Indiana and Florida are 2-0 after Day One of the Boys Varsity Bracket at the Rugby Challenge Cup in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Fullback Casey Smith of Penn HS handled the opposition kicking games and directed the back three in counter=attacking for Indiana. But their games were won by the forwards, said coach Eddie Abel.

Front rowers Jason Taylor (Warsaw) and Ollie Brookins (Pike) were excellent in the set piece and covered the field as well. Royal Irish No.8 Jake Ney led the team in scoring and was a playmaker for the Indiana offense, while Noah Schrader (Royal Irish), Connor Marsh (Penn), and Trevor Rothhaas (Brownsburg) all defended well in the forwards.

“We got big contributions off the bench,” added Abel. “Overall it was a good day for all three of our teams. As for tomorrow I'm hoping we come out and play with energy. The second day of these kind of tournaments are always tough and honestly we're just happy to still be in contention for championships in all three age groups. Winning would be great but as long as our guys go out and play our game and play as hard as they can I'll be happy with the results.”

Indiana beat western NY 36-0 and New Jersey 34-0.

Florida Youth Rugby Executive Director Evan Haigh lauded the Juice effort.

“They did a fantastic job in Pittsburg today,” said Haigh.

They beat Empire 34-7 and then battled to overcome Illinois 9-7.