Meridian High School (Idaho) had focused on strengthening team bonds during the West Ada High School 7s season, so even while the wins and affirmations evolved this fall, the idea of a championship title was viewed as a more of a bonus. As the No. 3 seed, the Warriors didn’t succumb to the pressure of a title run, and yet exited the fall with its first trophy after defeating the top-two teams in the league.
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With five teams in the league, there’s a double-elimination process to the West Ada 7s post-season. So a team could lose in the first round, or beyond, and still advance to the championship match. Playoffs began on Oct. 14 and #3 Meridian met #2 Rocky Mountain, the 2019 champion. Meridian had defeated every team except Rocky Mountain during the regular season, but the Warriors were ready to upset the seeding and banked a 14-7 win.
“That team is a top-notch team, that’s for dang sure,” Meridian head coach Jared Turner said of Rocky Mountain. “After that, my girls knew they finally could stand on the field with any team put in front of them.”
Meridian automatically advanced to the Oct. 17 semifinals. Meanwhile, #4 Eagle beat #5 Centennial 31-0 to earn a semifinal play-in spot against #1 Mountain View. The game ended in a 12-12 tie, but the Mavericks won the match on a penalty kick tiebreaker, 2-1. Rocky Mountain then played Centennial to a 36-0 victory to stay alive in the title hunt.
Three days later, the field reconvened for finals day. The winner of Meridian vs. Mountain View would advance directly to the final, while the loser would play the winner of Eagle vs. Rocky Mountain in a final’s play-in match for a shot at the trophy. Eagle eliminated Rocky Mountain with a 12-5 win, and then the No. 3 and No. 1 seeds met.
“Mountain View played us harder than heck on Saturday, and that semifinal was another one for the ages,” Turner said. “It was back and forth, and tied at the end of regulation.”
The Mavericks threatened first, as Justice Rupp tore down the sideline for what would have been a try if not for a stellar chase-down tackle into touch. A Nesi Tuitama break put in motion several favorable penalties at the breakdown, and senior co-captain Ashelynne Peart was quick through the mark to keep play moving downfield. Near Mountain View’s 22, Tuitama took a tight pass to powerfully weave through the defense for the try, which Peart converted, 7-0.
Mountain View answered in turn, gaining through solid ballcarriers like Avery Morgan, Lola Stubbs and Jada Medellin. A big clearout from Morgan allowed Deb Davis to pick from the back of the ruck and slice through the loosely protected fringe for the try. Morgan converted and the halftime whistle sounded immediately afterward, 7-7.
Meridian knocked on the second-half kickoff, and the Mavericks went to work for the next two minutes. An unrelenting tryline assault followed, and even after a knock-on changed possession for a moment, Mountain View did well to field the subsequent clearance kick to stay on attack. Twice the Mavericks crossed the tryline, and twice the Meridian defense prevented the grounding.
After the second held-up try, Meridian earned a favorable penalty from the 5m scrum and got out of danger with a series of pick-and-jams. The game clock had expired at this point, but the team did well to recycle the ball from a Peart mini-maul and found Tuitama, who stepped her opposite and pulled away for a long-range try. The whistle sounded after Peart’s conversion, 14-7.
“Yes, that was probably one of the more monumental stands you’ll see, but again, it just reaffirmed that they belonged on this stage,” Turner hesitated to call the late-game heroics a turning point. “The real change happened in week three or four. Everyone that writes about this league writes about Mountain View and Rocky, and the underdogs are Meridian and Eagle. And deservingly so. We were 0-2, 2-2, and then 2-4 at week three. But we ended the season 10-5, so we went on an 8-1 winning streak. That is one helluva run.”
Mountain View and Eagle had only lost one game each at this point, so the two played a second match for a berth to the final.
“Our opponent for the final depended on how everything played out on Saturday,” Turner said of the double-elimination system. “I asked the team, ‘Who would you want to play in the final?’ They all said, ‘Mountain View. If we’re going to win, then we want to go through the No. 1 and No. 2 teams to do it.’”
Meridian got its wish, as Mountain View shut out Eagle 20-0. Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain beat Centennial 29-0 for 4th place.
“I don’t know that there was any doubt going into that game,” Turner said of the championship. “Holy cow how they bought in. Never saw a team come together like that and play so unselfishly in my life.”
Mountain View took the opening kickoff and built to midway, until a driving Peart tackle forced a pass in traffic, and intercept. Three penalties and Peart quick-taps kept the Warriors on the front foot, and after one held-up try, Reagyn Molyneux dove over the try line from five meters out, 5-0.
Mountain View responded nicely and earned a favorable penalty in Meridian territory but a rushed tap resulted in a knock-on and turnover. Scrumhalf Stubbs actually stole the subsequent scrum but with no support, Peart was able to wrestle possession back for her side. The ball was messy in front of Meridian’s tryline, but Peart did well to commit two defenders in contact and free the ball up for Tuitama, who took the ball to the outside lane for a long-range score, 12-0, to end the half.
Not long after the break, Mountain View got its first try of the game. Medellin poached the ball before a Meridian ballcarrier could reorient her body on the ground, and the ball moved to Justice Rupp, whose long, graceful strides were too much for the pursuing defense, 12-5.
Relatively quickly, Meridian restored the point differential and displayed its ability to stay calm in the chaos. Mountain View’s defense, led by Medellin and Morgan, was aggressive and quick off the line all day, but Meridian never panicked, even in retreat. A big hit from Cailey Ingram knocked the ball loose in the tackle. Tuitama scooped it up, stepped the on-rushing defense, and maneuvered her way to a fourth post-season try, 17-5.
It wasn’t over for Mountain View, though, and the team showed as much from the restart. A nice series of piercing pick-and-goes evolved near the sideline, and then a powerful pack stepped over a Meridian scrum to win back possession in scoring position. Stubbs, Morgan and the whole team connected well and ran with purpose, and Rupp did well to clean up a loose ball out the back of the ruck for the dive-over try, 17-10.
With little time left on the clock, the Mountain View restart was kicked to touch. Meridian calmly executed the lineout, shipped the ball to Tuitama, who kicked the ball out for the final whistle.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Turner said, catching himself.
“When they won their first two [playoff] games, they wanted to celebrate, but I told them, ‘You have nothing to celebrate, because we belong here. Don’t give them any ammo. Shake hands, walk off the field. We have work to do,’” the coach continued. “We always called ourselves ‘blue collar’ because we just work. … As soon as they won the championship, they came together and looked at me. ‘I don’t know what you’re doing but you should be partying.’ You’ve never seen 16 girls so elated, so humbled, so excited. It was something to look at the sidelines, too. We had Rocky Mountain lined up there, Centennial and Eagle cheering us on before, during and after the game, coaches and players.”
Turner insisted that every single player deserved a shoutout and pointed to the game footage (semifinal and final) as proof. He called out the JV players who were called up when the varsity roster was down to seven players (“They not only stepped up and filled a hole in the lineup, but they were key contributors and played their butts off.”) He reiterated his response to recruiters who inquired about players-to-watch (“All of them. If you’re looking for rugby players, then watch every single one of them.”) And he anguished as he thought about having to limit nominations for season awards (“[Gwen] Gravett, Peart, Raegan, Nesi, Janey [Kelly], Frances [Caroca] – they’re all up for nominations and if they win them, it’ll just be the cherry on top.”)
With that said, if Turner had to vote for a championship MVP, it’d be Peart. But even that assertion came with footnotes on Tuitama, Molyneux, Adriauna Smith, Reagan, juniors, sophomores – in other words, everyone.
“I hope it legitimizes us in our own high school,” Turner said of the championship’s impact. “I want the student body to get even more excited and it helps recruit the kind of numbers that the other schools are seeing. And I hope it keeps building the sport throughout the valley.”
Turner has faith that this title is just the beginning of longer-term success. Current team members have enrolled in F45 Meridian South to continue off-season training and conditioning, and that activity will ready players for the spring club 15s season.
“The excitement’s there. The players are recruiting and I’m getting more calls that kids want to be a part of this,” Turner said. “Hopefully we can keep that family atmosphere and sisterhood going, and come February, the train will already be moving.”
WEST ADA 7s PLAYOFFS
Oct. 14
G1 #4 Eagle 31-0 #5 Centennial
G2 #3 Meridian 14-7 #2 Rocky Mountain
G3 #1 Mountain View* 12-12 Eagle [G1 winner]
G4 Rocky Mountain [G2 loser] 36-0 Centennial [G1 loser]
*won penalty kick tiebreaker 2-1
Oct. 17 Championship
G5 SF: Eagle [G3 loser] 12-7 Rocky Mountain [G4 winner]
G6 SF: Meridian [G2 winner] 14-7 Mountain View [G3 winner]
G9 4th Place: Rocky Mountain [G5 loser] 29-0 Centennial [G4 loser]
G10 Final’s play-in: Mountain View [G6 loser] 20-0 Eagle [G5 winner]
FINAL
G13 Meridian [G6 Winner] 17-10 Mountain View [G10 Winner]