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.
