The St. Mary’s Gaels knew they had a job ahead of them in facing Life University in the DIA final Saturday, and while they led for much of the match, they never, really quite shook the Running Eagles.

That’s just what they expected.

Photos courtesy DoctorHawkPhoto.

“We expected them to be really good and they were,” said St. Mary’s captain Cooper Maloney. “We’ve faced them in the past and we knew they’d bring a lot of talent and skill, and it was just up to u to rise up to the challenge.”

In many ways, this DIA final was the best combination of entertaining rugby and execution. Both teams played good, hard defense, but there wasn’t so much defense that they couldn’t play rugby. That’s likely in part due to referee Phil Ackroyd’s management of the breakdown and the offside line (and his measured decision not to give Life a third yellow card). But it was also due to how the players play the game and how they’re coached.

The game was rife with decisions and actions to be second-guesses. Maloney himself remembers calling for a scrum on a penalty right in front of the posts before halftime. 

“We have a good scrum and I thought we had a really good shot at scoring a try,” said Maloney. “But Life defended it well and it didn’t work. But I think if I go back I’d make the same call.”

An easier call was to go for posts late in the game. 

“Dylan [Audsley] was kicking really well and we were confident he’d hit it, which he did,” said the captain.

But the key role for all of the veteran players was to keep the positive feelings going. Maloney and the rest of the Gaels remembered all too well close losses to Cal and BYU. 

“We had situations in other games where we’d give up a try or something and we’d let our confident slide a little bit,” he said. “We couldn’t do that against Life. So even when they scored we kept saying, we’ve got to keep our heads up, we’re still ahead. We might be ahead by only three points, but we’re still ahead, and we’re going to keep playing inch by inch.”

It ended with ten minutes of “grinding defense,” and in a way that was a more fitting end for St. Mary’s. They didn’t have to produce some magical play to score one more try, they just had to hold the line. For a team that likes to run from their goal line and make something out of nothing, it was a fitting, and blindingly simple, end. Don’t let them score, and you win. And that’s what they did.