different rules from the boys, but rugby is exactly the same — full contact and you have a lot of aggression.”
The Yellow Jackets are a club team, and the state finals are not sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, but organizers hope someday it may be.
The tournament is sanctioned by Rugby Ohio, and the Perrysburg girls team won the Club Division championship.
The Club Division is one of three girls divisions in Ohio. While the Perrysburg girls program began in 2018, the boys program dates back to 2005 and the boys team was state semifinalists in the Single School Division this year.
Plus, the future looks for the Perrysburg girls program. The 2023 squad is their youngest ever with only three seniors and three juniors. The other 24 members are sophomores and freshmen.
Goddard said that after the Yellow Jackets beat Perry, 75-12, in the state semifinal the previous weekend, “the team knew the next game for the championship would be much tougher.”
Brunswick defeated Columbus Walnut Hills in their semifinal convincingly to set up the championship game. In the six-year history of the Perrysburg’s girls rugby team, they hadn’t beaten Brunswick.
“So, the expectation throughout the week was for a very hard-fought close game. Their preparation focused on defense and speed to each ruck,” Goddard said.
“The attacking game plan was revised slightly with a focus on keeping the speed of play high and intense.
“Although the 56-10 scoreline doesn’t reflect the physicality of the game, it was Perrysburg’s strength in defense and superiority of the ball carrying in attack which meant the state championship came back to Perrysburg for the third time.”
Senior Emma Thomford and freshman Lulu Zeisloft were awarded Most Valuable Player honors in the semifinal with Thomford getting the same accolade in the final.
Across both weekends Thomford scored seven tries, the highest of any player in any of the state divisional finals and Lulu Zeisloft kicked 10-of-11 conversions in the semifinal and 8-of-8 in the final.
Thomford and Zeisloft have both been invited to represent the All-Ohio Aviators team.
The girls team finished the season 9-3, including being undefeated at the Midwest Championships in Indiana.
Goddard is leaving the program after four years with the club, first getting involved when his daughter was a freshman, and she is a senior this year. An assistant coach is taking over.
