National School Champs Wrap It Up With State Title
National School Champs Wrap It Up With State Title
St. Ignatius capped off an outstanding season for the Cleveland school program with two state final championships.
Ignatius beat St. Edward 43-12 in the Ohio JV final on Saturday at St. Edward's home field, and then won the Rugby Ohio Varsity final 45-19. The Wildcats wrapped up a season in which they lost only twice, once with a lineup without seniors to Bishop Dwenger, and once to 2024 HS Club national champs and 2025 runners-up Charlotte Cardinals.
Their Varsity results are as follows:
St. Ignatius 35 Pendleton 6
St. Ignatius 52 New Trier 5
St. Ignatius 62 St. Edward 27
St. Ignatius 19 Real Cienscias (Spain) 12
St. Ignatius 66 Grenada (Spain) 0
St. Ignatius 64 St. Xavier 14
St. Ignatius 49 Xavier NY 21
St. Ignatius 64 St. Edward 24
St. Ignatius 64 Gonzaga 5
St. Igatius 60 Brighton 0 (shortened game MW Championships)
St. Ignatius 7 Bishop Dwenger 17 (shortened game MW Championships)
St. Ignatius 22 St. Edward 0 (shortened game MW Championships 3rd place)
St. Ignatius 12 Charlotte Cardinals 41
St. Ignatius 54 Archbishop Moeller 10 (Ohio semifinal)
St. Ignatius 24 Greenwich 17 (HS Nationals quarterfinal)
St. Ignatius 31 Notre Dame de la Salette 12 (HS Nationals semifinal)
St. Ignatius 20 Herriman 17 (HS Nationals final)
St. Ignatius 45 St. Edward 19
Won 16 Lost 2
PF 750 PA 247
In the JV game, St. Ignatius overcame some early penalties to maul the ball over early. The Ignatius phase play was pretty effective and they did well to march down the field, crashing over with the forwards and then seeing scrumhalf Braeden Oddi sniping over.
A turnover and good connection between back-rowers Josh Toth and Rocco Capuano set wing Jake Bobinski for a long run. The Ed's cover defense dragged gim down but eventually Oddi soared over. Some nice hands from Noah Spinos allowed the prop to power over, and prop Sam Leopold opened up the second half with a charge to paydirt.
St. Edward did not wilt despite being down 38-0 and found their rhythm a bit to score two well-taken tries. But Ignatius had the final say to make it 43-12.
The Varsity game was quite close and full of momentum shifts early. The Wildcats pressured early only for Tommy Graham to intercept a pass and race all the way down into the Ignatius 22. Speedy wing Tommy Passerallo caught him, however, and, scrambling, Ignatius somehow managed to get the ball back.
That allowed long-striding wing Rafe Gabrovsek to charge down the sideline, turning the field around again, and this time it produced a try for the big winger.
St. Edward felt they could do something, however, and worked their way down to score a well-taken try. Throughout the day hooker Luke Dotson was heroic, with while center Kheyden King caused Ignatius plenty of problems.
Down 7-5 Ignatius looked to get Passerallo free and he chipped ahead to set something up. St. Edward survived that but were forced into giving up a five-meter scrum, and from there scrumhalf Mark French skated wide and then found center Trent Latkovic, who has had an excellent May, for the try. Hank McGowan slotted the extras and it was 12-7.
It remained that score until just a couple of minutes before halftime. Ignatius had several chances to score but some timing mistakes, errors, and a couple of big defensive players—Dotson once again making his presence felt—stymied those chances.
With time winding down in the half, No. 8 Gavin Vollmer found some space and charged toward the corner. He was tackled high as he scored and that resulted in a penalty try and a yellow card against St. Edward. Right from the restart, with about 90 seconds left in the half, Ed's was yellow-carded again for a challenge in the air. Both penalties were not especially serious, but they hurt the Eagles.
Plenty of respect among familiary rivals at @RugbyOhio Varsity final. @SIHS_Varsity15s @StEdsRugby pic.twitter.com/XJc5J9zGT5
— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) June 2, 2025
Right from the penalty, Ignatius attacked again and Gabrovsek galloped in for his second. Two discipline breakdowns and St. Edward was now down 26-7.
Now with a cushion, Ignatius spread the attack. They used Jacob Papesh, who was excellent on the day, to charge up the middle and then shipped it wide through flyhalf Connor Gallagher, where Colin Spellacy always seemed to be making a play. A nice run from McGowan set up an attack with Latkovic adding meters before tireless hooker Mason Hartley scored off a short-yardage play.
Ed's responded with a try from Dotson off a lineout play in which he was not to be denied. But Ignatius answered with a stolen lineout and some nice interplay between Gabrovsek (yes, the winger was in the lineout), and front-rowers Liam Burrows and Hartley.
Grayson Halkiadakis thundered over off a quick tap, and then St. Edward scored at full time to finish it off.
Perhaps a shade unlucky, St. Edward played to the final whistle and will look back at a season where they were state runners-up and finished a very creditable 5th in Tier II of the HS National Championships. With a strong junior class and possibly a stronger sophomore class, and some talented freshmen coming on as well, the Eagles have plenty to be pleased about.
For Ignatius, the post-match celebration included a huge cheer for HS Nationals final MVP Marcello Woodberry, who learned he was getting an invitation to the USA U18 team.
The game itself was played in a very positive spirit, and, thanks to the new Rugby Ohio policy in which if the final involved two teams from the same town, that town wuld host the final, there was a large and boisterous crowd. GRR's estimate was a crowd of over 500.
