No. 2-ranked single-school team Penn HS defeated Ohio power st. Ignatius 28-17 in a pre-season warmup for two very strong squads.

Photos by Tamara Tidey. Penn in gray.

St. Ignatius brought out a very solid team with some physical forwards and some pace out wide. 

But Penn took the early lead, when Cedric Vakalahi went over for the try after a blocked kick. Then a planned play from set piece using their fullback put Penn up 14-0. Ignatius responded quickly to make it 14-5. Then with no time left in the first half, a nifty dummy and a kick deep led to a try for Penn and a 21-5 lead at the break. 

St. Ignatius regained the momentum with a try right at the beginning of the second half, and then again to make it 21-17. But Penn held on and scored with 13 left to make it 26-17.

“We learned some things today,” said Penn Coach Bart Bottorff. “Our pressure defense is quite good. But our fringe defense suffered. Ignatius uses it's forwards superbly. They pounded the fringes with big physical kids and got lots of go forward.”

Penn punished St. Ignatius in broken play and got tries from Vakalahi, Casey Smith, Harry Stevens, and Inoke Moala. Stevens converted all four.

The JV game was a good one, too, ending in a 17-17 tie. St. Ignatius’s freshmen won the frosh matchup 19-7.

St. Ignatius graduated 11 of their 2014 starting 15, but three-year starter Patrick Berry at prop and Luke Robison at hooker are central to their returning core. Michael Mathews is a solid flyhalf and Andrew Baldado is a veteran at fullback.

Both Mathews and Baldado are talents, with Baldado a start when he was a freshman in 2013, while Mathews has shown some excellent vision. 

While Penn faces Fishers next week, St. Ignatius is going to play #4 Xavier in another stern test.

Ignatius Coach Daniel Arbeznik said his veterans have loads of experience against the top sides of the country such as Brownsburg, Cathedral, ND LaSalette, Gonzaga, Penn, Xavier, and Saint Edward. That experience, he said, will stand the team in good stead this season.