They make no apologies in the high desert.

Out there in the state too many think is actually another country, out there where high school rugby has worked hard, scratching at the sandstone to get a foothold, there is, indeed, rugby for kids.

So it was in May that the Rio Rancho Rebels defeated the La Cueva Bears 22-17 to win the New Mexico Boys HS championship game.

For the Rebels, it was a massive step forward, beating the 2015 winners to take the title. It was actually a very competitive league this year, with three teams finishing 4-1. Rio Rancho beat La Cueva 20-17 on March 19, but were upended by the Albuquerque Eagles a month late. The Eagles, however, had let slip a 22-20 decision to the Albuquerque Dukes in early March. For their part, the Dukes also went 4-1, losing to La Cueva 29-12 on April 23.

With a three-way tie the championship was completely up in the air. The Rebels faced the Eagles in one semi, while the Bears took on the Dukes.

The Rio Rancho v Albuquerque Eagles semi was about as tight as you could want.

“We knew it would be close,” said Rio Rancho Coach David Bracken. “We all had the same record. For the semi, we just decided to kick for points every chance we got.”

The approach worked, as Rio Rancho edged the Eagles 20-19.

With La Cueva beating the Dukes, it was now Rebels v Bears in the final.

“La Cueva was the first club to have a really successful youth program in the state,” said Bracken. “They started the model we all wanted to follow. they had a lot of seniors, and those seniors had been playing for a long time.”

The La Cueva defense came up quickly and so, led by the decision-making of captain and scrumhalf AJ Lucero, the Rebels started to kick over the top. Zachary Dodd was instrumental in making this work. First-year player and hooker Campbell Intong led the team in try assists and tackles during the season and was a monster in the final. Lucero just has a good head for the game and controls the pace well. He also set up the game-winning try. In the end, they pulled it out 22-17, but perhaps the state championship is only part of the story.

“We play together as a community,” said Bracken. “When I was asked to help coach we had maybe 12 players. Then the following year we had 16 and we made it to 7th in the state. Last year we were 5th, and now #1. Most of our players have only been playing two years. We know we need to work on developing the players younger. But they have come together so well.”

As an example - one player found out that his parents were laid off from a local business. He had to take a job to help his family, and the rest of the players decided they would do that, too. 

“A good number of the players are relatively low-income,” said Bracken. “But they all rallied to help their teammate.”

No surprise, then, that a championship followed that level of commitment.