Pendleton and Westside recorded victories this week as Rugby Indiana's league season starts to ramp up.
Pendleton backed up their win over Bishop Dwenger with a 24-19 defeat of HSE Mudsock Wednesday night.
Mudsock battled well against a Pendleton team that has some high aspirations. Paced by the continued outstanding play of flyhalf Nick Trout, Pendleton led by two scores late in the game before HSE made it somewhat closer, but the score is perhaps a fair representation of where they are. Mudsock did beat Royal Irish by a point over the weekend and has been right there with the stronger teams in the state.
In other action, Westside Black Swarm defeated Carmel 36-0 in a rematch of the 2021 state semifinal game, which Carmel won.
The wind proved to be a factor as the game got underway with several passes going astray for both teams, but it was the men in black who got to grips with the conditions first and put Carmel under sustained pressure. This pressure was rewarded when a high crossfield kick from Westside flyhalf Gage Poland hung up in the wind causing the Carmel winger to miss the catch. Center Jaiden Jones quickly collected and crossed the line to open the scoring.
Carmel responded to the score with plenty of aggressive play from their larger forward pack, but ultimately struggled to break down a stubborn Westside defense and get out of their own half. After a scrappy period of play Carmel found themselves defending on their own goal line. An offside penalty was taken quickly and the ball found its way to Jack Long for an easy score.
Shortly after the score Carmel were handed a lifeline when Westside hooker Abiram Ovando was yellow-carded for charging a ruck. Carmel kicked for touch, however the resulting lineout throw was deemed not straight and from the ensuing scrum No. 8 Easton Fincher picked up the ball and broke several tackles on his way to scoring on a 40-meter charge. Poland slotted the conversion to make it 19-0 at halftime.
