A year ago Thunder Rugby went to Boys HS National Championships underrated and won it all.
Every game was close, as Thunder won contests of 14-0, 7-0, and 13-8 to win the HS Club championship. This year, Thunder, having lost several close games in Southern California to be the 4th-ranked team from that region, entered Tier II. No matter, they didn't complain; they just started winning again.
This time everything started a little easier, with a 28-0 shutout of Bishop Dwenger. But then they edged Vienna 22-20 on Day Two and we were back in the land of the nailbiter. On Saturday, they capped it off, defeating a very effective Penn HS team 25-12 to go, now, 6-0 at nationals and win Tier II.
Despite leading at halftime in the final, Thunder had to be prepared as they were really only a try away from trouble against a Penn side that had the ablity to score quickly.
"At halftime we knew the game was 0-0, it was anyone's game, and we couldn't take it lightly," said flyhalf Solomon Williams, who kicked the game-winner against Vienna and opened the scoring in the final with a try. "Four of our games [in SoCal] were last play of the game. The competition in SoCal is amazing, it's always neck-and-neck, and it prepared us for this."
With Williams directing the attack and Spencer Layne a powerful presence on attack and defense, and with Kaden Vohnout and a host of others playing well, Thunder weathered pressure from Penn, and traded penalty goals for tries to win.
For Penn it was another strong performance for May. The team is seeing Bart Bottorff, their Head Coach for 28 years, stepping down from that position. As a goodbye they won the Midwest Championships and made the final of Tier II, beating rivals Royal Irish in overtime to get there. Penn, led by the elusive Saeed Kiruu, also a clutch goalkicker, and the redoubtable Wally Kennach, surprised a few and made Bottorff's final season special.
Also of note from Penn HS, wing Alec Hardrict played in Thursday's game, and then went off the the track sectionals, where he won the 100 meters, 200 meters, and was part of the winning 4x100 team. He then returned to finish playing the rugby tournament with his team, hardly missing a step.
