Archmere Academy in Delaware won the Subaru 7s HS bracket Saturday, following up their Delaware state HS 7s title.

The Auks went 5-0 in the Subaru 7s, defeating La Salle 19-15, Salesianum's 2nd team 24-0, and St. John's College HS 26-5 in pool play. They then went on to veat Media 29-12 in the semis and Salesianum’s 1st team 26-19 in overtime.

Archmere had already defeated Salesianum 26-5 in the state final - the Delaware HS season is a 7s season.

Archmere started rugby in 2013 playing only 7s, but has now also transitioned to 15s.

“It’s a tough adaptation,” said Head Coach Drew Cocco. “But it’s a different transition than other players have to go through because it’s 7s to 15s. But then we added players in 15s and they are learning 7s. It’s a challenge.”

The last two years Archmere has lost the last two Delaware state finals to Salesianum, but were able to unseat their rivals this year.

“Salesianum has a much deeper bench than we do, and they’ve beaten us at 15s,” said Cocco. “They have a good experience level too. But we have some good players and we’re improving.”

Leading the way for Archmere  are captains and juniors Noah Nuimataiwalu, a flyhalf/scrumhalf, and Nick Udocich, a center in 15s and a forward in 7s. 

Freshman Danny Bark is a young 6-4 monster who can run all day and has plenty of aggression, while Mark Dombroski scored the winning try on Saturday and was named MVP of the Subaru 7s HS bracket.

“We have a fair amount of talent,” said Cocco, whose side will compete at the HSRC in Chester, Pa. “We feel good about where we are, and we’ll do our best.”

They seem to be doing that.