Rugby Pennsylvania’s playoffs begin and end this weekend with two intense days of competition.

The day starts with Youth semifinals and Junior semifinals.

The boys D2 then comes in with Media vs Berks/West Chester and Indiana vs Blackthorn

At 4-1 Media is the #1 seed.

The Girls semifinal is Moon Area vs Downingtown with the winner taking on Doylestown on Sunday in the final.

And the Boys semifinals are going to be interesting.

St. Joseph’s plays Gregory the Great. St. Joe’s lost to GGA in a preseason game but after that has looked strong and comes in as the #1 seed.

West Allegheny, 2-0 in conference play, faces Doylestown in the other semi.

“For St. Joe's I would say it was a slow start,” said St. Joe’s Prep Head Coach Brian McCloskey, noting that the players were splitting their weeks in being on campus and that made it difficult to effect team cohesion.

“We get kids from all over so to get the kids that were virtual to practice was challenging at times, but the upperclassmen really stepped up in terms of getting the younger kids to practice on days when they were virtual,” McCloskey explained.

Most of the St. Joe’s players on the 1st side hadn’t played much in about 20 months and it took them a while to adjust to the speed of the game at this level.

But, said MczCloskey, “we have a very committed group of kids that have totally bought in. I think we feel right now we are where we are supposed to be. The goal was to get to this weekend; we know St. Greg's is a much better team than when we saw them early on. We have had some incredible games with them over the years and our kids have nothing but the utmost respect for Garret and his entire program.”

That would be Garret van Beek, Head Coach at GGA, who looks at the difficult of his conference, which included Berks, West Shore, and Cumberland Valley, all ranked teams, and hopes that tested his team enough.

“We have come out of the Pool of Death to participate in the final four,” van Beek said. “We have prided ourselves with our defensive structure, and look to improve on it this weekend.”

GGA lost to Doylestown last week but there may be reason to take that game, which was not a conference game, with a grain of salt. 

Leading the way for Gregory the Great will be Joseph Kerstiens, Jacob Landry, Demetrius Gergerich, and Jude Stender, who have all been superb defensively. 

Decision-maker and captain Issac Martin and fellow senior Eli Ziglinski have been very effective with the ball.

For St. Joe’s,  it’s been a balanced effort. No. 8 Titus Henkels is the team leader and an intelligent, physical player. 

Kevin Donnelly and Jaxon Clayton are the other two captains and they have been spectacular in terms of their leadership and commitment.