Rugby Illinois is just barely underway and already there are indications of a possible changing of the guard.

Defending state champions Morton didn’t exactly slip up badly, but they did lose, 17-14 to Arlington. Perennial contenders Brother Rice also found themselves on the losing end in the new, tightened-up Division 1. Mt. Carmel sits 1-0 in the Catholic Conference, which features five Catholic schools in the Chicago area. Arlington sits 1-0 in the Suburban league, which is also made up of five teams. 

And of those, perhaps the team to watch is Neuqua. Located in Naperville west of Chicago, Neuqua upend their season in a festival in Florida, then lost a competitive game to Notre Dame de la Salette 38-17, and finally this past weekend, shut out both Grandville (35-0) and West Ottawa (44-0) - two of the better sides in Michigan - in the Penn Invitational.

Neuqua in action against Grandville at the Penn Invitational, a game Neuqua won 35-0. Steven Zomberg photo.

Head Coach Graeme Jackson said the thing that makes Neuqua strong is that so many have been playing for six or seven years. The program was started in middle school and only when those players got older did the high school team start. After a couple of years of challenging for the state title, Neuqua fell off with the next generation, but is back again. They won the state Freshman/Sophomore championship in 2015, and many of those sophomores are now on the 1st side.

“The juniors coming up are complementing the seniors we have,” said Jackson. “We’re in that position of looking at all the players we have and wondering who we start. There’s a lot of competition for places. And our freshman/sophomore team is still strong.”

Steven Zomberg photo.

Jackson said his team’s preseason, as well as last year’s championship run for the youngsters, have taught his players how to battle all the way through a game. 

“The will to win is stronger in them now than I think in any year previous,” he said. “They saws it against la Salette - that you can’t give up on a play.”

Jackson expected to have a big, strong, athletic forward pack, and he has one, but at the Penn Invitational it was the backline that emerged. They started to execute better and play with confidence.

“We’re still discovering who our leaders are,” said Jackson. And they’re still discovering how good they can be.