by Kathleen Richter
Staff Writer
Samuel Dahlhauser’s (C’14) image announced on posters the February 8 rugby game against Tennessee Tech, the only team that defeated Purple Haze last semester. This semester, tension and excitement filled the air. The Purple Haze captain Caleb Schaubroeck (C’14) spoke with the Sewanee Purple several days before the game and announced, “We are serious to beat them. I’m really confident that we will, that being said. We figured out why we lost the last time and we fixed this little problem.”
The team did not disappoint and showed an excellent performance. Tennessee Tech had no chance, the rugby ball did not even come close to their goal line, and our guests had to go home without scoring a single point. Schaubroeck predicted this ending in the interview, “I think I would really like them not to score, I would like it to be a handful of tries against zero, and I think it is possible.” The score of 28 – 0 proved Schaubroeck’s beliefs. The hard practices in the snow and cold in the last couple weeks paid off in a glorious victory against Tennessee Tech.
Sewanee won fourth place in the last South East National Championship. Their goal is to “win this too, finally.” Schaubroeck is very optimistic about his team. “Our team is about to get stronger, we are getting more organized, and more disciplined. Sewanee rugby is only bound to get sexier and sexier.”
All this said, the captain does not want to take all the credit for the outstanding performance of his team. Professor Daniel Carter is one of the committed coaches of the rugby club, he offered the team his help as he got to the University of the South in 2010. Schaubroeck said “Coach Daniel Carder is pretty committed to the team, he is an inspiration for us. All of us are loyal to Daniel Carder, he really brought the club up, he is the superstar, he is part of the board of trusties, he is an excellent farmer, an excellent professor, an excellent father, and an excellent coach, he is unstoppable.”
Sewanee Rugby is “just” a club sport, but the players are very committed to their team, which makes them one of the most successful athlete groups on our campus. The rugby team has its reputation of being good drinkers, but there is far more to them than this, as they showed us this weekend. They represent teamwork, commitment, and hard work. Schaubroeck is clearly very proud of his team and his cabinet, “I have an awesome cabinet, responsibility is shared so evenly, that things run very smoothly. Off practice side the whole team works really well together, which helps us to work really well together on the field.”
The rugby cabinet contains Schaubroeck as the captain, Dahlhouser and Nicholas Klus (C’14) as co-captains, and Robert Goeller (C’14) as the treasurer. Sebastian Muenchrath (C’15) organizes the games. Jack Colligan (C’15) serves as the director, and last but not least Wesley White (C’14) works as the social chair and is responsible for this well functioning connection between the players. The rugby guys will keep working hard in order to reach their goal of winning the National Championships this year. You can show your support by buying the Purple Haze t-shirts and coming to the games on Saturdays.