Premium Preps photo by Kyle Garmes.
Rockford wins title, collects on deal
By Kyle Garmes
Rockford assistant coach Walt Felton’s mustache never stood a chance.
After rolling to a 40-0 win against Plainfield in the iYRA girls title game Monday at the Blaze facility in Lemont, Rockford players raced to their assistant coach with a bottle of shaving cream. It was time to own up to a bargain barely a year old.
In 2009, just before the team’s first season, Felton agreed that if the girls ever won a state title, he’d shave his mustache, right then and there.
“That was incentive,” said a newly-shaven Felton of the agreement. “They’ve been bugging me (about it).”
In its first year of existence, Rockford restricted itself to friendlies. In its first go round in competitive play, the Ravens romped to the title.
Rockford's Maggie O'Connor, daughter of head coach Vince O’Connor, and Wren Felton – Walt’s daughter – led the way. O’Connor, switching over to flyhalf, was named MVP of the match, and Felton’s aggressive play set the tone.
Playing a new position, Maggie O’Connor thrived, as did her teammates.
“Our backline clicked, and it was because Maggie ran our backline expertly,” said Vince. “The girls knew what Maggie was going to do – run, pass or kick. She executed our backline scheme as planned.
“We saw that our backs could run on their backs. Every one of our backs had long runs, and the passing was sharp. All the girls play unselfishly because they realize the team is stronger than the individual.
“That is what I feel Maggie brought to the whole backline – the idea of unity and that every girl in the backline could make a difference.”
Rockford surged past Plainfield with two blazing sequences of scores, one in each half.
After a back-and-forth start, the winners punched through with a try with 14 minutes left in the opening half, and kept on going. A minute later, Rockford scored again. Then with under four minutes left in the half, another try put the Ravens up 15-0.
“Plainfield’s forwards are much better than ours,” said Vince O’Connor. “They stepped over the ball all day long, and they really outplayed us. We knew we had to get it away from their forwards to make a difference. We knew we had superior backs.
“We wanted to run it out and get them tired, and at the end of the first half and at the end of the second half, they were tired. We were able to take advantage of them.”
Premium Preps photo by Gary Larsen
Plainfield, a bit short-handed due to injuries and player defections, came out fighting in the second half. A drive got within Rockford’s 10-meter line five minutes in. But a 30-meter clearing kick sent the ball back near midfield and seemingly sparked the second Rockford run.
Just like in the first half, Rockford surged in for a try just near the half's midway point – and then simply ran away from Plainfield. They added a try moments later and then another with seven minutes remaining. Kristen Kaderabek's 50-meter run brought Rockford inside Plainfield’s 10-meter line and set up the score that made it 35-0 with five minutes left.
Minutes later a 60-meter Kaderabek run took Rockford within five meters of paydirt. Soon after a subsequent try ended the scoring.
O'Connor, Megan Ostendorf, Erika Lenox (2), M.J. Patten (2), Aurora Masek and Alexa DaVita scored tries for the Ravens.
At that point, it was time to bust out the shaving cream, and write a new definition for a "close shave."
Plainfield was left to come to terms with a runner-up finish for the third straight year. They took the big prize after winning it all in 2007.
“We’re the Buffalo Bills of rugby,” Plainfield assistant coach Kyle Countryman said, comparing his team to the NFL team that went to four straight NFL title games in the early 90's, but never won a title. “We make it to the Super Bowl every year. This is our sixth year at state. We only won it once.”
After another championship loss, Countryman could only shake his head and accept the complimentary, but still dreaded label of runner-up.
It was a cruel twist of fate for Plainfield, which entered the final undefeated. When the team beat Rockford earlier in the season, they loaned a few players to their northern Illinois rivals, who didn't have enough girls to make the trip south for the match.
But on Monday, it was Plainfield that was hurting for numbers. Injuries left four players in warm-ups, which included one player in a pink cast that ran up almost the length of her left leg.
Several other left the team, which cut a roster that started with 35 players down to 18 on Monday.
“When we played them initially, we literally had two full sides," said head coach Karen Kalicki, who had two subs Monday. "Losing our depth and some of our star players was a big factor,”
Plainfield hung with Rockford for much of the first half, even controlling play in the opening minutes. But Rockford’s two scoring waves simply overwhelmed the short-handed team.
“They were just timid,” Kalicki said.
Game notes
The championship was delayed more than an hour due to lightning in the area, but both coaches wanted to get the title game in Monday.
“This time of year, the girls, it’s like herding cats,” O’Connor quipped. “We don’t know if we could’ve gotten them after today."
Felton got a little help from a parent during his post-game shave. A woman lent him a small pair of scissors to hack away at his mustache before finishing it off with a razor. He nearly missed the trophy presentation as he headed to the bathroom to wipe off remaining shaving cream.
