Edina has been plowing through the Minnesota Youth Rugby season, but they didn’t so much plow this week in the MYR quarterfinals.

Sure, Edina won, but their 26-12 scoreline against Southside was by far the closest game they’ve played in the Gopher State. Before that game, Edina was 6-0 with an average score of 66 to 3.5. In no game did they score fewer than 39 or allow more than 12. 

Head Coach mark Dalton said this was one of his team’s less successful outings.

“For the first time all year we just didn’t have the work rate we normally have,” said Dalton. “I don’t know if it was complacency - it might have been. But Southside was very tough and they gave us a wakeup call.”

Southside has an excellent history in Minnesota and American rugby. No other HS program can boast two regular members of the USA 7s team (Nate Augspurger and Garrett Bender). They play a straightforward, smash mouth style, and that set Edina on their heels for a bit.

Edina has a hardworking forward pack, with sophomore Nick Bloom and Jack Olsen anchoring an effective back row. But their real strength is in the backline, where 9-15 they are very dangerous. That includes Evan Holm at outside center, new-to-rugby inside center Mike Lyons, and flyhalf Will Hoff, who is coming into his own.

“If we play strength and strength, we might get into trouble,” said Dalton. “What we need to do is play to our own strengths.”

They did enough of that to make the semis, where, on Saturday, Edina will face Duluth (41-0 winners over STMA), a team Edina beat 39-7 on May 13.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Minnetonka defeated Mounds View 68-7, and Eagan slammed South River 81-5 - both scores an indication of the chasm between the better teams and the not-so-strong teams in the state. 

For Minnetonka, the scores tell the story - they have topped 100 points twice. But they also lost to Eagan 44-20 on April 15.

“We were able to win our first in-state match against Minnetonka back in early April, but they will be much improved,” said Eagan Coach Eric Curtin. “They are a very solid team with a long history, and led by a fine coach in Rob Clarno who I highly respect both on and off the field. We have been putting together complete games over the last few weeks. That coupled with getting our injuries sorted such that we’ll have nearly all our players available this weekend, should put us in a good position.”  

Emmanuel Albert continues to play well, but it’s the improvement of the halfback hinge of Dallas Maxwell-Brenden Wallner that has made things easier for the Eagan backs.

“Most importantly, the boys are trusting in themselves, in the system, and in each other,” said Curtin, who attributes that approach to the work of coach Moto Filikitonga. “We need to continue to do these three things, be clinical with regard to minimizing errors, and stay switched on at all times.”

Edina faces Duluth and Eagan takes on Minnestonka on Saturday.

The winners will face off in the state final on June 11.

In other playoff action in Minnesota, there are the Plate Semis:

Southside v STMA

South River v Mounds View

Bowl Semis

Faribault v St. Cloud

Western Warriors v Hopkins