This past spring, Saint Ignatius and Saint Edward did not play each other for the Rugby Ohio state championship; it took a pandemic shutdown of the high school rugby season to prevent these two heated rivals from meeting.

These two private schools from the Cleveland area, located less than six miles from each other, have pushed each other annually to be among the best high school teams in the country.

In the previous six seasons, Ignatius and Ed's have met six times in the state final, with Ignatius winning five times. Over that time they've met a total of 14 times—six regular-season games, six state finals, and two meetings in the Midwest Championships—and six of those games have been decided by a try or less. Three more have been decided by two tries or less.

Clearly this is a heated rugby rivalry, but really it's a rivalry that covers all sports. 

"The rivalry is great in a lot of ways," said St. Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik, who also teaches at the school. "People joke about how 500 'fans' would turn up to watch someone from Ignatius play someone from Eds in a game of checkers. The fact that our schools support the programs goes a long way in growing the sport of rugby and exposing it to a broader audience. I think that's a commonality both coaching staffs share. We all love the sport and are always striving to showcase a quality product on the field."

"The rivalry has been one of the highlights since I got familiar with high school rugby a number of years ago," said St. Edward Head Coach Andrew Martin. "I also think that through the youth system, players from both schools grow up in the same area and through the youth system they become friends through the sport. The coaches through the youth leagues are developing the players at a higher level which benefits both programs."

Most of the players from either of the two rival teams started playing rugby with the Westpark Shamrocks youth program. The West Side of Cleveland is has a large Irish-American population, hence the name of the Westpark program, and many of these kids start playing when they are in kindergarten. Both the Ignatius and Eds coaches said they are very grateful for the coaching the Shamrocks coaches give those kids. Almost all of them go on to play rugby at St. Ignatius or St. Edward.

"So there's a close familiarity between the players which just adds to the rivalry," said Arbeznik. "It's not one of those things where you want to beat a faceless opponent. The kids know that if they win or lose, they'll be hearing about it for the next 50 years of their lives. I, myself, grew up and still live in Lakewood—where Saint Edward is located—but attended Saint Ignatius. My younger brother went to St. Eds and I am well aware of those verbal jabs that one incurs if a result doesn't turn up your way."

When they move on to select-side play, they go from rivals to teammates again. The Ohio Celtic program is made up mostly of Ignatius and Eds players brings them all back together, and they start playing as friends again.

"There's absolutely no doubt that a huge part of our success is owed to the rivalry," said Arbeznik, who teaches Latin at St. Ignatius. Arbeznik invokes the words of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who said "you need good friends and ardent enemies. The former to instruct you and the latter to take you to task."

"Saint Eds is a bit of both for us," said Arbeznik.

Among the players from these programs who have gone on to higher honors, Rocco Mauer (who actually didn't play rugby at St. Edward but did at Bowling Green) went on to represent the USA in 7s. Owen Hundt is a New England Free Jack, while Matthew Crockett, Dave Knabb, Ryan Bradfield, Zach Heisterkamp, Jared Williamson, and Jack Bradfield have all attained All American honors in high school, U20s, or college.

Ohio State's rugby team has a very strong St. Ignatius and St. Edward influence, with Ignatius alum Andrew Baldado is a standout for Ohio State and also suited up for the Philippines National Team. At one point the two schools provided almost the entire Buckeye backline. with Baldado, Kevin Stefancin, Mike Mathews, Tim Vanderhoof, Ryan Bradfield, Connor Forrestal, Ronan Forrestal, and Josh Liedich all OSU backs. Liedich, along with loose forward Nick Zolikoff, spend the summer of 2019 in New Zealand at the Crusaders academy. 

More recent grads such as Charlie Green, Eamon Carr, Bryan Cundiff, Matt Pietch, Chris Cantrell, Tim Taylor, Connor Fairfield, and Tim Costello all playing for top college programs. The same goes for Alex Chura, Ricky Rose, Carl Felder, Aidan Carr, and Juan Pen.

It's all because of this rivalry, combined with a robust youth program, that sees these young athletes stay with rugby. The youth program gives the players the basics and helps them develop the love of the game; playing at St. Ed's and St. Ignatius builds on the competitiveness and makes the players more students of the game; the rivalry makes them each strive to be better.

St. Ignatius vs St. Edward Rugby History

2020 - Obviously no match this year. My hope was that if nothing else we would have been able to get the kids together this summer ... but even that has proven not workable with all of the restrictions still in place.

2019
Regular season: Saint Ignatius 21 - Saint Edward 15 
State Final: Saint Ignatius 19 - Saint Edward 7

2018
Regular Season: Saint Edward 21 - Saint Ignatius 14
State Final: Saint Ignatius 18 - Saint Edward 3

2017
Regular Season: Saint Ignatius 26 - Saint Edward 17
State Final: Saint Ignatius 17 - Saint Edward 7

2016
Regular Season: Saint Edward 26 - Saint Ignatius 5
State Final: Saint Edward 12 - Saint Ignatius 7
Midwest Single-School Final: Saint Edward 25 - Saint Ignatius 10

2015
Regular Season: Saint Edward 31 - Saint Ignatius 17
State Final: Saint Ignatius 12 - Saint Edward 5
Midwest Single-School Final: Saint Edward 15 - Saint Ignatius 10

2014
Regular Season: Saint Ignatius 20 - Saint Edward 19
State Final: Saint Ignatius 31 - Saint Edward 12