Pendleton Defeats St. Ignatius in Cross-Border Battle
Pendleton Defeats St. Ignatius in Cross-Border Battle
Indiana’s Pendleton, the #10-ranked HS Club, defeated School-team #4 St. Ignatius Saturday in Obetz, Ohio Saturday.
This was a full day of rugby with St. Ignatius fielding six teams against two opponents, taking on Pendleton’s A side, B side, and JV team, as well as the A, B, and Freshman teams of Notre Dame de la Salette. The Ignatius Varsity Blue held off la Salette 31-21. Two JV teams beat Pendleton opposition 29-0 and 33-15. while the Ignatius Varsity B beat la Salette’s 2nds 36-25 and the Ignatius freshmen beat the la Salette freshmen 41-12 (in a game that was much more competitive than the score indicates).
But the marquee game was Pendleton vs St. Ignatius Varsity Gold, and in that game Pendleton brought a hard-nosed, hard-working defense and a very good kicking game.
The game started with St. Ignatius threatening, but Pendleton held on and in fact was able to run out of their own and ends, eventually earned a penalty which flyhalf Nick Trout put through the posts for a 3-0 lead.
Ignatius responded well and had some of their best work getting them down close before center Joe Deinhart barreled his way through several defenders to score.
There followed a long period during which Ignatius was often inside the Pendleton 22. During that time they had three lineouts five meters from the Pendleton line, a scrum five meters out, and another long sequence on the tryline. Pendleton stopped them each time—they sacked the jumper to negate the Ignatius maul; they forced a penalty off the scrum when the Ignatius runner was isolated, and they held the Wildcats up in-goal another time.
Finally, Pendleton broke out of their own end again on a long run. They consolidated possession in the Ignatius half, and eventually put Nolan Souders in at the corner. Pendleton led 8-5 and that’s how the half ended.
In the second half, playing with the wind, Ignatius struggled to make the wind pay, but they continuially stole Pendleton lineouts . They opted for a lineout on a kickable penalty only to see Pendleton stop them again.
It was Pendleton that made the next move. A stolen lineout at midfield set up a run for wing Jacob Rowley, and the big winger cut through and around several tacklers to score in the corner.
That made it 13-5. Ignatius responded with some good passing in the backs to put Tommy Kilbane in at the corner to make it 13-10.
Ignatius had a chance, albeit a small one, and time, albeit not much, to get one more try. But a couple of aimless kicks wasted some of that time. As Ignatius worked their attack to get into scoring position again, JJ Kissik picked off a pass and galloped 50 meters to seal the game for Pendleton.
“Our mauls were a little confused,” said Ignatius hooker Charlie Sizemore, who was probably one of the best Wildcats on the day. “We just kind of stood up in rucks. They’re a big, physical team and we weren’t really expecting that and we just kind of stood up in the rucks.”
“Miscommunications, dropped passes, some missed tackles; we’ve just got to play a more dominant physical game,” added flanker Pat Cooney.
“Play hard and make every tackle,” said Nick Trout of the plan.
Peyton Pollock spoke of the sacking the lineout jumper, saying it was something they scouted and planned for.
Pendleton slowed down St. Ignatius ball very well. They defended doggedly at the tryline. They played with confidence. And they won the kicking battle. And this win, said Pollock, just makes them want to work harder.