It was a huge day of rugby at the Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, Ind., as teams from all over the Midwest played in the Midwest Championship Tournament.

The tournament is usually a bracket playoff format played over two days. This time around, with some teams not playing any games yet, it was more of a challenge match format — everyone got two 44-minute games and played on just the one day.

For some, the victory was getting on the field. To see West Ottawa finally play some tackle rugby was good for everyone, even if West Ottawa struggled to piece it all together. There was some drama with St. Ignatius beating Royal Irish, and some teams with rankings aspirations showing they can, actually, play well against tough competition.

All the teams also got to play on the Moose Rugby Grounds excellent fields — lush grass on three pitches with plenty of warmup areas — and all were just happy to get more rugby in.

JV and Developmental

As usual in the Midwest tournament, JV teams and developmental teams got to play as well. St. Ignatius JVs was very strong, showing a wide range of skills, especially with the boot and their organization on defense, and beat HSE's JVs and the Bishops Dwenger JVs. They were the only undefeated JV team on the day, with HSE and Dwenger both going 1-1, and Moeller going 0-2.

On the Development side, Moeller beat St. Xavier and Penn convincingly and looked very polished for such a young outfit.

St. Xavier

The Cincinnati St. Xavier team unleashed a fairly nifty quick offload game that got them by a young Penn side 20-17. Penn had trouble in some of their decision-making but could have pulled that game out regardless.

St. Xavier then beat Brownsburg 12-5 in a tight game where Brownsburg's athletic back row caused them trouble. Still attention to defense and some scrambling saw St. X home to a 2-0 record.

Moeller, Dwenger, Pendleton 2-0

Pendleton is a relatively new program but beat West Ottawa and Toledo to go 2-0 The Toledo game was very entertaining and close, with the Celts showcasing some impressive attacking rugby. They somewhat ran out of gas late and Pendleton play a good open style that saw them put the game away 33-22.

Moeller's power up front and their never-give-up approach saw them go 2-0, but it also helped that they got an interception that turned a prime try-scoring chance for Brownsburg into a seven-pointer the other way. It was at least a 12-point turnaround in an 11-point game (33-22).

Dwenger played perhaps the most attractive open rugby of the tournament, showcasing some smooth passing in the backline that led to several tries in wins over Marian and West Ottawa.

The Clash

Royal Irish won their opener 24-5 against St. Edward, and looked to make it two in a row with St. Ignatius. But Ignatius brought a better game plan and far, far better execution in the red zone to hold off Royal Irish 14-12. It was a superb game and both teams showed flashes of excellence. The game also had drama and plenty of intensity. There's a heated rivalry between these two that just had the coals stoked a little.

St. Ignatius was better than they had been in the lineout, played smart rugby most of the time, and were patient when they needed to be. Royal Irish were brilliant for about 20 minutes, but needed a better first half when they had the wind.

The Standings

These standings don't necessarily mean much, as it all depends on how tough your opposition was. With HSE tying St. Edward, the Ignatius win over HSE looms large. HSE didn't win a game but didn't hurt themselves in terms of rankings. 

Note also that Royal Irish's 2nd team played 1st teams and so are listed below, as are the teams they played. St. Ignatius claimed a de facto championship and it's hard to argue that, but four other teams ended the day 2-0.