Royal Irish is among the top HS clubs again this year, and St. Ignatius out of Cleveland just got put in the possibly unenviable position of being ranked #1 among single-school teams - now they will be playing each other.

For Royal Irish, it's been an up-and-down season in terms of putting the right lineup together, and finding the right games. But things ramp up this week with a midweek clash with Brownsburg, and then Ignatius.

"It's been an interesting season," said Royal Irish Head Coach Scott Peterson. "Our numbers are down overall, but we still have the talent to beat anyone. We have gotten better across the board, as you do as the season progresses. Our offensive pattern is coming along well and our defensive shape is also getting better."

Injuries have hit Royal Irish, but they've added some new talent and they are getting up to speed. 

"Injuries have been an issue that we are derailing with," said Peterson. "It seems like more odd injuries this year than I can remember, but guys are stepping up and making plays in their absence.  However, they are making them in blowout wins.  The real test will be as we start facing high quality opponents and we have coming up."

St. Ignatius, meanwhile, has been playing a bit more and finding good, competitive games; last week's Xavier HS win is a good example.

"I don't actually know if we've had our best 15 on the field yet this season," said St. Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik. "Between a broken leg in France, a concussion against Gonzaga, and some other regulars out due to just being banged up, we've had to play a lot of of guys outside of their normal positions."

Flanker John Stuhldreher, scrumhalf Eddie Patton, wing Brian Cook, and prop Brian Almady have all suffered injuries. They have senior flyhalf and captain Matt Lipaj back after he missed the first six weeks due to injury.

"Continuity is a bit of an issue right now," acknowledged Arbeznik. "That said, we're an extremely deep team. We have about 120 in the program divided among five sides. The injuries have given us the chance to give our junior and sophomore classes opportunities to play."

Michael Mangan, Carl Felder, Anthony Labate, and Garrett Lamb have all played well. Flankers Aidan Gill and Nick Zolikoff, prop Juan Pen, and backs Alex Chura and Sean Whalen all played 1st 15 as sophomores last year and are now solid veterans as juniors. Captain and from rower Jimmy Desmarteau has been outstanding in every facet of the game. 

"With all of the changes we've had to make we feel very confident rotating a lineup of about 28 or so players at our A- side level," said Arbeznik. "While it's been a quite a baptism by fire for those sophomores, we're very excited for the future. The nice thing about our schedule and getting matches with the Xaviers, Gonzagas, Penns, and Royal Irish, and the teams we saw in France, is that you see so much of what others do well. It's really a humbling experience. When you watch the French you say, 'wow, we are way behind in foot skills and handling.' When you play Penn you say, 'man, we are way behind in organized attack goals.' For Xavier, their communication is amazing. For Gonzaga, it's things like their defensive set piece. For St. Edward it's their speed over the ball. Every single one of our opponents is better than we are in at least one facet of the game. Everyone we've played has given us a different area on which we must improve."