While the Minnesota HS league has struggled to bounce back to full numbers, they did hold a two-tiered state championship last week, with Edina HS taking the title in both tiers.

Knowing that their in-state competition might not be the strongest—many teams were struggling for numbers which is why the Tier 2 played 11-a-side—Edina knew they had to play outside competition when they could.

Not having lost since a game with Florida’s Okapi some years ago, Edina took a trip to Wisconsin where they tied eventual state champs Green Bay 19-19. They toured Ireland expecting to get smoked but also expecting to learn something they ended up winning all of their games, including against Belfast’s Malone, a 131-year-old club with a full trophy case.

“That was a surprise,” said Chris Babiash, who stepped away from being Head Coach to run the team as an administrator. “COVID really hurt a lot of programs in Minnesota and it hurt us, too. When we came out of it we had 8th-graders playing in varsity games. We knew we had to rebuild and the good thing is that middle-school rugby is starting to thrive in Minnesota. But we weren’t old enough and we had work to do to recruit.”

This they did and Edina began to roll through their state competition. The key, then, for Babiash as GM and the staff of Head Coach Alex Christians and assistant Adam Farhat, was to hold the players to a higher standard. Winning your league isn’t enough; you need to play well.

“I think I’ve seen better rugby teams, but this team is so athletic and so together that they become better because of it,” said Babiash.

Getting games has been a struggle in Minnesota, and there have been issues because of it. Some high school players have found men’s club games to play in to augment their experience. This happened to Liam McVety, who played for the Minnesota Selects against Wisconsin last year. McVety had received a waiver to play with the Eastside Banshees men’s club through the season. All went well until the playoffs, when McVety was told he couldn’t play because he played men’s club.

This, of course, is something that appeared to have been settled earlier in the season and allowed throughout the spring. McVety, who had switched clubs because his old team had lost so many players they could barely field a team, was now with Eagan and set to play Edina.

What Babiash and Edina knew was that they always wanted to play the toughest games possible—the Edina coaches made it clear they weren't happy about playing a final when their opponent was losing a top player. In the end wiser heads prevailed and McVety was cleared to play and the game went on as planned. And along with it was a message to all of the players—the toughest games are the ones you want.