St. Ignatius played St. Edward in two finals, the JV and the Varsity final. The scores, in the end, were virtually identical.
Some impressive tackling from wing Gianni Salerno, while hooker Alden Therrien produced a highlight-reel, long-range try to seal the game for the Ignatius JV 33-19.
In the Varsity final, St. Edward came in with an eye toward closing that gap with Ignatius, and they almost did it.
St. Edward threatened after an early 50-22, but Ignatius got out of that. When Ignatius finally got on the front foot, they were able to punish a penalty, drive to the tryline, and power prop Roan Lobozzo over.
Ignatius looked to move the ball a bit more, went through a long period of phases, but the St. Edward defense was up to it.
Finally, a good run from center Charlie Banaszak, and a shifty cut-through from fullback Henry McGoward set them up for a penalty. Lock Grayson Halkiadakis tapped, set a ruck, and Lobozzo was driven over for his second.
St. Edward responded with a cutting run from flanker Patrick Andrews that was finished by his pack mates. Up 12-7 Ignatius was under threat of losing their lead, but a big break from Banaszak got the Wildcats into the Edward half. A penalty and maul led to hooker Noah Spinos for the try, and a 17-7 lead.
The second half opened with a long breakaway for St. Edward that broke several tackles, and now it was 17-14.
They backed that up with another attack. Ignatius was penalized, and again for backchat, before the Eagles worked it close and spin it to the corner for James O'Donnell to take it into the corner.
Suddenly, St. Edward was in the lead 19-17.
"We do these three breaths, just breathe in, breathe out, to calm ourselves down, not to yell at each other," said McGowan, the Ignatius captain. "Just to know we can't yell at each other, we need to be one."
It worked. With the wind, the Ignatius players had eschewed their vaunted kicking game and it had cost them. But once they started kicking it paid off.
One long kick rolled into in-goal. But St. Edward was going to be challenged to kick it long from the goalline dropout, and in fact they didn't. Ignatius got a scrum inside the St. Edward 22, attacked off the back, and flanker Ben Stefan scored what turned out to be his first A-side try for Ignatius.
With Levi Hoffman's conversion it was 24-19 for Ignatius.
While another kick rolled dead, giving St. Edward a scrum near midfield, the kicking was still a good option for Ignatius and trouble for St. Edward. McGowan sent one angled kick that would have been a 50-22, but actually bounced off an Ed's hand ... so the result was the same, an Ignatius lineout.
From there the Wildcats got close and Lobozzo powered over for his third, giving him 16 on the season, one shy of the team record.
That sealed it. St. Edward did not have enough time to score twice and in the end found it difficult to get into scoring position.
But this was a tough win for Ignatius, who were tested by St. Ed's.
Lobozzo was named player of the game for his three tries, while Banaszak, Marcello Woodberry, Spinos, and Halkiadakis also stood out. McGowan made some key defensive plays as well as running effectively. But it was worth pointing out that perhaps the big winner for Ignatius was their depth.
Injuries and unavailabilities had hurt both finalists, but Ignatius was missing two regular starters at flanker, their starting scrumhalf, and starting tighthead. The players who stepped in were crucial.
This is the ninth-straight state title for St. Ignatius and their 11th overall.
