Day Two at the Boys HS Rugby National Championships is done for Tier II with West End and Pelham facing off in Saturday’s final.

Pelham produced a somewhat surprisingly convincing performance in beating Brownsburg 22-12. It was wet and muddy at the Rugby Athletic Center, but that didn’t prevent Pelham from trying to play wide. They struggled to put all the pieces together early, while Brownsburg tried to exert their dominance in tight.

Pelham opened the scoring with a penalty, but the big play came with a nice passing movement to wing Sam Louman, who controlled the ball, burst down the sideline, and slid in for the opening try.

Despite being smaller in the pack, Pelham’s scrum was superior, and that gave them a good attacking platform. Brownsburg replied with a try off a lineout and then out to the backs to make it 8-7, but in the second half, Pelham had the run of play. Scrumhalf Luke Persanis controlled the attack nicely, always finding the open man, and sub prop Tim Quinn had an active game.

Pelham pulled away after a scrum move - No. 8 North Westall fed Persanis, who dummied and ran about 40 meters before trying an offload. The pass didn’t go to hand, but was knocked down by a Brownsburg defender. Flanker Kevin Ndou slid in on the ball and took it over the line for a crucial try.

Pelham got a penalty try on a no-wrap tackle later in the game, but they were in control by then.

In the other semi, West End surprised Charlotte Catholic. Catholic had a size and power advantage in the backs and a stronger scrum, but West End’s skill in the tough conditions and their aggressive, speed-oriented defense did enough.

After a long period inside the Charlotte 22 yielded no points, West End got the try they wanted when center Dmontae Noble intercepted a pass, sidestepped one defender, and was gone for seven.

A penalty goal from Jacob Estes put West End up 10-7, and then their forwards, led by Gray Zahurancik, started to produce some good go-forward. A big run from wing John Freeman set up a try, and a 15-7 lead.

Charlotte Catholic worked enormously hard to get back, with center Reid Brandt getting several touches. Eventually they did get it over to make it 15-14. But West End came right back with some good offload work and then recycling the ball to get it out to Noble for his second. That seemed to put the game away because West End answered so emphatically. Up 22-14 West End finished it off with a nifty run from fullback John Lefebvre for the final nail.

Charlotte Catholic just wasn’t able to score fast enough to get back in the game after that.

So Pelham plays West End at 11:30am for the Tier II championship. Charlotte Catholic plays Brownsburg for 3rd at the same time. 

Union County Lions edged South Doyle 15-12 to make the Tier II 5th/6th game against St. Thomas Aquinas, which beat North Bay 28-5.

North Bay plays South Doyle for 7th. Both of those games are at 10am Saturday.