St. Edward scored a late try from Patrick Conway to pull off a shock 17-12 win over #1-ranked single-school team Gonzaga Saturday.

This game was the first of a two-game tour of Ohio for Gonzaga, with St. Ignatius coming up next.

The game was physical and contentious, with Gonzaga running into penalty trouble mostly in the rucks. Gonzaga looked to roll into the tackle to shield the ball as they placed it, but that led to several penalties. Meanwhile St. Ed’s got into trouble for repeated offside.

Bradfield kicked two penalties in the first half for a 6-0 St. Edward lead, before prop Antoinne Walker powered over with a try that, with Patrick Sheehy’s conversion, put Gonzaga ahead 7-6 at the break.

Bradfield put St Ed’s ahead with his third penalty but then Gonzaga replied with big prop and captain Dante Lopresti going over to make it 12-9 Gonzaga. Bradfield then hit his fourth penalty to tie it at 12-12.

Gonzaga was not happy with how the tackle contest was officiated, but Head Coach Peter Baggetta also said that his team had chances to score and hurt themselves with mistakes. 

“We made too many errors,” said Baggetta. 

With the game tied, Gonzaga got a penalty for a late hit, and was not given the option of taking the penalty where the ball landed, which might have offered a chance for a kick through the posts. (Correction - according to other sources, this penalty was actually for offside on St. Ed's, not for a late hit.)

Still, with the score tied 12-12, Conway, who had a solid game throughout, burst through to score and put St. Edward up 17-12.

“This was a big result for us, and a really tough, difficult game,” said St. Edward Coach Tom Cleary. “I feel like we’ve turned a corner as a team. It showed that we’re more than a team that’s good in our own league. We loved playing Gonzaga and they are an excellent team and good kids.”