A cold and breezy day greeted the boys from Philadelphia for a Jesuit showdown between St. Joe's Prep and Georgetown Prep on Sunday leading to a very competitive game.

For St. Joe’s this game came two games after they beat Loyola Blakefield 22-12 on Friday.

“It was something we felt we needed to do,” said St. Joe’s Coach Brian McCloskey. “Playing Friday and Sunday is tough. Our goal was to get out ahead on Loyola and get ready for Georgetown Prep. We were ready for it, but it was good preparation for us.”

After that victory on Friday, St. Joe’s needed to rebound against a very tough Georgetown Prep team. Georgetown Prep opened the scoring almost immediately with a try from junior flanker Jake Hagy after a long run from the combination of senior centers Thomas Gates and Rob Saylor. A conversion from sophomore Matthew Zaudtke and Prep led 7-0 inside a minute. A period of somewhat sloppy ball handling followed by both teams as they battled back and forth mainly in St Joe's territory before a long run from Zaudtke put Georgetown back on the doorstep with junior flanker Phil Dainty scoring shortly thereafter bringing the total to 12-0.

Georgetown Prep's aggressive play also exposed them to St. Joe's excellent kicking game. St. Joe’s pressured off one such kick, but were stymied by a try-saving tackle from Zaudtke five meters from the tryline. Soon thereafter scrumhalf David Mitchell got a yellow card and the St Joe's forwards ultimately punched it in. A successful conversion made it 12-7.  Prep answered when senior hooker Brian O'Loughlin forced a penalty to Georgetown Prep, and Zaudtke put a kick over to make it 15-7.

St Joe's continued to place Prep under pressure with their kicking game, consistently gaining significant territory and forcing turnovers. Finally they broke through, going in from 70 meters to make it 15-12.

Georgetown Prep responded down a man and stole possession after the restart. Long runs again from Saylor and Gates resulted in another try for Hagy from 15 meters out. The conversion was good and the score was 22-12 at halftime.

In the the second half, a deep kick over the Georgetown Prep defense coupled with an ill-advised quick lineout resulted in a turnover for St. Joe’s and a try. Now it was 22-19. The game was back and forth with St Joe's drawing penalties from Georgetown Prep and gaining territory with a series of quick taps, while the Georgetown Prep defense held, and usually stole the ball in the breakdown.

Somewhat against the run of play, Georgetown Prep got a kickable penalty, which Zaudtke missed. But Georgetown continued to pressure, and after being held up in-goal twice, they finally send Gates over for a try with ten minutes to go.

That made it 29-19. St Joes responded again with a pick-and-go game from the forwards, and they finally powered over. That made it 29-24 with three minutes remaining.  It was an enormously physical second half and the players girded themselves for one final push. St. Joe’s came close, but couldn’t quite pull it out.

It was a good result for Georgetown Prep, which has been very active in the early going. 

St. Joe’s Prep got a very nice game from hooker Gaelen Kelly, who has been strong all season so far.