St. Edward Putting It Together in Ohio
St. Edward Putting It Together in Ohio
St. Edward continues to take steps forward in Ohio, and did so this past weekend with a win over Archbishop Moeller.
There's a four-team chase in the single-school arena in the Buckeye State, and with Ignatius winning comfortably over St. Xavier the chase to unseat SIHS came down, in part, to this past weekend's victory over Moeller. They accomplished this despite some injuries, chief among these was the injury to starting flyhalf Conor McGuirk.
Tommy Patton was drafted in as a replacement and, according to Head Coach Greg Miranda, was "a pretty seamless step-in as he has performed great over the last two matches."
Against Moeller a heavy tackle pushed Patton out of the game and co-captain and fullback Seamus Kennedy was then brought in. Kennedy is an excellent leader and smart rugby player and led well, even scoring a try.
Big win for us this weekend," said Miranda. "We had to pull it off while dealing with missing players due to injury and unavailability. The plus side to that is that some players got the nod to step up and get quality minutes in a high profile game. That will only be helpful later in the season. Every player is contributing big moments when they step onto the pitch. There is a lot of energy within the culture of the club, and the chemistry amongst the lads is fun to watch. The harder things get, the harder they fight for each other, and for that, I am extremely proud of them."
Hooker Owen Corrigan was an offensive powerhouse, scoring two tries and providing plenty of go-forward energy. On the defensive side of the ball Andrew Haas was a workhorse and tackled unceasingly. His effort was backed up by lock Jayden Williams, who is a leader on the side and covered the middle of the field smartly. He scored a try and poached four balls in the ruck.
Merrill Welshhans was also very good in the breakdown both in helping force turnovers and clearing out effectively to provide clean ball.
With prop Mo Hussein working hard in the breakdown, center Josh Groudle testing defenses, new player Padraig McMahon making plays in the forwards, and Jake Capel working to run the attack and run the defense at scrumhalf, St. Edward is putting the pieces together.
"The expectation on the lads is high, not just from the coaching staff, about amongst each other," said Miranda. "We will keep working, aiming to get better each and every week."
