Westlake is now 2-0 in Rugby Texas after beating Strake Jesuit 37-15 Saturday.

Other winners in Texas include Katy, which defeated St. Pius X 38-13, Lake Travis, which beat Plano 83-3, and St. Thomas, which defeated Strake Jesuit 37-5. Kingwood shut out Lamar 22-0, while Rock Rugby looked impressive in a 78-15 defeat of Four Points.

It was a windy day for Westlake and the Chaps began the game playing right into the breeze. With a deep kick to start, Jesuit's plan was to pin Westlake deep in their territory. This worked nicely and set Jesuit up for a penalty kick and a 3-0 lead. Westlake responded quickly and Jay Reilly Kight scored under the posts. Ryan Rees converted to make it 7-3 Westlake. 

Westlake continued to put pressure on, but a loose pass fell to Jesuit hands, and a try for Jesuit-Dallas and a lead of 8-7.

Ball handling errors plagued Westlake early, but eventually they put the pieces together for fullback Ryan Markus to set up Alex Comer for a try in the corner. Rees his the tough conversion to make it 14-8 for Westlake.

Jesuit rebounded i the second half to score and take a 15-14 lead. But then Westlake took control after that. Westlake co-captains Ryan Rees and Ross McDoniel seemed to take the team on their backs. Precision kicks from Rees pinned Jesuit in their end, and McDaniel’s defense was exceptional.

Kight scored two tries on the day and McDoniel and Khoa Pham also touched down.

Meanwhile, St. Thomas got two tries from Griffin Maat and tries from Nick Pane, Michael Blanchard, Derek Allen, and Ricky Cantoni, while Riley Bishop kicked seven points.

This game between St. Thomas and Strake was for the Lady Hagar Cup held at Granger Stadium - and event raising funds for breast cancer research. 

Strake opened the scoring with a nicely-taken try, and the Eagles answered with a penalty kick from Bishop. Midway through the first half, flanker Griffin Maat scored on a short run, and then just before the break center Nick Pane raced in to make it 15-5.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Maat scored again, and after that St. Thomas seemed to roll. Blanchard and Allen scored, and prop Cantoni powered though on a bruising run to finish it off.

St. Thomas was led by senior captain and No. 8 Josh Pane, whose running, rucking, and tackling. The St. Thomas forwards were able to dominate up front, thanks in part to loosehead prop Robert Rodriguez, hooker George Michael, and tighthead prop Nate McKinney, as well as lock Sam Yeboa.   

Sophomore scrumhalf Eli Young and junior flyhalf Riley Bishop ran the ball well and also sent accurate kicks deep into Crusader territory. Senior fullback Derek Allen and senior center Blake Steel also turned in solid efforts.

(Elizabeth Pardee photo)