In what was a brilliantly played and thoroughly entertaining game, Eagle HS of Idaho defeated Divine Saviour Holy Angels 24-5 to win the 2024 Girls Single-School Rugby National Championships.

DSHA came in as two-time defending champs but carrying some injuries, notably to power-running No. 8 Melanie Sanchez. The local Wisconsin team (the championship was held at the beautiful Wisconsin Rugby Complex in Cottage Grove) was also coming off an enormously difficult semifinal game against Meridian (also out of Idaho). The game ended 7-5; Meridian went on to win 3rd place in impressive fashion.

But Eagle was decidedly the road team here, with a huge DSHA supporters contingent in the stands at the WRC. While the Eagles fans were dedicated, they couldn't match their rivals for numbers.

The game started with DSHA on the front foot. Eagle gave up a series of penalties, mostly around either not rolling away quickly enough or leaving their feat while trying to poach the ball in the breakdown. Referee Jeff Noe mde it clear in no uncertain terms that he wanted tacklers to roll out of the tackle area once the tackle was made.

But by the Eagle HS players' own admission after the game, they took a while to figure that out.

So DSHA used those penalties to get into the Eagle 22. There Eagle defended with enormous tenacity, making several stops when the Dashers looked like they were sure to score.

Finally, however, DSHA did get over, with prop Lola Sprignuoli running hard and the halfback combination of Megan Walsh and Evelyn Coffou running the tempo, and took a 5-0 lead. Eagle responded quickly with a snappy restart from center Keily Heichman, the back row of Alison Blackburn, Hailey Mills, and Jordynn LeBeau immediately put the Dashers under pressure. That forced a turnover and the ball was shipped wide quickly to the waiting arms of wing Kanani Watts, and she sped into the corner to equalize.

The penny had now (mostly) dropped for Eagle. Roll out of tackles and don't try to poach the ball so much—just make you hits and organize. It worked well enough and with center Ella Elordi and LeBeau they were able to run their way out of trouble before once again finding Watts. The speedy winger had a lot to do this time, as she took off down the sideline and then quickly cut back to find a seam to the goalposts.

"All I was thinking was "run really fast' and I didn't want go out of bounds," Watts said after the game.

It was a scintillating piece of running and, with Heichman's conversion, it staked Eagle to a 12-5 lead. It had been a very physical first half that saw Referee Noe yellow-card two players, one from each side, in quick success. Eagle's was for repeated penalties; DSHA's was for not attempting to retreat 10 meters on a penalty and tackling the player anyway. It was a message that he wasn't messing around.

That's how it stayed into the second half, and once again DSHA started the half pressuring Eagle. However, Eagle made some hard-hitting double tackles and the Dashers couldn't find that consistent line-breaker. After Eagle got out of trouble, DSHA put them right back under difficult—Coffou lofting an excellent kick deep into the Eagle 22. Fullback Madison Cerda picked up the ball and did well to delay behind taken to ground, long enough for the support to get there. They worked through some phases after that until LeBauau picked up and just started running straight ahead. Caught a bit by surprise DSHA rushed to chase her down but she kept going before passing. The ball got to Watts in support once more and she was not to be denied her hat-trick.

Try in the corner, and it was 17-5—a two-score lead and, based on Eagles' defense so far, a fairly commanding one.