The newly formed North Bay Rugby Club’s varsity team finished its inaugural season on an high note, finishing third in the Boys National High School Invitational in Elkhart, Indiana.
Under coach Dave Cingolani, the Wildcats finished the season with a 17-6 record, setting a precedent a future of growth and success. Cingolani, who was previously a coach for the Marin Highlanders organization, headed the establishment of the North Bay Rugby Club this year.
Even though nine players from Redwood joined the Wildcats, the Highlanders maintained an arsenal of Redwood power. The Highlanders experienced a season of rebuilding, as the club could only field a silver varsity team instead of its usual gold and silver varsity teams. Even though the team finished with a 1-9 record, it faired increasingly better against competition throughout the season, according to coach Jeff Garcia.
Although many of the players on the Wildcats were veterans of the sport, the team faced the difficulty of having to gain recognition and respect as a new organization according to senior Omid Izadjou.
“This year’s success is going to help build a strong base for our club. This being our first year, we put our club on the map and we’ll only grow from here on out,” he said.
The Wildcats overcame many hardships unique to newly developing programs. For two months, the team practiced on dirt and gravel.
Senior Jose Lasen-Baeza said that practice was difficult, but worthwhile for the long run development of the team.
“At first we practiced full contact on the field, running into potholes and ditches,” he said. “Even though it sucked at times, I built up a mental toughness to it and it showed me that no matter what the conditions were, I could adapt and tough out the situation at hand.”
The challenges only made victory more enjoyable according to Lasen-Baeza, as he would reflect on the difficulties the team faced.
“Even though we beat top ranked teams, this season has been great compared to last season because of attitude and amount of hard work we put in,” he said.
