The Cardinal Way to a Unique Championship

For their part, The Woodlands lost their flyhalf, Ilen Menon, and their fullback, Tate Standridge, within the first 10 minutes or so. They did a really good job of not letting it get under their skin, but it had to have an effect. This is the game where you expect your starting 15 to be ready to go, and in the end they couldn't.

And finally, Charlotte didn't panic. After going out to a 10-0 lead they saw The Woodlands find their feet and find the tryline to tie it up 10-10, and even take the lead at 13-10. 

Late in the second half Charlotte for a scrum just outside the Woodlands 22. Rawls picked up from the base and made some ground before the ball was recycled and sent on to wing Luke Zhemke. Two more runs and then from the base of the next ruck Max Coulson stepped into the scrumhalf spot and dummied before cutting into the gap he'd just created. A little shimmy and a pass floated for scrumhalf Will Kuebler—who had been excellent all weekend—and he was able to stretch over. Conversion good and it was now a 17-13 lead.

All this, by the way, with Zach Coulson in the sin-bin for a dangerous clearout.

The Woodlands responded with a big run down the sideline, and when Charlotte loose forward Jacko Ah Hoy was sin-binned for a dump tackle, Now down to 13 players, Charlotte were in serious trouble. With time winding down, The Woodlands only needed a try to take the lead. And they were knocking on the door. This is where Charlotte's defense came into play. They knew they were outnumbered, so they made sure they bumped out well and then came up quickly when The Woodlands looked to test them wide. The result was a rather slow pass to Zane Smith. He was hit by Mitchell as he grabbed the ball and the ball came loose. 

Center Jacob Schumacher, up level with Mitchell, scooped up the ball, fended off someone (who turned out to be his teammate!), and took off. Woodlands wing Brock Jeter did all he could and managed to drag Schumacher down before he scored, but Zhemke was right there to take the offload and go in under the posts. 

A superb breakaway try, but one made possible by defense and conditioning, and dedication to the unglamorous stuff. Schumacher had also pounced on another loose ball to prevent a try; the Cardinals just had that mentality.

The Rest of the Tournament

Spare a thought for The Woodlands, a team that played some excellent rugby and were done no favors by the injury gods.

Spare a thought also for Belmont Shore, who finished 3rd a year after winning it all. They lost just the one game, a 22-17 nailbiter to The Woodlands, and can look back on the last 12 months and one week with plenty of pride.

The chatter around the tournament was mostly about the hard-luck team Layton Christian, which had come to the 2024 Championship with a renewed purpose and perhaps a better understanding of how hard it all is. They had lost all three games last year by a total of five points. They started this year with an overtime loss to Belmont Shore. But after a victory over Eastside in which they won but felt they hadn't played their best, they stormed on to take 5th over Okapi. It was a fitting end to a team that had paid its dues.

Eastside finished winless after losing some key players to injury early, but it's worth pointing out that they were in every game they played. Even their 22-0 loss to The Woodlands was 8-0 well into the second half. They were pipped for 7th by Pendleton, a very, very good club team that lost their first two matches by two and three points, respectively. Overall, seven of the 12 HS Club Championship matches ended within a try, and while the final didn't fit that criteria, the last try of the game came at full time. We said at the beginning that this was a tournament almost anyone could win. That remains the case; everything was close, and the team with the biggest commitment to defending their tryline came away with the Lee Kelly Trophy.