This youth movement paid off

Back in November, about 75% of Back Bay Rugby Football Club’s Under-19 team’s players hadn’t even played the game before.

So who would’ve thought that six months later, the Sharks ? mostly made up of local football players ? would be competing in the USA Rugby High School Championships this weekend at Dartmouth College?

The club, barely even two years old, will be taking its blue jerseys and undefeated league record to Hanover, N.H., for the two-day tournament. Back Bay is one of 16 teams that will play four games in their tier starting Friday.

So how did this team go from not knowing what a “scrum” is, to earning a spot alongside the country’s best teams? Coach Jeff Bonnett said it was the players’ dedication and recruiting that did the trick.

During football season, the coaches would stake out local high school games, where they’d scope out the fastest, biggest and the most athletic guys.

When first approached, players and parents chuckled at the thought of participating in the seldom-seen sport. Bonnett heard it all from, “It’s stupid,” to, “Why would you want to do that?” But all it took was one taste, and the boys got hooked.

He said one parent recently told him their son said he couldn’t see himself not playing rugby.

The sport hooked team captain Delano McKenzie, an All-Sea View League nose guard who was a part of Newport Harbor High’s CIF Southern Section Division VI football championship team. In February, McKenzie represented the United States in a rugby match against Canada, scoring his first international try ? meaning he racked up five points for the U.S.

The fever also caught Zac Sepulveda, a former back-up quarterback at Newport Harbor who now craves the bagpipes that play before games.

“It gets us all psyched out,” he said. “Not many sports have the bagpipe. It gets us into it.”

Sepulveda will head to New Zealand in the summer and England in the fall so he can attend academies and squeeze in as much rugby as he can. In December, he was selected to attend USA Rugby’s Under-19 Camp. Unlike McKenzie, he wasn’t chosen to represent the United States, but that’s all the more reason for Sepulveda to go back.

“After going to the tryouts and not making the team, I have a picture in my head of what I have to do if I really want to make this team,” he said.

About 90% of the team is made up of football players, mostly from Mater Dei, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar. At first, the boys easily fell into cliques. But as the season went on, they realized their backgrounds hardly mattered.

“We get along great now,” said first-year player Taylor Sepulveda. “Because at the end of the day, we’re all on the same team.”

The Sharks breezed through the season, only dropping two tournament games.

In the Southern California Rugby Football Union semifinals, Back Bay defeated the Los Angeles Cougars, a team that had gone to the national championships seven consecutive years.

And in the championship game, the team went into sudden death overtime against the Los Angeles Wildcats. After tying at the end of the first overtime period, the Sharks scored halfway through the second. First-year player Anthony Likiliki scored on a drop kick, dropping the ball and, after it bounced, kicking it straight between the posts.

“That hasn’t happened all season,” said Rob Sepulveda, Zack and Taylor Sepulveda’s father. “Nobody knew if it was a score or not. Everybody was shocked.”

Although football doesn’t translate to rugby easily, Rob Sepulveda said there are enough similarities that the team will be able to use its athleticism come game time.

“Football has had a huge impact, athletic-wise,” said Rob Sepulveda. “The biggest thing is the weightlifting program. They’re not necessarily better athletes, but they’re stronger. And they’re not afraid to hit.”dpt.18-rugby-CPhotoInfoE21R2IS820060518izfs78nc(LA)Back Bay Rugby Football Club’s Delano McKenzie, Gus Hamborg, Kyle Bonham take down a North L.A. County Wildcats player during the league title match.