Maryville Bags 3rd State 7s Title
Maryville Bags 3rd State 7s Title
The holidays are that much cheerier for Maryville, which won the girls Tennessee State 7s Championship earlier this month. Even more impressive than its third 7s title is the fact that the team doesn’t even start playing 7s until the conference playoffs – a feat that suggests the Maryville program is churning out some superb rugby players.
The Tennessee Rugby Association (TRA) has been hosting the Olympic 7s series for four years now, and three of those titles have gone to Maryville. But the community-based team takes a different route to the final than its opponents.
“A lot of our girls play soccer for their high schools in the fall, so we get a late start on 7s,” Maryville coach Jay Hawkins said. “With the soccer players starting with that sport in late July, it prevents the club from going to tournaments until the conference playoffs.”
There are three conferences within the TRA, and each hosts a series of fall tournaments, which culminate in conference playoffs. The finalists from each conference advance to States. Even though Maryville hadn’t played in a single 7s tournament prior to the Smoky Mountain Athletic Club-East TN playoffs, the eventual champions impressed with a round robin sweep, outscoring opponents 120-25.
Maryville entered the state tournament with the top seed and was joined by Storm, McMinn, Ravenwood and Riverdale. South Doyle gave late notice of its withdrawal, so the state tournament became a round robin.
“Maryville was the first girls team in Tennessee in 2004, and they’ve been in a state championship – 15s and 7s – every year since the beginning,” Hawkins lent some background. “All of the Tennessee teams are fired up playing us … but the biggest rival is Ravenwood. The championship for the state will either be through Ravenwood or Maryville.”
But Ravenwood wasn’t a contender this year. After dismantling its rival 29-0, Maryville went on to beat Riverdale 52-0, Storm 29-10 and McMinn 20-10.
Hawkins’ daughter, McKenzie, scored 63 of the team’s 130 points, and was named MVP for her efforts.
“The team has a group of players who have been playing together for 3-4 years,” Hawkins detailed the team’s success. “Emily Assenmacher, our scrumhalf, and McKenzie have been the 9-10 connection for the last four years, so that has helped. We have a group of great players who would help any college team next year.”
Hawkins has been captain for the previous four years and is the clear leader on Maryville. She’s been playing rugby since 5th grade, is a repeat High School All American, and has represented the USA U20s on tour.
“She had some great role models in her earlier players, and I see a little of each of them in her: Rachel McCroskey, Catherine Eichhorn and former [age grade] Eagles Jenny Beaman and Candace Barley,” coach Hawkins reflected on his daughter today. “The experience she had while with the High School All-Americans and Junior All-Americans has also helped her leadership development.”
But daughter Hawkins can claim credit for much of her success. By 6th grade, she was Maryville’s starting scrumhalf and helped the team to a #4 finish at high school nationals. As a 7th grader, she tried out for the USA Rugby South U19 team.
“The coach [initially] thought she was too young,” coach Hawkins remembered. “I told her that she had played against the Sacramento Amazons at Nationals, so she could play at that level. Well, she made the team and ended up playing #9 in all of the matches that weekend [U19 National All Star Championships].”
Now, as a senior, she trains six days per week, “and even on the day of her prom, she scheduled time to go train with her personal trainer. Not many girls do that.”
And the commitment is paying off. McKenzie has verbally committed to Lindenwood University for fall 2015.
“With her hard work and success on the pitch, I thought that she would have a chance for scholarship,” coach Hawkins said of his daughter’s good fortune.
But there’s still a season of Maryville rugby ahead, and while it will be an emotional one, one can bet that Hawkins and team will be looking to round out the year with a 15s state championship.
