Image Credits: @wcurugby & Christina Schoonmaker
The air was warm and the grass plentiful as I walked up on the WCU Rams Men’s Rugby team practicing. I had seen through their social media that they had been absolutely crushing the competition; sheer dominance, no-nonsense force, skill and talent. What I wasn’t prepared for was what I saw when I finally reached that grass. There was laughter, arms around necks and a plethora of well-timed jokes. That was when I could tell: no matter how serious they are on the field, they always come home to a family.
That family is heading to the national championship.
West Chester has now won the MARC Conference four consecutive years, and this season was the most dominant run yet. The Rams went undefeated in conference play, outscoring their opponents 410-37, a point differential that doesn’t ask for context, just the numbers say enough. Behind that dominance is a program that Head Coach Scott Brown, better known as “Coach Brownie,” and assistant coach Douglas Lammer (Coach Dougie) has methodically built into something this university can no longer overlook.
A large part of that dominance begins and ends with defense. When I asked Coach Brown what makes his defensive scheme so special, he didn’t hesitate. “You can have the speed like [Kevin Lowman] and his ability to grab a kickoff,” he said, ” we have [Dio Ruiz], we have [Aidan Malley], on offense the scores will come if you get the ball back from the other team.” He continues, “If they’re walking back, we can walk forward”. It sounds simple. On the field, it’s suffocating. West Chester’s defensive system isn’t just a gameplan; it’s a philosophy, and it has held opponent after opponent to near-nothing allowing the Rams pile up points on the other end.
But defense alone doesn’t explain what this year’s team has. Brown pointed to discipline as the defining difference between this roster and the one that fell short at last year’s championship. “When it came time to pressure or panic, we couldn’t deliver,” he said of that loss. This offseason, he scouted for something different; players who were taking ownership of their own development, who would embrace accountability and not flinch when things got hard. The result is a roster with more depth than the program has ever seen. “Last year, we had maybe seven or eight players who had to play almost every minute of every game,” Brown said. “This year, we’re splitting halves.”
Leading that roster is captain Elisha “Eli” Ross, who transferred last year from The Mount alongside fellow 7s player Richie Nathan. Ross has been the kind of all-around presence a program needs when the lights get brightest. When I asked him what makes this group different from any team he has been on before, his answer came without pause. “I know that whoever comes off the bench is going to either blow someone up or burn on the outside,” he said. “We have speed at every single position.” After last year’s loss, the motivation behind that speed has only sharpened. “We wanted it way more this time around,” Ross said. “Especially knowing we get a chance to play the team we lost to and get that back.” Coach Brown, when asked who he trusts most when everything is on the line, didn’t have to think long. “Eli, he comes out of nowhere,” Brown said. “He finds a spare tank and an extra gear, and I don’t know where it comes from.”
Then there is Sean Brett. Known as “Bulldozer,” Brett is a freshman from Springside Chestnut Hill who had never played a single game of rugby before this school year. Three weeks into the fall semester, his best friend and fellow Ram, Luigi Carleo, convinced him to come out to practice. He never left. Not only did Brett make the 7s team, he became a starter, something that has happened only once before in program history, when Sam Rodriguez, who is still on the roster today, did the same thing last year. Coach Brown already has a scouting report on how opponents will size up his freshman. “People are going to see this little guy and think they can run right through him,” Brown said with a grin. “He’s AJ 2.0.” Brett’s wrestling background at SCH hasn’t hurt his transition either. “No man can run without his legs,” he said, explaining a quote from his father on how his time on the mat shaped his instincts as a tackler. “That’s what I always go for.”
Matt Cleland brings a different kind of pedigree to the table. The sophomore transferred from Kutztown University and was selected to play USA U18 7s, a credential that speaks for itself. Cleland described stepping into this program as something that raised his own standard immediately. “I felt like I had to step up and match what was already here,” he said. He is not alone in that feeling. The culture at West Chester rugby has a way of pulling everyone upward. “Honestly, it is one of the closest teams I have been a part of,” Cleland said. “It is a special team.”
Special teams need glue guys. At West Chester, there are two. Captain Zakariah “Zak” Elgogari is the steady force that, according to Ross, “gets the team to go.” And then there is Luigi, Big Lou, whose energy and work ethic quietly set the standard everyone else chases. Coach Brown illustrated it best. “We are all done, we are all tired,” he said, “and he looks at me and says, ‘Coach, we need to do a Bronco.'” Nobody on this team lets anyone else quit, and Big Lou makes sure of that more than anyone.
West Chester Rugby has built something real. Four conference titles. An undefeated season. A point differential that borders on embarrassing for anyone who lined up against them. And a locker room full of guys who, when practice ends and the whistles stop, still choose to be around each other. Coach Brown said it best when reflecting on what this program has become: “I go to bed at night knowing we have this again.”
The Rams know what they left on the table last year. They know who they want to face. And they are ready. This family is taking it to the national stage, and they are not going just to show up.