Defending Rugby Ohio state champs St. Ignatius defeated St. Thomas of Houston, Texas 66-15 Monday in the first game of the Ohio team’s five-day, four-game tour of the Lone Star State. 

After a Spring Break trip themselves, St. Thomas wasn’t firing on all cylinders the day after Easter, and will need to be better when they take on Katy on Thursday in a crucial game with playoff implications. Both teams rested a couple of starters because of more games coming up.

For Ignatius, flyhalf Andrew Baldado was excellent on the day, exploiting space, and using the wide St. Thomas field to set free runners through gaps, or to boot the ball for territory.

Baldado’s kicking to space was effective, while on the other hand, Ignatius handled St. Thomas’s kicking game well thanks in larger part to the counterattacking of sophomores Alex Chura and Sean Whalen. They made St. Thomas pay for going to the boot.

Among the players rested by Ignatius was the team’s regular starting scrumhalf. So Eddie Patton stepped in and performed very well.

“A lot of guys really stepped up,” said Ignatius Coach Dan Arbeznik. “We worked on our continuity, and our backline gave them problems. But St. Thomas is a good team and they did a lot of things really well.”

Next up for St. Ignatius is Cy-Fair, recent winners over Kingwood. followed by defending state champs Westlake on Wednesday, and Jesuit of Dallas on Friday.