Xavier Defense Downs GGA

03.03.2025HS Boys

“Defense wins games, offense determines how much you win by,” said senior captain and center Max Wyckoff when asked about Xavier’s opening victory over St. Gregory the Great Academy. “Our defense really shut them down,” Wyckoff said with a smile.

By Mike LiVigni

Head coach Greg Norris agreed and added, "good teams are good defensive teams and I think we did a great job today against a team that could play and move the ball.” Norris noted that a strong defensive performance by his team led to the Xavier Knights defeating St. Gregory the Great Academy 34-14.

The strong 4-0 season start by the St. Greg’s team forced Xavier to stay focused as they prepared to open the season. Norris said that he was impressed with Xavier’s ability to play heads up rugby and the team’s ability to adjust play on the fly.

The Knights wasted no time scoring when the opening whistle blew, with a straight out attack against a skillful St. Greg’s team. The first over the goal line was junior openside flanker Liam Averill less than a minute after kick-off, leaving the score 5-0 as heavy winds played havoc with the Knights' ability to kick conversions.

With Xavier dominating on defense, St. Greg’s scored their lone try of the half seven minutes later. The Knights ramped up their effort and responded with two more tries in the half, one by senior scrum-half William Scariano and another by junior fly-half Liam Allison. Xavier Back’s coach, Eammon Matthews applauded the backs for making good decisions that led to clean breakaways resulting in tries. “Our backs made good decisions,” Matthews said, “we were relentless for the full 70 minutes, which is good to see.”

It was all Xavier defense in the second half, with Xavier limiting St. Greg’s to just one additional try at the 69 minute mark. The Knights, for their part, added three more scores to their total, one each from junior No. 8 Rob Milacci, senior flanker Frank Ancona, and the last from senior full-back Ed Marquez-Miles.

But when all was said and done, the match was about solid defense. Matthews noted that senior prop Chris Lobo and second row Gianny Jeudy “set the tempo on defense with their physicality, but junior flanker Riley McLaughlin, played his heart out no matter where we put him on the field.”

“I think we played great today,” said McLaughlin, who was given Man of the Match honors. “We had great defense, line speed, and line outs. But it was our mauls that jumped out at me as key, we were getting lots of yardage off those, and that's how we got most of our tries.”

Wyckoff praised his teammates for their hard work and preparation for the season opener. “Once we heard St. Greg’s beat Gonzaga, we knew they were a good team. And their performance on the pitch showed that they were.” Senior second row, Hanoi Nelson, added “When St. Greg’s made a penalty, we had an advantage; we literally took advantage of it and scored.” Wyckoff agreed and said “when we got the ball, we punched them right down the middle and that got us the win.”

Xavier Head Coach Greg Norris said the penalty count wasn't good for his side but that was expected, to a certain extent, from a team in its first game. Xavier has been working mostly in the school cafeteria, so they worked on tackling (on mats) and other stuff they could do in close quarters. But mostly what Norris was pleased with was how his team adjusted to what was in front of them. When GGA gave them a different look, they adjusted.

"I wouldn't say we were excellent, but we knocked off some rust and we changed on the fly well," said Norris. "Our defense was awesome.

The varsity second side, led by head coach Ski Bailey, and assisted by Eammon Matthews, and Steve Hoey, defeated Conestoga High School. Scoring one try each for the Knights were senior number eight, Franck Ancona, junior wing Lucas Castillo, junior scrum half Justin Landberg, and junior second row, Thomas Lewis. Senior Paul Daly had a great day, scoring two tries with one conversion to make the final score 32-17

The Junior varsity team, under coaches Joe Sweeney, Andrew Gheraldi and John Adelaine, defeated St. Gregory the Great’s to complete the opening day sweep of the competition. Scoring one try each for the JV were scrum half Danny Menchini, number eight Sal Vitale, wing, Leo Heyman and flanker Lucas Niccolai. Flyhalf Jack Cross added two conversions for a final of 24-19.

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