St. Ignatius defeated Notre Dame de la Salette in a crossover match between two ranked school-supported teams Saturday.

It was the third game of the season for Ignatius and the first for La Salette, which made the 6-1/2-hour drive to Cleveland early on Saturday morning. The difference in game time was clear as the La Salette team played hard and was very effective in several areas of the game, but couldn't break a patient and physical Ignatius defense. Final score 49-0.

Little mistakes plagued La Salette early as they did things like miss touch on penalties and opt to quick-tap in their own 22. As a result, Ignatius was able to exert pressure and from that powered over for a nice forwards try in the corner. That try came from a lineout stolen by No. 8 Marty Lenehan, who was very active all day, scoring two tries, stealing ball, and adding a yellow card for a sort of Gordie Howe hat trick.

Tapping out of their 22 burned La Salette after that, leading to a nice Ignatius counter and their second try. A nicely-taken crashball off a scrum rounded out the first-half scoring and Ignatius led 17-0.

The second half started quickly with an Ignatius try, but after that La Salette dominated possession. Penalties in the breakdown had been a problem for Ignatius, and La Salette used that to get the ball back and worked the phases repeatedly. La Salette's commitment to winning ball at the breakdown and their tenacity in attacking both in tight and out wide were impressive. However, with their kicking game kept in a lock box and with few chances to really break the line, La Salette couldn't get into good scoring position. For almost 15 minutes after their fourth try, Ignatius was on defense, tackling and tackling and, finally, avoiding penalties. 

After that long period of defense, Ignatius finally earned a penalty, kicked for the lineout, got a second penalty, and then mauled the ball over for their fifth try.

A well-worked backline move, a penalty kick from flyhalf Bobby Voth, and a long-range eightman pick rounded out the scoring.

"We had six or seven sequences of continuous play lasting four or five minutes," said Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik. "They just kept coming and coming. And we had probably five more periods of three minutes or more. Our guys defended for really long periods, didn't miss tackles, kept our defensive structure, and put in a really good effort."

Along with Lenehan's two tries and Voth's 16 points from the boot and a try, sophomore prop Pat Lavelle scored three tries.

St. Ignatius also won the B-side match, and played two more games, with their JVs and Developmental sides taking on Medina. Ignatius won all four matches, with the closest being a 19-17 nailbiter between SIHS JVs and a hard-nosed Medina team that had skill and power but is still getting its sea legs back after a year away from the game.