Pendleton Takes Indiana Via OT Kicks
Pendleton Takes Indiana Via OT Kicks
Pendleton Rugby came off a challenging three games at the Boys HS National Championships only to have to play their state final game on Monday against the Westside Black Swarm.
These two teams met in the 2022 D2 semis, with Pendleton winning 35-31, so they knew this game would be a tough one.
The match started well for Westside as Trayvon Mathis regained possession of the opening kick. Two phases later, Pendleton was penalized for a side entry but from the ensuing lineout Pendleton lock Zane Davis stole the ball. Inside center Nick Trout then booted the ball about 40 meters, and the chase was good as Pendleton forced a holding-on penalty.
Quickly Pendleton had turned the tables on Westside. The ensuing lineout was won by Pendleton, but Westside's defense was solid and they forced a turnover.
This seemed to be the tone of the early part of the game, as both teams had forays only to be stopped. Finally Pendleton was able to get inside Westside's 22. They tapped after the Black Swarm was offside; Garrett Pederson picked quickly and then set up Trout to score in the corner. Pendleton 5 Westside 0.
Pendleton had two more opportunities inside the Westside 22. On one they scored a try almost identical to the first, with Trout making it 10-0.
More Pendleton power, Trout sent a 50-22 deep into the Westside zone giving his side the throwing. The throw, however, went over the jumper and into the hands of a Westside forward. Davis fixed that by ripping the ball free and racing to the corner. Trout converted and Pendleton had a 17-0 lead.
But the Black Swarm were not done, not by a long shot. A Pendleton knock on after a successful turnover led to a scrum and from there wing Dailon Zeigler found some space and was over. Two minutes later center Jaiden Jones scored the first of his hat-trick when he found a gap near the sideline and accelerated past the Pendleton defense. That made it 17-10, with momentum shifting to Westside.
In the second half, further Pendleton miscues led to a Westside chances.
Westside bruiser Oluwagbena Orisadare cut the Pendleton defense for several long runs. His first such run of the second half led to the second try for Jones. The conversion was missed and Pendleton held on 17-15. The game was coming down the wire.
Three minutes of possession and pressure inside the Westside 22 yielded a penalty advantage for Pendleton. Trout grubbered a ball through the Westside line that was recovered and scored by Crew Boles only to be brought back to the mark when Boles was ruled offside on the kick. So the play went back to the original infraction and Trout slotted the penalty to make it 20-15.
Now nearing 240 minutes of rugby in five days, Pendleton was starting to feel the fatigue. Jones had energy, though, and he once again raced past the Arabians to tie the game 20-20.
Both teams alternated possessions in the remaining minutes but the game remained deadlocked. So next up was two five-minute halves of an overtime period. The first half ended without a score. The second half was played in the Westside half of the field, but once again the score remained 20-20.
So that was it for playing. World Rugby U19 rules state game cannot last more than 70 minutes, and this game was 60 minutes of regulation plus the 10 minutes of overtime. (This is not a Rugby Indiana rule but a World Rugby rule. After the 70 minutes, however, it is up to local leagues to decide how a result is found; like most competitions, Rugby Indiana has teams go to penalty kicks. The usual MO is each team has five different players take turns kicking for goal from the 22 meter line. The leading team both teams have had their five turns is the winner. If they are tied after that, teams take on turn each with the leading team after a turn being the winner.)
After five rounds, both teams had made two kicks. So it came down to the sudden death option. Westside missed and Trout slotted his kick for Pendleton, and Pendleton had the victory on kicks.
It was a tough win for Pendleton and a tough way to lose for Westside. Certainly the amount of rugby players over the last several days affected Pendleton, but at the same time Westside's late surge, paced by Jones, almost got them through.
