St. Ignatius Defeats St. Edward on Rivalry Day
St. Ignatius Defeats St. Edward on Rivalry Day
St. Ignatius defeated St. Edward and the wind Saturday to take the first leg of the Cavoli Cup.
The Cavoli Cup is the new challenge trophy between the two Cleveland rivals, with games from Freshmen to Varsity all counting towards the trophy.
Saturday was the inaugural games on St. Edward's new turf surface, which has been laid down the day before, with color-specific lines for multiple sports, including rugby. St. Ignatius won the Freshmen, Varsity B, and Varsity A games on the day. The Varsity A game pregame ceremony included the unveiling of the Cup plus friends and family of beloved teacher and mentor Dan Cavoli (who taught at both schools and died last year).
In the Varsity A game, the wind picked up, gusting to the 40s and causing havoc to kickers and kick-catches alike. Both sides entered the game carrying some injuries—St. Ignatius at prop (notably), and St. Edward at flyhalf. So perhaps it was no surprise that St. Edward found more success in the trenches and Ignatius found more success out in the open.
St. Edward dominated possession early on, helped a little bit by St. Ignatius penalties. The pressure told as St. Edward and Tommy Graham did well to close two penalty goals in the swirling wind to stake St. Edward to a 6-0 lead. Ignatius finally got their hands on the pill and worked the ball wide off the scrum. A cut inside from Keegan Forkapa set up the forwards to consolidate and take it over. Chris Haney slotted the conversion for a slim 7-6 lead.
Ignatius began to expand their repertoire after that, with a brilliant break and long, left-handed pass from scrumhalf Mark French to set up Tom Passerallo. French would score on a snipe around the weak side, and they would add another on a loop move that involved the entire backline to put Passerallo over. Ignatius broke through once more this time getting a bit of a break on over-pursuit from St. Ed's on a loose ball and they managed to race down the sideline with good support from Colin Spellacy.
That made it 24-6 at halftime and Ignatius seemed in control.
But St. Edward would come out once again controlling possession and forcing penalties. This time, they got a try out of it. Ignatius would answer, but the St. Ed's Eagles wouldn't go away. They went over once more, powering through some tackles to do it, to make it 29-20. The two teams would trade tries and with 10 minutes left it was 36-27.
"I was really happy with how we fought for it and when we played the game plan, we scored. When we fell away from that, Ignatius would punish us," said St. Edward Head Coach Greg Miranda. St. Edward was solid in the scrums and lineouts and Miranda said he felt his team had the run of play in set piece.
But, especially in the backs, St. Ignatius showed they could score tries quickly, and did so probably while losing the ball-possession stats.
As the game wore on, St. Ignatius started to pull away. Flyhalf Hank McGowan tested St. Edward with some smart kicking and used his teammates well. Ignatius began to play in the St. Edward end of the field and produced a series of tries late to pull away. Fiinal score 60-27.
"Super proud of the kids," said St. Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik. "That was the most points we've ever scored against St. Edward on the A side. Our defense needs some work and the penalty count was a ot to get over. We bailed them out a lot. But we also know St. Ed's has not had an easy go of it and they really did a lot of things well."
St. Edward had been outside four times when they opened their season in a shortened game against #1-ranked HS Club Charlotte Cardinals. They went 1-2 at the Carolina Ruggerfest, and then lost to Xavier last week. But, said Miranda, the players started to get an idea of what would work for them and what wouldn't.
"We've not going to duck anyone and we know we have to play tough teams in order to get better," said Miranda. "I think the guys are starting to understand what they can do and I look on it that we were down only nine points late in the game against a very good St. Ignatius team. Now we know what we need to work on as we go forward."
