Rugby Ohio Fall 7s: Leaders Being Tested

10.10.2022

St. Ignatius is now at 9-0 after a 3-0 day at the Northern bracket of Rugby Ohio’s fall HS 7s.

The Wildcats beat Highland 25-7 and St. Edward B 48-7 before having to take on their own B side, a game they won 30-0.

"I think our defense really showed," said Aidan Miczak. "We didn’t let mistakes get into our head."

The most heads-up try of the day might have been when Ryan Putka kicked off against St. Edward B and sent a worm-burner down the middle of the field.

"I saw they were lining up and they left a gap in the middle so I just gave it a little grub up the front, kicked it again, and then offloaded to [Brian] McGrath for the try," explained Putka, whose teammate Liam Craighead was the link between him and McGrath. Key here though was that McGrath saw it happen and took a good support line to take that pass.

Coming right behind the Wildcats are Hudson, who showed off a very stingy defense, allowing just two tries while beating St. Edward B, Shaker, and Perry. Hudson is now 8-1.

At 7-2, St. Edward is improving. They have lost to Hudson and St. Ignatius A but this week beat the Ignatius B and C teams, as well as Highland to go 3-0.

Down south, St. Xavier remains the top dog with a 9-0 record. Second is Moeller at 8-2 and of course their only losses at the St X.

For their part, St. Xavier beat Olentangy, Dublin, and Moeller on Sunday allowing two tries in the process and scoring 16.

In the girls bracket, the North saw St. Joseph’s Academy play four games, instead of the traditional three. They won all four, 32-5 over Hudson, 19-0 over Brunswick, 17-10 over Mentor, and 20-12 over Highland. Those last two games were tough because clearly fatigue had set in, and that last game was played after a very short rest period.

Highland, in fact, led at halftime and looked the stronger team. But the Jaguars did well to work a little harder on defense and get their offloads working, and scored twice to win.

Brunswick went a creditable 2-1, losing to St. Joe’s but then turning around the controlling the tempo over a 2-0 Perry side.

Perrysburg, which has been tearing it up in the North went South this weekend to give Dublin, Walnut Hills, and John Marshall some different opposition.

It worked out well for everyone, with Perrysburg defeating John Marshall and Dublin, but finding a talented and speedy Walnut Hills a bit too much at 25-0.

The result is that Perrysburg lost their first game but still leads the standings at 9-1. St. Joe’s is 8-1 while Walnut Hills is 5-0.

But perhaps the biggest piece of news is that 20 boys teams and 16 girls teams are in action in fall 7s in Ohio. There will be two more weekends of competition before the state finals October 30.

Rugby Ohio Fall 7s: Leaders Being Tested

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