The joke going around Minnesota is that they are the Edina Yankees, and maybe there is a dynastic quality to the team, which won its third straight Minnesota Boys HS title Sunday with a convincing defeat of Minnetonka.

 

Head Coach Chris  Babiash said repeating isn’t easy, but it happens because he and the team are proactive.

 

“We continue to build the program,” Babiash told the GoffRugbyReport. “We’ve always been proactive instead of reactive. All those hours in gym classes in middle schools produce players eventually. Having people put their Edina Rugby signs in their yards. It helps the program get bigger.”

 

Edina is a single-school team, and while not a varsity program, they do play at the school football stadium, with a scoreboard and announcer, and the players get Letters.

 

Their football coaches are positive about rugby, with the defensive and offensive line coaches encouraging their players to go out for rugby, and “out parent support is unbelievable.”

 

It all adds up. 

 

Babiash has worked hard to keep the rugby evolving on a tactical level. 

 

“Athleticism is good, and we have good athletes, but it will only take you so far,” said Babiash. “You have to have a system. We run a ball control system of rugby, and we win with it.”

 

That included their league season, and a tour to England.

 

Leading the way for Edina was a happy accident, French exchange student Louis Casterot, who played superbly at flyhalf. 

 

“He’s something special,” said Babiash. “His vision is unbelievable.”

 

Hooker and co-captain Sam Benkowski is one of the hardest-hitting players in the state, hugely active, and smart. Casterot took a yellow card in the final, and Benkowski moved out to flyhalf for ten minutes and the team didn’t miss a beat. 

 

Meanwhile, Kevin Placide had his best game of the season in the final. The other hardest-hitting player in the state, Placide was upset because senior center Colmann Burrington had been red-carded in the semis, meaning he would miss his final game for Edina. Placide pledged his game for his buddy, and then played well enough for two, at one point rucking four Minnetonka players off the ball solo.

 

Edina graduates 28 players this year, but given that their JV team won the JV state title, it might not hurt them all that much. The team of 2014 might be strong, but the ongoing Edina program is stronger still.