There is one major story in the Single-School Day Two of the Boys HS National Championships, so we'll tell that story.

First off, St. Thomas Aquinas handled a stern challenge from Xavier, and Greenwich played superbly against SLUH to set up the 5th-place final on Saturday. However, it's worth noting that you take little victories, and SLUH, shut out on Thursday, got a try against Greenwich and got a big cheer from the fans for achieving that.

Herriman put together a very entertaining win over Staples. While Staples scored early (both Championship semifinals started with tries started from a dropped kickoff), but Herriman started to open the game up and with Daxton McPeak pulling the strings nicely at flyhalf and with their back row launching massive hits, Herriman won 48-14.

Now to the Big Story

Sometimes you see things you don't expect to see. Seeing a team overhaul a 13-0 deficit to Gonzaga in a national semifinal is something you don't expect to see.

Gonzaga and St. Ignatius had met earlier in the year in a game that was just at the beginning of Gonzaga's season. St. Ignatius Holds off Gonzaga in a Classic

This time, it was for a place in the national final. On Thursday, St. Ignatius had looked very vulnerable in their opener against Greenwich, but escaped 10-7. Wild Games in HS Nationals Single-School Bracket. Gonzaga had shut out SLUH 33-0 and been able to rest some players.

So the game began with St. Ignatius dropping the kickoff. Gonzaga took the scrum, attacked on the open side, and used their forwards to crash it over. Within a couple of minutes it was 5-0 Gonzaga. Gonzaga then doubled that lead with a nice counter on a kick, a couple of half-breaks, and finishing on the left side.

St. Ignatius couldn't get much going. Their passing was poor, with backs having to jump to catch passes and even those they didn't have to stretch for were slow and loopy. Gonzaga defenders got right up in the Wildcats' grill and forced drops and ruck penalties. One of those penalties was put over by scrumhalf Jack Reis for a 13-0 lead. Everything was coming up Gonzaga.

Then Gonzaga dropped the ensuing restart. Suddenly, for the first time in the game, Ignatius had an attacking chance. Never mind they got that chance from a mistake, bot their own play, they had it. The backs made a half break, the Wildcats got close to the line, and scrumhalf Fielding Carlson dotted it down. Bobby Voth converted and we had a ballgame on our hands at 13-7. That turn of events seemed to wake Ignatius up. Suddenly their passing was crisp, their support at the rucks better. Part of that was because of their subs. With the tournament allowing subbed-off players to return (so an overheated player could cool off), Ignatius more than anyone was using their impact subs in the middle of the game.

It was those impact subs who energized the team. And Ignatius then was able to go wide, where Isaac Gingerich curved around to score a nicely-taken backline try. Voth missed the conversion and that ended the first half, 13-12 Gonzaga. As they awaited the conversion attempt, one Gonzaga player said "we've lost our line speed."

That did seem to be true, the defense wasn't coming up quickly anymore, but it was also true that better Ignatius passing meant they could operate more quickly.

In the second half, it soon became evident that the Wildcats' tails were up. They took a lineout on a penalty, and executed that lineout perfectly to maul it 25 meters to the Gonzaga line. Patrick Lavelle bashed it over from there.

"That's all Owen Hunt," said Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik. "To have a young guy who's played in the MLR coaching with us and working on that aspect of play really helped us. He and Nick Dipietro deserve credit for that."

The try, with Voth's conversion, made it 19-13 Gonzaga, but Voth's earlier conversion miss loomed large as Gonzaga was still within a try. And they knew it and marched right down to the Ignatius line. Repeatedly the Gonzaga forwards did their pick-and-goes. Repeatedly Ignatius defended. Finally a penalty was called for diving onto the ball in the ruck by a Gonzaga player. But then the referee realized the player didn't roll away because he was injured. Ignatius instead got a scrum and was able to run, mostly, out of trouble.

That was another huge play, as Gonzaga seemed poised to score. Instead Ignatius seemed to break off a movement that almost produced a try from 100 meters out. Everything was called back for a forward pass, but soon Ignatius was threatening again, and wing Ryan Putka was sent up the middle and he scored. Voth converted, Ignatius stopped Gonzaga one more time, and that was it.

"Hey, look, Ignatius played very well and that first try they scored was big," said Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta. "Our guys played their hearts out. We're very young and the experience they got in our 12th-straight national semifinal is huge. The thing is, we weren't even sure we'd have a season, so to be here and competing and coming back to play for third tomorrow, that's a win for us."

Arbeznik was thrilled to see his team play well when it needed to, and again he credited his impact subs for sparking the team. "Group 2 won it again for us," he said. "And then we knew when we had the wind we could control the field position. It's hot so it's easy to miss there's a breeze, but that was important. We started moving the ball better, and we're excited to make the final."

It was a thriller, and Ignatius coming back from 13-0 down against mighty Gonzaga was certainly a head-turning moment. So now it's #1-seed and GRR #2 (Herriman) against #2 seed and GRR #1 (Ignatius) for the championship.