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Strake Jesuit Opens Season With Two Wins

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Strake Jesuit Opens Season With Two Wins

No. 8 Hoey Garcia of Strake Jesuit charges ahead against Katy. Photo by Tari Tari.

Strake Jesuit began its season with two wins over the weekend, beating Katy and Lamar to start the season 2-0.

Both efforts were impressive in their own right, with Strake dismissing Lamar 42-10 on Saturday after taking on a Katy team that is a frequent visitor to Goff Rugby Report's HS rankings.

Up front Strake got a big game from No. 8 Joey Garcia, who got involved all over the field, set up a try, and, said Head Coach Jason Kimball, was "the most active player on the pitch."

Senior locks Pablo Granados and Chris Hoekel led from the front, with Granados was a key ground-gainer wiht the ball, and Hoekel was consistently strong in clearing out at the rucks. Flankers Jake Foster and Billy Van Pelt are new to the team but are athletic and strong on defense. Both scores tries with the pick of them being when Van Pelt tipped a restart to himself and galloped on in.

At scrumhalf Jared Broussard, who moved to that position from flyhalf just three weeks ago, played well and was excellent on defense as a tackler and in causing turnovers. Liam Garcia has moved into flyhalf, and as captain continues to lead well and he also scored against Katy, while center Marc Arsham led the team in tackles while also converting three of the tries against Katy and pinning the Barbarians back with his kicking from the hand.

 

"We appear to be learning and growing each week," said Kimball. "We had set some new goals for the season regarding our approach on attack and defense and the boys are starting to see the benefits of our concepts."

Next up for Strake is St. Pius X, which hasn't started its league season yet.