Ignatius Caps Championship Season as 6 Crowned in Ohio
Ignatius Caps Championship Season as 6 Crowned in Ohio
Six boys state champions were crowns Saturday at Rugby Ohio's Finals Day at Fortess Obetz just outside Columbus, with some impressive showings, and two very dramatic finishes.
Drama and All That
In the Boys D1 Club final, Dayton Northern Force played Olentangy. This was a back-and-forth affair with the perhaps more systematic Olentangy team finding ways to wear down an occasionally explosive and certainly unpredictable Northern Force.
The teams traded tries back and forth. Northern Force led early only to see Olentangy piled one over for a 7-5 lead—No. 8 Brock Fisher doing the honors. Northern Force saw flyhalf Tony Mack cut through for a try, and later flanker Ashton Dozier capped off his HS career with a nicely-taken try.
Olentangy came back with their big, talented lock Dylan Radziszewki powering over. That made it 17-14 for Northern Force with time winding down.
Back came Olentangy and they wisely took a shot at goal to tie the game up with about two minutes to go.
Here's where things got really interesting. Mack had been subbed off the Northern Force coaching staff had slid blindside flanker Dakota Faulkner into the flyhalf position. This seems a little weird, but it isn't so much considering that a) the Northern Force had worked on an an approach that their depth could be better managed if all players knew how to play multiple positions, and b) Faulkner had played youth rugby and as an underclassmen as a flyhalf. Dayton also had a wing playing lock, so you see how it all works out.
As Faulkner described the situation, he, as all the Dayton players knew (or should have known), knew that a fast-rushing defense can leave itself vulnerably to a kick over the top. With the ball around midfield and a defense rushing up, Faulkner made the read and popped a kick over and wide to the left.
The kick itself could hardly have been weighted better. It landed a few meters infield and its bounce was more downfield than anything else. Chasing manically was wing Rex Letchworth, with Eric Daniel (prop, flanker, No. 8, or whatever else you need) on his horse in support. Letchworth didn't need it.
He gathered up the ball and curled away from one last desperate tackle to touch down. Try awarded, and the game ran out of time shortly thereafter with Dayton beating a game Olentangy 22-17.
In the Boys Club D2 there was more of the same. St. Charles scored early and also got a nice interception try. Walsh Jesuit, led by hard-running Haniel Fanka at No. 8—he rarely went down on the second hit and it was usually the fourth—and with scrumhalf Michael Lewis operating the attack nicely, mounted a comeback. Fanka, big center Keith Perrotto, and power-running prop Dylan Feisthamel scored to keep pace with St. Charles and it was 17-17 late in the game.
St. Charles scored right up the middle after a long period of not getting much of anywhere. St. Charles now led 24-17 with only a few minutes to go. Franks did his thing and just kep the legs churning and his torso twisting to go over. Kick was good and it was 24-24—overtime.
The overtime was two halves of five minutes. In the opening first Walsh Jesuit put all kinds of pressure on St. Charles. They had a kickable penalty in front of the posts but opted for the tap. The ball went out to Perrotto, who had support outside but instead just barreled ahead to score.
In the second half of overtime Perrotto charged through and around a pile of tiring St. Charles tacklers, and the deed was done 36-24. Franks was outstanding all day but when you have someone score two tries in overtime, he has to get the game ball (or, in this case, a free backpack from the Ohio National Guard).
In Control
Watkins won the D2 Single-School final in convincing fashion 55-5 over Lake Catholic. It was a case of speed more than anything else. Yes, the Watkins Warriors had players who could run, but it was more about speed of possession. Watkins won ruck ball much faster than did Lake Catholic, and often just looked for the offload instead.
By making significant meters after contact and then offloading to players expecting the offload, Watkins kept go-forward pressure on Lake Catholic that, especially in the second half, broke the dam.
The inside back combination of Joseph Romshe, John-Luke Walker, and Logan VanHoose was especially dynamic for Watkins but they also had an experienced and hardworking pack—many of whom have been playing together since middle school.
And they will likely be playing together more, as several have reportedly decided to attend Bowling Green together.
Medina also won relatively comfortably, beating a tough Avon Lake side in the D1 Single-School final. Avon Lake had an early chance to score and had they kept their attack in the forwards they might have done just that. But Medina's defense held out wide, they got a penalty, got out of trouble, and eventually scored. That lone try completely changed the momentum of the game and by halftime Medina led 21-0.
Avon Lake mounted a comeback with tries from Andrew Steckel and John Spear, but the hill was too high to climb and Medina won 38-17.
Medina Bees prop Vincent Pfahl was a force all day and scored two tries. Flanker Drew Boothe, flyhalf Colt Crabel, lock Ethan Neuwirth, and fullback Case Cass also touched down. Hooker Dylan Boothe had a strong game around the field and added four conversions.
Champions Again
Coming off winning a national championship, St. Ignatius was in two finals on Saturday.
Their JV team put a defensive chokehold on the St. Edward JVs and ran in five tries to win 38-0 in a very stop-start, penalty-riddled game. Several of the players on this team, notably perhaps sophomore prop (at the moment) Garrett Butchko, loose forward Cole Sutkus, lock/prop Will Riley, flyhalf Aiden Pickston, and hooker Jack Sizemore. Pickston scored three tries.
In the Super Elite Final, Archbishop Moeller had made the championship game after beating St. Edward in overtime the week before. Moeller had harbored big hopes for the season and those had run into an injury roadblock. Biggest of those was an injury to emotional leader and highly-skilled scrumhalf Brennan MortonStrauss. But MortonStrauss had returned in time to help mount a charge to the state title. While Ignatius had beaten Moeller 88-0 earlier in the season, no one expected that kind of result this time around.
On the other side of the ball, Ignatius was coming off a win at the Boys HS National Championships in which they had beaten Xavier, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Gonzaga, and given up only three tries in the process. Would this playoff be too uch of an emotional letdown?
Ignatius powered down to the Moeller line early on but their vaunted close-quarters offense was stymied by Moeller and the siege lifted. Moeller, in fact, was able to kick clear on a penalty and work their way deep into the Ignatius 22. A try here might shake St. Ignatius's emotional foundation. Ignatius held, and a smart kick to space almost resulted in a try for the Wildcats.
It instead led to a scrum five meters out, and Ignatius flyhalf Bobby Voth delayed a perfect flat pass to outside center Joey Georges and all Georges had to do was stroll in through a massive gap (see photo above). A typically compact run from inside center Tom Putka set up a try out wide for his bother (and fullback) Ryan. Then a big charge from lock Sean Ward, supported by wing Isaac Gingerich, sent the ball wide and Tim Putka was in to make it 19-0 at halftime.
Moeller had a chance right at the end of the half with a nifty chip and chage that seemed to have Ryan Putka wrong-footed. But the fullback put his head down and won the race to touch the ball down to end the half—that was Ignatius right there, battling to keep the opposition score at zero.
In the second half Ignatius took the penalty goal option early and Voth was good on the kick. And then from some pressure they took a scrum, and Voth, lining up on the right, raced left to take the pass from scrumhalf Sean Lipaj and then shoot it out to Jack Dulik for the fourth Ignatius try.
A break by Georges and a penalty led eventually to a tap move and Ward in at the corner to cap off the game 32-0.
For Ignatius, it was a workmanlike win in which they did the key, unglamorous things, like play defense. Moeller can take solace in the fact that their losing margin was a) much improved from last time and b) comparable to several highly-ranked teams who have lost to Ignatius. Voth was named team MVP but a number of other players, including Ryan Putka, could have laid claim to the honor. Whenever GRR attends a St. Ignatius game Joey Georges and Sean Ward are causing the opposition problems.
All told this season St. Ignatius played 11 teams that are currently ranked by GRR. They were 11-0, with four shutouts and an average score of 46-6.
