By Tyler Julson

In its first year of competition, the Freeborn County Eagles rugby team finished at the top of its league and claimed the No. 1 seed in the final tournament.

The Eagles will travel to North St. Paul High School on Sunday, where they will compete in the six-team state tournament.

Eagles head coach Ron Eriksmoen had the idea of starting a team for high schoolers after moving from Minneapolis. He had coached for a few years while living in the Twin Cities and hoped there would be some interest when moving to Albert Lea.

“We had some good interest right away,” Eriksmoen said. “We went with it and everyone picked it up really well. We’ve got a good group of athletes from sophomores to seniors.”

Only a couple of the athletes have played any sort of rugby at all before they started on the team. There was a big learning curve for most of the players, but it is apparent in their season record that it didn’t take long for them to learn the ins and outs of the game.

The Eagles got out to a hot start at the beginning of the season, winning their first three games. After starting 3-0, the team hit a losing skid, losing three and tying once through its next four match-ups.

It was a low point of the season, one of the hardest stretches to get through, according to Zach Schneider, a player on the team.

“We went through our first few games winning a lot,” Schneider said. “We were thinking that we might go through the whole season like that, but then those first couple of losses happened and we came back down. It was a tough time for the team.”

Not all losing streaks have to have a lasting negative impact on the team, and this one certainly didn’t. The Eagles snapped out of their losing streak by rattling off six wins in a row and finishing the regular season without any more losses.

With a win earning the team three points, a tie earning two points and a loss earning one point, the Eagles finished first in team standings. They edged out the second-place Rochester team by one point.

Sophomore Kolby Eriksmoen attributed a lot of that success to being able to work well together and just getting out on the field and practicing.

“It’s a lot of teamwork and just showing up to practice,” Eriksmoen said. “This is where it all starts right here, all the success we’ve had playing games come back to here at the practice field.”

Not only do the first-year Eagles have a head coach who has played rugby and knows the sport well, but they also have the help of rugby legend Jim Berg. Berg has played rugby for most of his life and was inducted into the Iowa Rugby Union Hall of Fame in 2015. He has been a big piece of the young team’s success not only as a coach, but also as a mentor for the younger players.

The success on the field has translated to encouragement and recognition off the field, as well. After some skepticism, the Eagles have earned the respect and admiration of their peers as well as the Albert Lea community.   

Albert Lea senior Trent Johnston talked about how the community has reacted to the addition of the rugby team.

“Right away they were saying, ‘Rugby? That’s weird,’” Johnston said. “But when they came to our games and saw us kick butt, they’ve really taken full hold of it, they like it. I think they really enjoy it.”