Florida Juice Make Splash in Pittsburgh
Florida Juice Make Splash in Pittsburgh
After the Florida Juice defeated Indiana 19-17 in the final of the Challenge Cup Regional All-Star Tournament, more than one observer was surprised.
Florida, after all, had not made an All-Star final since the days when current Eagle Cam Dolan was on their squad.
“We thought we had the guns to make it to the semifinals,” said coach Chris Oosthuizen. "To be quite honest, we thought that if we reached the semifinal, that was goal achieved. But as the tournament progressed, and seeing how our players we playing better and better, we started to believe."
This was the first time Florida took two teams to an All-Star tournament. And, in fact, they also fielded another team at the South RAST the same weekend.
This was the first time Florida took two teams to an All-Star tournament. And, in fact, they also fielded another team at the South RAST the same weekend.
Florida high school rugby is growing, but high performance hasn’t been a big part of the picture. Former Old Puget Sound Beach player-coach Evan Haigh now is the Florida Youth Rugby Executive Director, and he and Oosthuizen met to make plans. The Florida Rugby Union had started the High Performance Program, while Florida Youth Rugby had the Juice program. They were both trying to grow the game, but there was the worry they were working at cross purposes.
“We decided to make these two teams have one goal,” said Oosthuizen.
They held training camps and have coaches come out as observers and talent identifiers. At all three camps they had over 80 players, allowing them to select 30 Varsity and 36 JV players for a touring pool.
“I’m very proud to say that finally in Florida there’s a pathway for players to develop, and much credit should go to Evan for having the vision for putting this together,” said Oosthuizen.
At the Varsity level, Florida was led by Orlando flyhalf Mitchel Wilson was named tournament MVP, while Niku Zuluaga of Naples was also excellent as they made it to the final against a highly-regarded Indiana team.
In a very back-and-forth game, the two teams traded penalties and then tries. In the second half Indiana pulled ahead 17-12.
“We had to dig deep,” said Ooosthuizen.
Florida managed to score late to take the lead, and then found they were getting better not only as the tournament progressed, but as the last game progressed.
With about ten minutes left, Oosthuizen went onto the field to attend to an injured player. Another player said to him, “coach, the longer this goes on the stronger I’m getting.”
And the front rowers could all be heard saying it was time to just take the tournament.
“They dominated our scrum and had like three tightheads against us,” said Oosthuizen of Indiana. “But with about one minute to go they had a scrum on their five-meter, and we pushed them off the ball and won the ball and kicked it to touch to end the tournament.”
Varsity
1. Beck, Bryce – Daytona
2. Cash, Brandon – Trojans
3. Chanampa, Sergio – Naples
4. Chunn, Tabias – Deltona
5. Coffield, Kyle – Krewe
6. Curbelo, Bernardo -Weston
7. Dawson, Wes – Naples
8. Dignan , Tristan – Trojans
9. Fernandez, Ramiro – Trojans
10. Ferrere, Anthony – Riviera Beach
11. Hilgers, Tyler – Daytona
12. Jones, Matthew – Trojans
13. Justis, Brent – Daytona
14. Powers, John – Weston
15. Rohde, Keith – Krewe
16. Rojas, Juan Carlos (JC) – Orlando
17. Ruiz, Alex – Weston
18. Simko, Mike – Miami
19. Smith, Courtland – Trojans
20. Tryfuss, Bugsy(Alex) – Naples
21. Wilson, Mitchell – Orlando
22. Witt, Jacob – Naples
23. Zimon, Brennan – Naples
24. Zuluaga, Nikko – Naples
Junior Varsity
- Alexander, David – Weston
- Beaumont, Lukem – Riviera Beach
- Brautigam, Ryan – Krewe
- Deannuntis, Nick – Krewe
- Dietz, Zack – Tampa
- Edington, Kyle – Riviera Beach
- Ferrando, Nick – Boca
- George, Brennen – Cape Pirates
- Good, Logan – Trojans
- Haggard, Jordan – Krewe
- Luberice, Dondrell, Boca
- Mairowitz, Matthew – Weston
- Majercik, Josh – Riviera Beach
- Miller, Devarius – Riviera Beach
- Nation, Ieuan – Orlando
- Parsons, Steven – Cape Pirates
- Pizatella, Antonio – Cape Pirates
- Rokela, Brandon – Naples
- Roper, Blaine – Cape Pirates
- Rosse, Blake – Boca
- Saisadek, Chad – Orlando
- Schor, Chase – West Pines
- Sellepack, John – Riviera Beach
- Tyler, Alec – Boca
- Voegele, Sam – Orlando
