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Brother Martin Lays Down A Marker In Louisiana

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Brother Martin Lays Down A Marker In Louisiana

In a clash of unbeaten boys HS teams in Louisiana, St Paul's was handed a convincing defeat by the now 3-0 Brother Martin Saturday.

St. Paul's played a tough match and in fact had Brother Martin on their heels early on, but the Brother Martin goal line defense held firm and forced a knock-on to keep it 0-0. 

Moments later captain and No. 8 Sam Vallejos picked up from the back of the scrum and found some space. The forwards surged on and then the ball was sent wide where senior Brandon Bourg set up John Rink for the first try for the Crusaders. 

The ensuing kick did not go 10 meters, giving Brother Martin a scrum at midfield. Crusaders scrumhalf Dom Cortello ran wide and then dummied his way through a gap for a long gain. The Crusaders were awarded a penalty at the St Paul goal line and Vallejos quick-tapped and scored to make it 10-0.

Brother Martin found themselves close to the tryline again, and from a lineout Vallejos fed Joacob Schmidt, who drew the defender and popped the ball back to his captain for the try and a 15-0 lead.

As they did all game, St. Paul's kept fighting back and worked the ball close to the Brother Martin line.  From a lineout they powered through to score and convert to make it a tight 15-7 affair at halftime.

But Brother Martin extended their lead in the second period. Kicking deep they put the pressure on and that set up a try by senior prop John Authement. Vallejos then claimed his third, with Rink converting to make it 27-7. Vallejos then thundered through on a crashball and just kept going for his fourth, this one from 60 meters out. Rink's conversion made it 34-7. Rink and senior Brandon Bourg touched down late before St. Paul's ended it all with their second try.

At 48-12 this was the least-close league game of Louisiana's season, and certainly put the rest of the state on notice that the Crusaders are powerful this year.\