By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
OK, so taking a full season off from your primary sport to try something completely new might not always be the way to go.
But that unlikely path has paid big dividends for both Hayden junior football standout Finn Dunshee and the 9-1 Wildcats this fall.
Hayden junior Finn Dunshee has made a successful transition from football to rugby back to football for the 9-1 Wildcats [File photo/TSN]
After playing football and running track at Hayden as a freshman, Dunshee spent his sophomore school year at St. Martin's Academy in Fort Scott.
"My uncle (Daniel Kerr) has this really cool boarding school and I went down there and visited and I just really liked the experience of the brotherhood that they had down there,'' Dunshee said. "And my mom wanted me to give it a try so I decided midway through my freshman year, I think after semester, that I was going to go down there the next year.''
While at St. Martin's, Dunshee discovered the sport of rugby.
"They just have rugby and every boy played it,'' Dunshee said. "It's a small school, like 60 kids. I had never played and it was such a fun experience and we were a pretty good team. We took second in the state last year and I played a pretty big role on that team. It was just a great experience.''
Eventually, Dunshee made the decision to return to Hayden this fall, but the lessons he learned from rugby have had a lasting influence on his athletic career.
"It helped my form for tackling on defense and on offense we just did a ton of running for rugby so it definitely got me faster,'' said Dunshee, a Class 4A state qualifier in track as a freshman at Hayden.
Rugby and football have quite a bit in common in terms of intensity and physicality, with the big difference that players wear no pads in rugby.
"Honestly I like no pads more,'' Dunshee said. "Pads get in the way sometimes. It definitely got me more used to hitting people and just really helped my form tackling because you get way low in rugby.''
"I think rubgy helped him a lot,'' Hayden coach Bill Arnold said. "You see a little bit of rugby tendency in his runs. He's got that forward lean, he's low to the ground, and he's stronger than he was when he was a freshman, obviously.''
Dunshee plays running back and outside linebacker while also returning kickoffs and punts for the Wildcats, who will travel to Columbus Friday night for a Class 3A quarterfinal contest.
The 5-foot-8, 160-pounder is coming off a big game in last week's 22-19 playoff win at Wellsville, rushing for 123 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries while also returning a kickoff 80 yards-plus for a TD and adding a 2-point conversion.
Dunshee has rushed for a team-high 832 yards on 64 carries on the year while also catching five passes for 231 yards. He has scored a total of 14 touchdowns, scoring on offense, defense and special teams.
"He had a pretty good learning curve at the beginning but you like his toughness, the way he runs and just his grit and determination out there,'' Arnold said. "He's a tough kid. He's an important component to everything.''
Although all of his focus is now on football, Dunshee remains a rugby fan and doesn't rule out playing that sport again at some point.
"I wish we had a team here or something, I would definitely play,'' he said. "I don't know what I'm doing for college yet. It really depends on how events play out, but I might try to play football in college or I might play rugby somewhere.''
But for now Dunshee is just happy to be home and with the teammates he's grown up with at Hayden.
"By the end of (last year) I decided I was ready to come home,'' Dunshee said. "I was missing sports, track and football, and I really missed my brothers on the team. I've known all these dudes all my life.
"I knew they wanted me to come back and needed me here, or whatever,'' Dunshee added with a chuckle. "Friday nights, when you're under the lights, it's unmatched.''
