St. Joseph's Academy won the Rugby Ohio Girls HS Fall 7s Sunday, beating a skilled Walnut Hills side in the final to take the title.
This was a very competitive finals day for the girls bracket, with some standouts throughout the teams.
SJA opened their account with an impressive 33-0 defeat of Brunswick but then had to really battle to beat Medina 15-7. While Medina's try came at the end of that game, it was a constant fight for the Jaguars to find the space they'd enjoyed against Brunswick.
Walnut Hills, meanwhile, opened up their tournament without possibly their best player. Strike runner, co-captain, and goalkicker Emily Steen was late to the event because she was traveling back to Ohio from a tour of Dartmouth (who would be lucky to have her in their program). Despite this, Walnut Hills took it to a very useful Hudson side 32-5. While star Davine Acklin said the team was nervous to play without Steen, they did well.
Steen was there in time for the semi against a big, physical Mentor side, and sparked them to a 26-0 shutout in which she and Acklin dominated the scoring—two tries each and Steen with two conversions.
That set up a final that was back and forth. For St. Joe's, playmaker Megan Chura was everywhere. Not the tallest or most robust player, Chura was simply everywhere, not afraid to make three tackles in a row, and quick to set up her teammates.
Up 10-0 St. Joe's looked to finish the game and get the ball into touch. They did and the celebrations started, only to have everyone called back because they had thrown, not kicked, the ball dead. That's a penalty. A minute or so of additional defense ended the game.
