The Lassiter Trojans and Phoenix Alpharetta will meet Saturday for the Georgia state HS championship after both won semifinals this past weekend.

The top-seeded Trojans of Marietta showed why they went undefeated in the regular season with a 55-12 victory over the #4 seed Norsemen RFC out of Kennesaw. Trojan backs captain and Life University commit Josh Inglis opened the scoring with a dash down the right sideline, breaking multiple tackles for the first try of the game.  Club captain Shea O’Hanlon then pounced on a mishandled kick by the Norsemen for the second try. Inglis then scored his second try of the half, followed by teammates J.P. Gouin and Michael Curran scoring as the Trojans jumped to a 29-0 lead at the intermission.

The Lassiter forwards work their way through against the Norsemen.

It appeared the break is what the Norsemen needed to regroup and they opened the second half with their first try of the game - prop Kobe Gadson powered his way in from close range. However the Trojans responded with a score from Colin Cooper only to see Norseman AJ Malone, another Life University commit, make the score 36-12. After that he Trojans never looked back with O’Hanlon scoring for the second time in the match and prop Muhammad Abdullah and Evan Cooper closing out the scoring. The Trojans moved on to the finals for the second consecutive season. 

“We were stronger defensively bottling up the Norsemen backs and taking away their speed” said Trojans head coach Randy Joseph.  “Our experience and overall better skilled players led us to this convincing victory”.

At the end of the match, Joseph had the opportunity to speak with Sir John Cain, former English rugby league player.  Sir John was in the USA visiting family, including his great-nephew, who plays with the Trojans. 

The nightcap featured the #2 seed Phoenix and #3 seed Mill Creek Hawks, a single-school program out of Hoschton, Ga. The Phoenix opened the scoring in the first half after a Hawks turnover at midfield. The majority of the opening half was played in Mill Creek's end, but a stout effort by their defense stopped Alpharetta multiple times. The Phoenix scored a second try and converted a penalty kick for a 17-0 lead before Mill Creek got on the board.  Right before halftime, Jean Roberts converted a 30-meter penalty kick to close the gap to 17-3.

Phoenix was led by props Ben Fagg and Cristian Calvallo, as well as No. 8 Malik Williams, who tested the Mill Creek defense and opened up some space for the backs, led by flyhalf Lechandt Opperman at standoff. 

After the break, it appeared Mill Creek was not going to go away without a fight. The Hawks dominated the final half both offensively and defensively, but it just was not enough. Phoenix opened the scoring to extend their lead to 24-3, but Mill Creek’s continued to battle and talented Hawks scrumhalf Jean Roberts broke through the Phoenix defense for the try. Roberts hit the conversion to make it 24-10. With Phoenix losing some of their key players - Calvallo and Fagg were injured and Williams red-carded - Mill Creek had the momentum. Minutes after that try, Connor Griffin, an exciting prospect playing in his first rugby season, grabbed the ball from the maul and streaked straight through to score, closing the gap to 24-17.  Mill Creek continued to battle to the end, attempting to tie the score but the Phoenix responded with some strong defense of their own.  Alpharetta dug in their heels and preserved the semifinal win with a defensive stand on their tryline.

The championship rematch between the #1 and #2 seeds will be held on Friday, April 24 at Roswell Park, Roswell, Ga.

Reporting Mark Tibbetts