In a result that was something of a surprise, given previous meetings between the two teams, St. Thomas Aquinas of Florida beat the Okapi Wanderers 27-18 to win the Florida Youth Rugby Boys HS state championship Saturday.

STA got a massive game from loose forward Chase Schor Haskin, who has put in a series of impressive performances through the playoffs. Haskin was named the game MVP.

It was a tight game throughout, just as it was three weeks ago when Okapi won the South Regional final 26-24. The Wanderers took an early 3-0, but STA replied with converted tries from Haskin and Austin Boatwright to lead 14-3 at halftime. Okapi clawed their way back with two tries (both unconverted) to make it 14-13. Tomas Daza scored for Aquinas to make it 21-13. Okapi replid. When Aquinas opted to tap quickly on a penalty in their own end, the Wanderers were able to get the ball and score to make it 21-18. 

St Thomas kept up the offensive and defensive pressure, and closed the game out nicely - once they got into Okapi territory they took the points on offer and Nick Marino kicked two penalty goals to seal it 27-18. Okapi put everything into the final attack, but needed two tries at that point, and STA held them out.

Marino was excellent with his goalkicking, which was one of the factors that made the difference.