Asked to help get some kids a chance to play some rugby, Demond Burwell ended up with a motley group of rugby players, and formed them into a winning unit.

North Carolina's hybrid Youth & HS 7s season this winter needed one more team. Organizer Erik Saxon had a list of players who wanted to play, but didn't have a team to play for, so he formed them into a group—what Saxon called "a hodgepodge"—and dubbed them the Charlotte Spartans. He asked Burwell, who is the forwards coach for the Charlotte Tigers to take care of them.

This was Burwell's first Head Coach task and he took to it well. The players understood that they were perhaps a group of players with no home, and played with a chip on their shoulder all season.

See more about the North Carolina Winter 2021 7s Season >>

"We needed a 6th team to round it out, and we had players who didn't have a team, so it made sense," said Saxon. "What was amazing was how well they did. Demond got them together and playing as a team and did an outstanding job."

How outstanding? They went 14-0, and were the only team in North Carolina to record a perfect season, and capped it all off with an overtime victory over the North Stars to win the Boys High School Tier 2.

They did it on Burwell's birthday to boot.