Impressive Second Half Sees La Salette Take Illinois Title
Notre Dame de la Salette followed up on their 3rd-place finish at the Boys HS National Championships with wild win over the Marist Redhawks to take the Illinois School-team State Championship.
La Salette struck first, with prop Seamus Hanlon taking it to the corner and a 5-0 lead. Marist responded with center Kevin Tompkins charging over after a lineout. The conversion gave Marist a 7-5 lead. Redhawks fullback Micheal Flynn helped add to that lead, blocking a La Salette clearance kick for Thompkins to grab and take over the line.
Down 14-5 La Salette got a try from captain and scrumhalf Saulo Cruz off a scrum five meters out.
State Finals on Saturday
We have a few additional state champions this week.
Marquette won a close one 21-17 over the Pulaski Roos to take the Wisconsin title.
New Trier rode the momentum that saw them get to the final of Tier II of the HS National Championships, beating Naperville 66-5 to take the Illinois HS Club title.
In Ohio we saw several finals. Look for a report on the girls final on Sunday.
Among the boys, Westshore beat Olentangy 28-8 to cap off an excellent season with a Ohio HS Club championship. In the school final Medina defeated Watkins Memorial HS Warriors 30-17.
The Boys Varsity finals included a JV final, which St. Ignatius 43-12 over St. Edward thanks to an outstanding showing from the back row of Rocco Capuano, Josh Toth, and No. 8 Bryce Keller, with scrumhalf Braeden Oddi keeping the play moving quickly.
New Trier Defeats La Salette in Illinois New Trier pulled off a big result in Illinois, beating Notre Dame de la Salette in a midweek clash 22-7. This was New Trier's opening league game and a strong showing for the school team. It was a wet day with steady rain, and ball retention was difficult, so both teams tried to keep the ball among the forwards to control it. La Salette struggled to capitalize on early scoring chances in the first half, but New Trier was able to maul in two tries from lineouts inside the La Salette 22. LaSalette had a lot more possession the second half, spending significant time in the New Trier 22 and finally scored to make it 10-7. But from there/ New Trier had the run of play.
How Two American Kids Handled Rugby and Life at School in NZ
Three weeks remain in the term at Nelson College in New Zealand and in a weird way it also means the end of the summer break for Oliver Kirk and Max Doerfler.
Kirk, who normally attends Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago and plays for the Chicago Lions HS team, and Doefler, who attends and plays for St. Thomas Aquinas in Overland Park, Kan., have been spending the first eight months of this year at school at Nelson College. With a scholarship provided by the US Rugby Foundation in partnership with Nelson College, the two talented young rugby players got to spend their junior years in New Zealand.
State Champs Crowned in Connecticut, Illinois, New York
The past week saw several state champions crowned in Boys HS rugby, with New York, Connecticut, and Illinois all seeing championship games.
Here's a roundup:
Illinois
Glen Ellyn ran out to a 24-7 lead and held off Notre Dame de la Salette 36-29 in the Illinois Boys D1 final.
Zane Cross, Dylan Skodal, and Morley Coval led the scoring for Glen Ellyn as they established their lead. However, discipline problems crept in and two concurrent yellow cards to Glen Ellyn put them down to 13 players. La Salette is too smart not to take advantage and they clawed back.
However, once Glen Ellyn was back at full strength, two tries from Joey Pope sealed the game.
Last-Second Penalty Sees Neuqua Past ND De La Salette
Two of the stronger teams in Illinois faced off over the weekend and the game proved to be as close as you'd hope.
La Salette was undefeated in-state and Neuqua had lost just the one game as they traveled downstate to Georgetown, Ill.
Match conditions were ideal save for the gusting winds that made the kicking game a material challenge for both sides. The match started out in typical fashion with both sides exchanging some hard-charging runs to probe and test the other before Neuqua opened its account with a penalty kick at the 11-minute mark to go up 3-0.
Neuqua Logs Victory in Illinois
After a successful tour to Phoenix with matches against Tempe and Arizona Bobcats, Illinois HS club Neuqua returned home to take on Illinois opposition.
The game with Notre Dame de La Salette was called off due to weather, but Neuqua was able to play the Fox Valley Predators and and won 59-17.
Down three starters due to injuries, the Wildcats moved some players around nicely and did well to move the ball and find space on attack.
Prop Andrew Cohen, flanker Alex Patrascu, and wings Joe Quinn and Nick Meger all scored tries. Fullback Parker Kurtenbach scored two and center Matt Chevalier added three, as well as seven conversions for 29 points.
Rugby X Keeps Building in Illinois
YORKVILLE, Ill. – Week 2 of the Rugby Illinois RugbyX series saw across the board improvement which in turn provided greater parity. Score lines were much tighter as team play improved dramatically. Players’ stamina went further and fewer runaway trys were being scored against exhausted opposition.
Illinois HS Players Get Back into the Swing with RugbyX Series
In Illinois a new approach to getting young players back to the game after the COVID shutdowns is kicking off this month.
Around a year ago, volunteers across the levels of Illinois grassroots rugby began meeting for weekly informal brainstorming sessions and one idea that came out of those sessions was a high school Rugby X series. This series would be indoor 5-v-5 games designed to get players playing before the 15s season starts.
Chicago Lions Hires Mark Santiago as Youth Director
The Chicago Lions Rugby organization, established in 1964, has hired Mark Santiago as their new Director of Youth Rugby and Women’s 15s Head Coach.
The Chicago Lions merged the Wapiti Youth Program into the Chicago Lions in 2019. The Chicago Lions started their Women’s 15s program in 2018 and were D1 Midwest Champions before COVID halted their campaign for a 2020 National Championship. As Women’s 15s Head Coach, Santiago will be responsible leading the Women’s Fifteens Rugby program and coordinating with other Chicago Lions Rugby program leaders.
Illinois, Wisconsin Selects Clash in U17s, U19s
The Illinois Tornados and Wisconsin Badgers select sides met this past weekend in Cedar Grove, Wisc. for the Cody Cup.
Wisconsin's U17s took an impressive 43-14 victory over Illinois, while the Tornados won the U19 game, beating Wisconsin 31-21.
Illinois led 12-0 at halftime of the U19 game only to see the Badgers storm back to take the lead 14-12. The momentum shifted once more with Illinois scoring three tries to lead 31-14 and hold on 31-21.
Brother Rice flanker Brendan Ryan scored two tries on the day, with prop Carter McAlilly, also from Brother Rice, scoring the go-ahead try that made it 19-14. Center Eddie Mika (Glen Ellyn), and Neuqua No. 8 Nolan LeBreck also scored tries for Illinois.
Guerra, Other Eagle Newbies Ready to Make Their Mark
Maybe in a sense everyone in assembly with the USA National Team is a newbie, seeing as the 15s Eagles haven’t come together since thy played their final game of the Rugby World Cup in Mid-October 2019.
Now here we are, more than 20 months later, back talking about international test matches. For some players, such as Andrew Guerra, though, this is a new experience. One of 11 uncapped players in England preparing to meet the RWC runners-up on July 4, Guerra and his newbie cohorts are getting a crash course in the life of an international player.
Defensive Patience Sees St. Ignatius Past La Salette
St. Ignatius defeated Notre Dame de la Salette in a crossover match between two ranked school-supported teams Saturday.
It was the third game of the season for Ignatius and the first for La Salette, which made the 6-1/2-hour drive to Cleveland early on Saturday morning. The difference in game time was clear as the La Salette team played hard and was very effective in several areas of the game, but couldn't break a patient and physical Ignatius defense. Final score 49-0.
Pleading Your Case Can Get HS Rugby Back
Advocating and working with other sports can help rugby get back on the field, especially for high school teams and leagues.
We've seen it in Illinois, where it was the playing advocates who went back to Rugby Illinois to discuss changes in how the game will be played in order to get some games in. The Rugby Illinois Executive Committee last week approved rugby for the season (after appearing to be leaning toward a full cancelation) incorporating masking and travel restrictions and some unspecified game modifications. But the key here was that a group pushed back against cancelation with a plan.
State Championship Latest: Minnesota, Illinois, NY, Ohio
Edina defeated Eagan 22-17 in the Minnesota Youth Rugby Boys HS final, capping off an undefeated league season.
(Photos from the game courtesy of Guy Warren)
Meanwhile, in Illinois, Brother Rice edged Neuqua 36-33 to take the Rugby Illinois Boys D1 title. Brother Rice ran out to a 24-7 lead just after halftime, and with 15 minutes to go still held onto a 19-point lead at 36-15. In the closing minutes, Neuqua stormed back and powered through to make it a three-point game. Neuqua had the ball at the end of the game and worked their way into Brother Rice territory. But the Rice defense held and forced a knock-on to end a dramatic game.
Neuqua will be left ruing yellow cards that made them shorthanded for far too much of the game.
Other results from Illinois:
