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Boys Nationals Final Day Wrapup

irish rugby tours

Boys Nationals Final Day Wrapup

Dan Bandoni photo.

The final day of action is done at the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.

Here's a rundown with links for more:

Jesuit honored their injured alumnus Robert Paylor and battled through illness to defeated Gonzaga 23-13 to win the single-school bracket. Full game report here.

Penn got three tries and a brilliant effort from Will Vakalahi and controlled the pace of the game with Sam Moala and a versatile and enthusiastic Rashid Fahim to defeat Herriman 43-15 to take 3rd. Greenwich and Xavier battled to a 22-22 tie, and in ten minutes of overtime, failed to score any more. So they went to penalty kicks. After the obligatory five attempts each, both teams were 4/5. So now it went to sudden death. Xavier just missed its 6th kick, and Greenwich was successful, and took 5th.

Video Interview John O'Toole and Will Lyke, Gonzaga

 

St. Edward, which lost to Greenwich on OT on Friday, just got by Fishers 26-19 for 7th.

In the HS Club bracket, Royal Irish scored in the final minutes as scrumhalf Jake Christmann scored to tie the final 16-16. Christmann then converted from the sideline and held off Fort Hunt one last time to win it all. See full game report here. For third, Granite Bay came back to defeat Doylestown 26-16. 

Video Interview of Jonas Petrakopoulos and Gabe Coleman 

United finished off their weird, up-and-down season with a 34-17 defeat of the Kansas City Junior Blues to take 5th. In the 7th/8th game, West End and Elsie Allen were tied in the first half, and continued to trade scores. Paced bu Elias Bergstrom's good work at scrumhalf all week, Elsie Allen held on 38-34.

 

In Tier II, there was more drama as St. Thomas Aquinas and Charlotte Catholic played to a 14-14 tie. Catholic scored at the death to make it 14-12, and then kicked the conversion to tie the game. Both teams had chances to score in overtime, but failed. This went to kicks as well, and STA Coach Tim Kluempers's decision to sub on some players with kicking ability late in the game paid off, as STA went 3-for-4, and Catholic went 1-for-4, obviating the need for the fifth kick.

Brownsburg capped off an impressive week with a 44-10 defeat of Jesuit II. South Bay did the same, finishing 2-1 and 5th with a 53-5 defeat of Blue Valley. Greenville took 7th over Winnetonka 49-10.

Video Interview of Diago Vasquez and Seleve Tuisalo'o of South Bay

 

See Historical Champions Here