(NewkPhoto)

GONZAGA 27 JESUIT 26 BOYS SINGLE-SCHOOL NIT FINAL
Gonzaga raced out to a lead and all was going according to plan, But then Jesuit rallied, and stormed back. It was a classic game with two teams at the peak of their season. They had the coaching and the skill, and in the end, it was less about the score than each individual moment.

Gonzaga ran out to a 17-7 lead, with two tries that were mirror images of each other - stemming from a scrum, tough phase play from the forwards, scrumhalf Jimmy Ronan moving the ball quickly, and a cutback in the backs for the score. Then a sparkling run from Ben Cima seemed destined to make it more. Cima was hit late after he kicked ahead - not enough evidence for a penalty try but he kicked the easy penlty to make it 20-7 for Gonzaga. Then Gonzaga capped off a snappy movement and exploited some iffy Jesuit tackling to make it 27-7.

But Jesuit wasn't done. A breakaway try and conversion put them within 13, and then they pounded on more over to make it 27-19. Gonzaga had some scoring chances, but it was Jesuit again, bursting up the middle to score under the posts. The kick was good. 27-26. The only question was, had Gonzaga hung on long enough for time to be up? The whistle sounded, and as Gonzaga prop Jack Iscaro remembers it, "I didn't really know what the score was or who was ahead. I kind of looked at both sidelines to see who was celebrating, and realized we'd won."

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