GEORGETOWN, Ill. (WCIA) — It’s no surprise that La Salette Academy ranks eighth in Goff Rugby Report’s Top 50 high school team’s in the country.

“Rugby is our main sport,” head coach Sean Fitzpatrick said. “We put a lot of time and effort and resources into it, so that really helps for sure. We are a smaller school so we really do get the most out of it.”

The investment in this atypical high school sport isn’t all about wins and losses, but a means to teach the school’s values

“The school uses the sport to put what they teach us outside of sports into a physical realm, putting what we’ve been taught in the classrooms and in church and our social life into a physical control room where we can practice,” senior Saulo Cruz said.

“We kind of embrace it, you know, as a part of the school because it’s difficult, and that’s kind of like what we like to do,” senior Connor Hanlon said. “We do difficult things, you grow as you play the sport, you just learn a whole lot about life through rugby.”

La Salette alum and former player Sean Fitzpatrick knows all about the life lessons this sport teaches, now in his first season as the Lions head coach.

“This year we have a lot of returning starters from last year, 11 of our 15 starters are seniors, most of them were starters last year. That really helps having a lot of experience with the seniors and a really good group,” Fitzpatrick said. “They really get along really well, it’s a good atmosphere in the locker room like in the team, that always makes things super easy.”

And that senior class has showed out this spring, leading La Salette to an 11-1 record.

“We’ve played good rugby and we know we can play good rugby and the best thing to know is that we’re going to keep playing good rugby and so the best is yet to come,” Hanlon said.

La Salette hopes this season’s success continues at the 2025 Rugby State Championships in Rantoul on May 31.