Rugby Idaho kicks off its Girls HS fall 7s today, September 8 with the first of 13 days of competition.

The Junior Varsity teams will face off tonight starting at 6PM Mountain Time at Mountain View High School with five teams each playing twice. Tomorrow, September 9, the Varsity teams will face off at Eagle HS.

"The girls are really hungry to get out there," said Eagle HS Head Coach Kraig Smikel. "With our 15s season shutting down when it had hardly begun, and with classes online, they are tearing their hair out.

There will be five sets of paired dates with JV games one day and Varsity games the day after. Also, on September 26, Meridian HS will host both brackets. Then there will be a playoffs on October 14 and championships on October 17.

Teams will follow safety protocols, staying socially distanced off the field. Coaches will wear masks, and there will be no spectators. Players will have their temperature checked and will be quizzed on whether they are showing any COVID-19 symptoms. 

"Really we've got one chance to get this right, and then we can worry about things like adding fans," said Smikel. "The key thing is to follow the protocols and do it right and get the players on the field."

Smikel said his Eagle HS program had its best participation numbers ever for summer workouts, an indication of how the student-athletes are so starved for competition. Eagle is normally a senior-heavy team, but this year only had four seniors on the squad. Two of those, however, have now been playing for Smikel for four years. One of those, Kloe Williams, was just named team captain and will bring a ton of intensity and field awareness to the game.

Also watch out for scrumhalf Cheyenne Wheelen, who missed last fall due to a bout with Hashimoto's Disease (which attacks the thyroid gland). She has bounced back and joins Abby Schroeder as the two players who have hit the wieght room the hardest. They will add plenty of strength to the Eagle team.

But, most importantly, win or lose, they get to play.

The games will be shown live on the NFHS Network at: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/associations/ihsaa-id/rugby

Here's the schedule for the 1st two tournaments:

September 8 at Mountain View HS (all times Mountain Time):

JV Teams
6PM Rocky Mountain Black vs Rocky Mountain Purple
6:25PM Meridian vs Mountain View
6:50PM Eagle vs Rocky Mountain Black
7:15PM Rocky Mountain Purple vs Meridian
7:40PM Mountain View vs Eagle

September 9 at Eagle HS (all times Mountain Time)

Varsity Teams

6PM Rocky Mountain vs Meridian
6:25PM Eagle vs Centennial
6:50PM Meridian vs Mountain View
7:15PM Centennial vs Rocky Mountain
7:40PM Mountain View vs Eagle