Gonzaga won their second straight Boys National Single-School Championship with a bruising defeat of Jesuit Saturday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.

Both teams played hard-nosed defense and points were definitely at a premium. With two huge, tough packs, Gonzaga won by being a little bit bigger, and having some startling pace out wide.

Herriman defenders come in on a Penn ballcarrier in the 3rd-4th game. Tamara Tidey photo.

Xavier v Greenwich in the 5th-place game. Tamara Tidey photo.

Jesuit hoped to set their platform through their lineout, and for the most part their did, with lock Robert Paylor not only consistently winning Jesuit ball, but stealing plenty of Gonzaga ball. But the Gonzaga interior backs of Pat Sheehy, Nick Skalka, and Rahshan Jones were up quickly, and whenever Jesuit got out wide, wings Reggie Corbin and Tyree Randolph were just too quick and didn’t let them find any room.

Eventually, Gonzaga found a way when Jones cut back against the grain to get his side on the front foot. Then it was a case of getting the balls through the hands to Corbin, who raced down the sideline to score in the corner. Gonzaga added to their lead with a early penalty goal from Sheehy. That made it 8-0, and for much of the game that’s how the game remained. The breakdowns were intense battles with Gonzaga hooker Jack Iscaro leading the effort to ruin Jesuit continuity. That kind of approach certainly stopped Jesuit when they had an attacking lineout-and-maul close to the Gonzaga line.

That attack didn’t get a try front that but eventually they did settle for a penalty goal, which fullback Luke Thayer slotted.

As time went on Jesuit’s situation became more and more desperate. They recycled well and flyhalf Christian Dyer was finding runners to pass to, but those runners were simply being brought to the ground by the Gonzaga defense. Then, late in the game, Jesuit was called for coming in from the side (the ball was clear out of the back of the Gonzaga ruck, but the referee was correct in ruling that the Jesuit player had not retreated on side before coming to grab the ball). A few words were exchanged and ten more meters were marched off. 

Gonzaga kicked for a lineout, and mauled toward the Jesuit line. Jesuit held on, but Gonzaga recycled and passed out quickly to sophomore forward Johnny Jordan, and he was in at the corner. It was a smart move by Jordan, who was actually outnumbers on the right side, but who know to put his head down and go for the corner.

And that was it. Jesuit had one more shot, but not enough time, and definitely not enough room. Gonzaga’s big guys were too big, and their fast guys too fast. Scrumhalf Daniel Callahan was very active for Gonzaga and Iscaro led a huge forward effort. But the guy who made the scoring happen this weekend was Rahshan Jones at outside center. He sparked Gonzaga to their second national title.

Gonzaga 13

Tries: Corbin, Jordan

Pens: Sheehy

Jesuit 3

Pens: Thayer

In other action, Herriman defeated 48-31 Penn to take third, while Xavier beat rivals Greenwich 28-17 for 5th. Brownsburg took 7th over St. Thomas Aquinas 37-15. For Brownsburg, it was a tough weekend, as they lost to Jesuit on penalty kicks after remaining tied after overtime, and then lost to Xavier by only three points.