Downingtown Girls, Berks Boys Win in PA

11.05.2024

Berks Boys and Downingtown Girls took home their respective state titles in RugbyPa’s Fall HS 7s.

Elizabethtown won the U16 boys bracket.

Girls HS

Downingtown controlled the scenario throughout the 2024 fall season. They entered the fall finals with a 20-3 record.

In the final tournament, they beat Conestoga 26-5, Doylestown II 38-7, and Knightmare 22-12 to win their pool.

In the semis Downingtown battled their rivals Doylestown, which had been the closest to them all season. Doylestown’s tenacious defense made it tough, but Downingtown held on 17-12.

In the final West Pitt, which had just won the Rugby Ohio 7s tournament, caused Downingtown some trouble, but a strong second half saw Downingtown take a 22-5 into the final play of the game. West Pitt battled to score one more, but 22-10 was as close as they came.

This season, said Head Coach Oliver Snow, was similar to what Knightmare experienced in 2023.

“We are stocked full of experienced seniors who are peaking and growing at the right time,” said Snow. “I’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of people that have grown over the years. It has kind of all come together at the right time. When we break huddle I am confident that they know what to do.”

With a mature team that knows its rugby, led by brown commit Lilly McGettigan and a bunch of other talented players who will play rugby in college, they made every training a challenge (in a good way).

“Every senior save one or two will play rugby in college,” said Snow. “That’s a testament to the girls all pushing one another.”

Combine that experience to players such as Liv Amann, a softball player who has embraced rugby and become a powerful runner and Morgan Whelan, who is a lineout threat and continues to expand her game.

“Live really just picked up rugby only in a few months. We rely on her to break gainlines and make passes,” said Snow. “Morgan is just so intellectually smart and she picks up on stuff really quickly. She is one of the most coachable people.”

Jessica Pasco is a USA U18 prospect who missed most of the season due to knee injuries, but came back for the final two weeks and provided a spark for a team that ended the season 26-3.

Boys HS

Berks won in one of the wilder Boys Championship tournaments in recent memory.

They opened the first day with a 26-5 win over Malvern Prep, but dropped a 21-10 decision to LaSalle in which they committed far too many knock-ons.

“They were just too many mistakes and the guys were frustrated,” said Berks Head Coach Greg Stelutti.

So that set up a must-win game against St. Joe’s Prep. Win and you’re in the semifinals. Lose and you’re playing for 5th. They tied. At the end of the game, St. Joe’s scored to tie the game at 19-19. But they took too long to take the conversion. While the ball went through the posts, the referee had already called it. No good, and the game ended in a tie.

This left both St. Joe’s Prep and Berks at 1-1-1, but Berks had a +12 in points difference, and St. Joe’s Prep had a +9. Berks made the semis.

“We got really lucky,” said Stelutti. “Our kids were frustrated and angry at themselves and they talked about it overnight. We as coaches didn’t really have to do much. The players got together and were focused and fired up.”

In the opposing pool, Downingtown went 3-0 but the other three teams went 1-2. So again it game down to points difference, and Doylestown advanced.

In the semifinal, however, it was a new-look Berks team. They smothered Downingtown with their defense, pinned them inside their own half, and Berks won 26-5. The other semifinal produced more drama. Doylestown and LaSalle went back and forth.

Twice Doylestown came back with tries. The first time, their conversion hit the post to leave the score tries. The second time it was 19-17 and the conversion hit the post again. LaSalle advanced to the final.

In the final Berks forced a turnover to set up a try, and then some slick passing set up another.

LaSalle scored to make it 10-7, but then Berks stole a scrum put-in and scrumhalf Brendan Zimmerman grabbed the ball and sped down the weakside for a key try. Berks forced a holding-on penalty after the restart, wisely opted for a scrum, got another penalty, and, knowing time was now expired, tapped and kicked to touch.

Led by Kaiden Boyer, Kyran Rautenbach, and a good team approach on the final day, Berks somehow had pulled it out.

“Everyone wanted to tackle, everyone wanted to fix it after that first day,” said Steluttl.