On Sunday, May 21, the Deadheads faced off against Rockford in the state semifinals. The Deadheads were feeling very confident after their win the previous day in the quarter-finals. This game was monumental for the team and the program, as it had the chance to make history and make its first-ever state championship. The team had a chance to hoist the trophy and prove everyone wrong, but it had to get past Rockford first.

“We’re playing great systematic rugby,” coach Anderson stated. “We have strong, rugged, forwards and talented backs, and we are hard to contain. If we run our system we are a hard team to beat.”

The game started off hot. The Deadheads quickly realized they weren’t going to defeat Rockford easily as they did Brighton. It was a very gritty game, with lots of major hits. Bodies were flying as Alex Korff, Evan Lubben, and Andrew Weiskopf were fighting to show the Rockford players they were the boss. But also along with the bigs, the Deadheads were producing on both sides of the ball as they were coming up with clutch defensive stops and making it very hard for Rockford to maintain any type of offense. But then on the offensive side of the ball, the Deadheads were making them pay with scores from Colton Sawyer and Erik Hansen. When the game was all said and done, the boys came out on top 22-14 to secure that long-awaited state final birth.

“Our team is playing our best rugby right now. We are ready for Howell, and we are going to give them all that we have,” coach Anderson said.”We have one good game left, and it’s the last season game on Thursday.”

This moment can not be understated, as this is the biggest moment to ever happen to FHC rugby. They accomplished the second tallest task to do in any season: making the state finals. Now all they have to do is win that game and they have will have accomplished the tallest task of every season. This team has what it takes—they are the grittiest team out there and they will run Howell into the ground. No team is prepared or ready for our rugby team.

“It feels really good to accomplish this as a team,” senior Evan Lubben stated. “We haven’t had good records, only winning one game in the past two years, and we are going to be more prepared than ever against Howell.”

The game will be on Thursday, May 25, at 5:30 PM at the Hope Sports Complex. Everyone, be there and be loud, as our rugby team has a chance to make history; you will not want to miss it.

“It feels amazing and great to have made it this far as a team,” junior Alex Korff stated. “We are very excited to rematch against Howell.”