Penn HS ran the table in the Lindenwood High School tournament held at Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Mo. this weekend.

The tournament was a good kickoff for teams in the Midwest, and mercifully, it wasn’t a snow-fest like last year.

Eight programs entered varsity teams, while six also entered JV teams. Indiana-based Penn won both brackets, not losing a game.

Penn’s JV outscored opponents 103-0 on Saturday and then defeated St. Louis University High JV 48-0 to make the final against the Royal Irish JV. Royal Irish had been almost as dominant, outscoring three opponents 113-5 to make the final.

Photos courtesy Lindenwood Rugby.

In the final, “Royal Irish put a lot of pressure on us defensively,” said Penn HS Head Coach Bart Bottorff. “Our guys might have been a tough more physical. This was definitely the best game of the weekend for them.”

Penn prevailed 17-14, with freshman flyhalf Cian Messner, wing Brandon Benac, and No. 8 Peni Vakalahi all playing extremely well. For the Royal Irish, flyhalf Nick Frederick was their standout.

“The 9-10 combos of just about every team were really impressive,” said Lindenwood Head Coach JD Stephenson, who was running the tournament. “The teams could show college and club teams a lot in terms of how to recycle the ball and maintain continuity. But all the teams were also really competitive at the tackle contest.”

In the Varsity Bracket, Penn and Royal Irish weren’t quite as dominant, but both again made the final. Penn outscored the three pool opponents 154-0, while Royal Irish logged a 98-38 scoreline. KC Jr Blues gave the Irish a run with a 15-8 game on Sunday.

In the final, it was close again.

Royal Irish scored early to lead 5-0. Penn eventually broke through the Irish defense, and after a series of phases at the goal line, fullback Paul Moala burst over. The conversion gave Penn a 7-5 lead.

Dave Hannon slotted a penalty for Royal Irish to retake the lead at 8-7. Then late in the game, the Penn backs sent the ball through the hands and Moala once again was the scorer.

Both teams had chances to score at other times and were stopped. Penn dropped some good scoring opportunities. After Moala’s second try, Royal irish kicked off with just a second or two left in the game. A Penn hand touched the ball as it rolled into touch, and from that lineout Royal Irish pounded the Penn defense. The Irish got to the Penn line, and over it, but a pile of Penn defenders held the ball up, and that ended the game.

“It was a total team effort,” said Bottorff, who also pointed out that counting the last ten meetings between these two teams, team teams are separated by 1.8 points per game.

Will Vakalahi was a force for Penn at No. 8, while Moala was superb at fullback. Hannon once again performed well for the Irish at flyhalf and Dave Schroeder was their best in the pack.

Saturday Scores:

Sunday Scores (Note, St. Thomas Aquinas and KC Junior Blues opted not to play their final game against each other as they played each other last week and will do so at least two more times).: