The Charlotte Cardinals defeated St. Ignatius 43-12 Saturday in West Virginia in a meeting of the #1-ranked HS Club and #1-ranked school team.
It was not the best day for Ignatius, which committed several fairly uncharacteristic errors, many of which were punished several by the Cardinals. But that’s not to say the Cardinals were handed the victory. The Charlotte club executed superbly, attacked at every opportunity, and showcased some significant skill in a team atmosphere.
Charlotte kicked off and won the ball in the air to get on the attack early. Quick ball, and a penchant for punishing the 1st channel when the Ignatius defenses didn’t clamp it down got the Cardinals close, but they were held up. Ignatius was able to kick clear but the Cardinals came back and when they blocked a box kick the ball fell to wing Alai Uaisele, who worked his way over to score.
Ignatius was able to pressure after that, but their maul was stopped and a couple of runs from scrumhalf Mark French and center Colin Spellacy led to nothing. And when the Wildcats had a miscue on an attacking lineout Charlotte exploited an overlap, shipped it wide, and were soon in Ignatius territory. Scrumhalf Poter Kuebler quick-tapped on a penalty and it was 12-0.
The Cardinals ran their attack with spark, with every player looking to make a move and attack and yet also quick to pass if nothing was there. Some elusive running from Kuebler, flyhalf Max Colson, and centers Luke Zehmke and Zane Schumacher, combined with consistent offloads kept the ball alive and Ignatius backpedaling. Finally lock Quinn Miller took an offload and was over to make it 19-0 after 22 minutes.
A partially blocked kick led to Kuebler scoring a second, and then, just as Ignatius was threatening, a knock-on led to a scrum and a long run from Uiasele for his second. The senior wing was making his first start for the Cardinals 1st side after dealing with injury and he was impressive.
That made it 31-0 at halftime. Ignatius entered the breaking knowing they had made several mistakes—unforced knock-ons, two charged down kicks, missing touch on penalties, and lineout miscues. With Charlotte catching everything and making very few errors, no wonder the scoring was one-sided.
The second half picked up for Ignatius. A brilliant kick-through and toe ahead into space by Spellacy allowed the center to score. With Charlotte taking two unnecessary yellow cards (one for playing the man without the ball and one for a high tackle), the Cardinals were under a bit more pressure.
Still they put Colson straight through off a lineout for a long-range run.
