Celtic Girls Lead the Way at Buckeye Invitational

06.27.2022

The Buckeye Invitational wrapped up on Sunday with

Celtic 34 Illinois Tornadoes 19 (Girls)

Celtic fullback Carrie Coyer-Westerberg continued her scoring run with two tries and some of the younger Celtic players showed well with Maery McEwan having a big day at scrumhalf.

Indy Speed 19 Allegheny Rugby Unoin 5 (Girls)

Scrumhalf Chloe de Leon was very good, scoring tries and running a quick-tempo attack that utilized her backline's impressive ballhandling.

Ohio Aviators 31 Celtic 28 (Boys)

The Aviators struck first with a barreling run from Justin Russell. Long breaks seemed to be the order of the day for the Aviators, but Celtic came back in the second half. Showing well in this game was flyhalf Aiden Pickston. Second on the depth chart at flyhalf for St. Ignatius behind captain and MVP Bobby Voth, Pickston showcased some impressive kicking and a good rugby mind.

Pickston himself scored in a nifty show-and-go that he also converted, and by then Celtic was making the Aviators very nervous. The forwards scored three tries and Pickston converted those as well. But a red card to Celtic put them on the back food and the Aviators charged over for the game-winner.

This was a two-game series both Saturday and Sunday, and the Aviators took the series 50-40 on aggregate.

Ohio Aviators 0 Celtic 37 (Girls)

Celtic showed their strength from the beginning. Emma Schilling scored on an eightman pick. Coyer-Westerberg oncegaain was heavily influential, and Rosa Treece had a good game as Celtic finished the tournament undefeated.

Illinois Tornadoes 14 Allegheny Rugby Union 28 (Girls)

Illinois scored first but ARU came back and took this one.

Indy Speed 10 Ohio Aviators 15 (Girls)

Indy Speed were edged to finish 2-2 and the Aviators also ended up 2-2.

“Rugby Ohio was very pleased to see the culmination of our brand new state-wide select side program this weekend at our inaugural Buckeye Invitational tournament," said Allison Bradfield, who heads up Rugby Ohio. "Both the boys and girls All Ohio Aviators teams participated in two days of high-level training followed by two more days of intense competition against some of the best teams from around the Midwest area. Boys coaches Allan Hanson and Tom Rooney and girls’ coaches Craig Russell and Jeff Marshall all gave their players an incredible experience from which we hope they will learn a lot. There are so many great rugby players across the state of Ohio, and we were thrilled to be able to gather them all together in one place to show how great they really are. We would also like to recognize the coaches and players of the Allegheny Rugby Union, Illinois Tornados, and Indy Speed for traveling to compete in the first ever Buckeye Invitational. We are looking forward to further growing the program and the tournament in the years to come.”

Chloe de Leon, Indy Speed #scrumhalf, was selected at the Raising Canes Rugger of the Weekend.