Charlotte Catholic Wins Top Bracket in Huge Ruggerfest
Charlotte Catholic Wins Top Bracket in Huge Ruggerfest
Charlotte Catholic made something of a statement by winning the Carolina Ruggerfest, defeating four impressive teams in the process.
Catholic shut out Moon Area out of Pennsylvania 15-0 for the opening win, and then defeated Wando, the leading team in South Carolina. Wando has not allowed a point in South Carolina league play, but Charlotte Catholic defeated them 26-14.
On Day Two, Catholic edged Phoenix out of Georgia 12-5, and then faces the Raleigh Rattlesnakes in the final. The Rattlesnakes had enjoyed a pretty good weekend, too, edging Myers Park 5-0, before shutting out top Tennessee team South Doyle 38-0.
On Sunday Raleigh beat the Tigers 24-12.
In the final, Catholic put on one of their best efforts of this young season, beating Raleigh 29-12.
“The Phoenix game was really physical, a slugfest,” said Charlotte Catholic Coach Ian Mueller. “Both teams made long defensive stands, and we had two possible tries held up. It was a tense game but fun to watch. Wando had more of a kicking game, which is something we don’t always see, but it’s good for us to see a different philosophy. We managed to control most of the game against them, but we made some mistakes.”
And in the final, Catholic put it al together, defeating a Raleigh squad that had put in some impressive results so far this year.
“The four games required a full team effort and different players had outstanding performances in each match,” said Mueller. “And I think we really turned it on in the Raleigh game. We kind of clicked as a unit and ran our pattern effectively even though we were tired.”
Reid Brandt has emerged as a go-to runner for Catholic, and when the No. 8 carries the ball he usually breaks a tackle or at least gains a few meters. He was a big try-scorer for the Charlotte team this weekend. Greyson Krone and Jacob Boone in the midfield were also imposing runners.
It wasn’t all the Charlotte Catholic show. Certainly Raleigh’s 38-0 win over South Doyle, the defending Tennessee state champion, is worth a second look. Flyhalf Ben Kiernan, inside center Darren Murphy, fullback Stanton Johnson, and wing Greg Harris all scored tries, and Tom Stockton converted all five and added a penalty. Flanker Brandon Corkery was excellent in defense.
But it’s also worth noting that not all of the teams were able to field their strongest side, and South Doyle and Wando did play without some regular starters. The same goes for Phoenix, the defending Georgia state champions.
Three of their top players - Campbell Robinson, Chris Bagby, and Nick Koumandarakis - were competing for teams at the Las Vegas Invitational. In addition, Sunday play would rule out three more players due to religious services. But Phoenix Coach Niall Fenton said it was worth it.
“Allowing for all of the Phoenix personnel challenges, we were more than satisfied with the weekend,” said Fenton. “It was a terrific tournament, very well organized. We took our middle-school boys as well and we were just as impressed with that tournament section, even though we only had one win.”
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There were eight brackets at the Ruggerfest. Charlotte Catholic won the top boys bracket, the “Piedmont.”
In the Coastal Bracket, North Meck defeated Chapin 10-5 on the final play of the game to win their bracket and Morris won also. In the Foothills Bracket, Aiken and Rocky River were the top teams there.
The Appalachian Bracket was for Boys JV, North Raleigh, Charlotte Catholic, and Clayton all went undefeated. The Girls bracket was Albemarie, and Warsaw beat Sebastian River 10-0 in the final. Warsaw did not all a point all weekend.
Youth Divisions: 21 teams competed in U14, U12, and U10 matches. The teams came from Charlotte Junior Rugby – CJRA (NC), Richmond (VA), Clayton (NC), Atlanta Youth Rugby (GA), North Raleigh (NC), and Alpharetta Phoenix (GA)
Winners include: CJRA Lions and Richmond Lions in the U10 division, The CJRA Bears and Clayton Copperheads in the U12 division, and the North Raleigh Redhawks winning the U14 bracket.
The 13th Annual Carolina Ruggerfest, featuring 68 teams – not counting the middle school girls and college showcase teams was the largest and most competitive to date. Plans are to expand the tourney even more beginning next year as an additional 5 fields and more parking come online as part of the planed phase 2 expansion of the massive Mecklenburg SportsPlex.
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