St. Ignatius and Gonzaga will meet up in the Boys HS Nationals SIngle-School final after both won semifinals Friday.
The two teams won their games in very different ways.
Gonzaga
The Gonzaga Eagles beat the Eagles of St. Edward 52-0. The St. Ed's seniors had rushed off back to Cleveland to walk for graduation, with several of them graduating with honors. They then trekked back to Elkhart, Ind. to get some sleep and play in the first game of the day on Friday.
Maybe they were a bit flat. But more to the point Gonzaga was excellent. There are few first halves for a high school rugby team that looked as good as Gonzaga's vs St. Edward. They executed their game plan, put St. Ed's under pressure with kicks, forced scrums in the middle of the field, and then scored off them.
This was thw first time that Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta had been able to field this exact 15, and it was impressive. No. 8 Conall Brannan was especially imposing, and hooker Alex Jancy put in a ton of work. Ethan Heim logged 17 points and eight different Gonzaga players scored tries.
They were direct, elusive, brutal, and shifty. St. Ed's probably should have been given a try for Conor McGurk's truly exceptional kick-and-chase, but it was clear that it was Gonzaga's day.
