Tuesday, June 10, 2008

In Saturday's first unofficial Virginia state rugby high school championship at South County High, NOVA U-19 captured a 15-10 victory over Western Suburbs.

The contest ended the first season of "Rugby Virginia," an eight-team league with club teams in Loudoun County, Winchester, McLean, Springfield and Alexandria.

NOVA U-19 is made up primarily of players from Northern Region schools; Western Suburbs comprises Loudoun players.

NOVA's Phillip Wilkinson, a Herndon senior, was named most valuable player. A fly-half, Wilkinson earned the honor because of his ability "to control the game," said NOVA Coach Mike Murphy. "The fly-half is similar to the quarterback. He runs the show pretty much, and he did a great job and played great defense."

Ohio State-bound fullback Gareth Willatt, an 18-year-old Oakton High senior, also played a key role, powering a hard-hitting attack that scored twice in the first half.

Willatt "was involved in all of our scoring, and we're lucky to have a guy like that with that kind of skill," Murphy said. "Really, we were lucky to have enough guys to put Gareth in that position."

-- B.J. Koubaroulis