Highland Buzzards rule the roost as state champions

by Dan Holland

The Highland Buzzards high school girls rugby team won the 2026 Rugby Ohio Girls High School 15s (15 players per team) state championship game this year, beating local rival Brunswick 46-21 at Brooklyn Memorial Stadium. The championship win avenged a 19-12 early-season loss against Brunswick.

The state title win flipped the script on a slow start to the season, according to first-year head coach Chris Wheaton.

“We lost three of our first four games,” said Wheaton. “That included going 1-2 at Ruggerfest, held in Matthews, North Carolina, as we didn’t have our full varsity squad there. We were implementing a new offense that the girls had never run before, which shifted the mindset, and we had two close losses. We came back for our first regular season game up here, with all of our varsity players, but we still struggled a bit in the loss against Brunswick.”

A new strategy implemented this season utilized a quick-paced offense with more passing that allowed for a variety of different scorers in each game.

“Once we had everyone in that first regular season game against Brunswick, they started picking the offense up,” said Wheaton. “We were making positional changes on our new offense up until our fourth or fifth regular season game.”

The program, which was founded in 2001, previously won state championship titles in 2018 and 2021.

“Medina County seems to be one of the big hubs in the state for girls rugby,” said Wheaton. “Medina and Brunswick both have very competitive teams. Three of four state finalists this year were from Medina County.”

This year’s program, which featured a varsity and junior varsity team, fielded 29 players. The sport is not OHSAA-sanctioned, as the team is considered part of the Recreation Association of Highland. The team has an affiliation with Highland High School, although it is not officially recognized as a school varsity sport.

Wheaton formerly served as an assistant coach with the Highland Buzzards 7s team, which is a fall program. He also previously coached the Highland Buzzards girls rugby middle school program for six years.

Wheaton serves as director of RAH Rugby.

“We had a change in coaching staff from last season, and of the 29 girls on the team, I coached 27 of them through middle school,” said Wheaton. “So, it was an easy transition in knowing the kids and parents. It was a good fit for what we’re trying to do here, with a little bit of a change in the culture.”

Wheaton noted that the Highland High School girls flag football program – a sport that is now fully sanctioned by the OHSAA beginning this school year – also vies for athletes during the spring season. He commended Highland girls flag football head coach Rob Peterson, who serves on the Highland Buzzards Rugby Board, on working with his team in sharing players.

“Rob Peterson works with us so that girls can be able to play both sports,” said Wheaton. “Not every school district has that option.”

Standout senior players this year included Natalie Wendl, Kennedy Smith and Patience Rowe, Wheaton noted. He expects team captains Amy Rolinc and Vivien Bogdanski to continue leading the team in its winning ways next season.

“We’ll have to make some adjustments to make up for the girls we lost, but we have 25 of our 29 girls coming back next season,” said Wheaton. “Having coached these girls since sixth grade, I know they’re looking to repeat as state champions. We just have to keep ourselves humble, focus on one game at a time and not worry about the end-of-season results until we get there.”

Rugby offers an option for female athletes who have not quite found their “niche” sport, said Wheaton.

“The great thing about this sport is that you can come out as a senior, having never played rugby before, and you’ll get playing minutes,” said Wheaton. “We tend to get a lot of girls who are athletes but never fit into a certain sport before, and they end up finding a home in playing rugby.”