St. Edward won the Rugby Ohio state championship Friday night, defeating longtime rivals St. Ignatius 12-7 in a typically difficult, tense game.

St. Edward took the lead with an unconverted try in the first half, but St. Ignatius replied and 7-5 at the break.

Jaret Williams pushed St. Edward ahead in the second half with a try, which was converted to make it 12-7, and that’s how the game ended.

St. Edward came in with some injuries after playing in the Boys HS Rugby National Championship - a tournament where they finished 2-1 and in 5th place, beating Mira Costa and Greenwich on the way. 

But Coach Tom Cleary said before the game that his team was mostly healthy and ready to go. The key, he said, was to take the emotion out of this rivalry game and just play good rugby.

They did enough of that, but perhaps just barely.

But this was also a very different St. Ignatius team from the one that lost big earlier in the season.

“We went through a stretch of about a month when we were missing anywhere between four to six of our starting pack with major or minor injuries,” said Coach Dan Arbeznik. 

This included co-captain and hooker Brock Yoho, who returned for Friday night’s game after tearing his patella against St. Edward on April 15. It also included lock Timmy Nemes and fullback Sean Whalen.

Arbeznik wanted to limit turnovers against St. Edward, and said his defense also needed to disrupt the St. Edward attack.

“They are a superbly coached team with a good system,” said Arbeznik before the game. “Their kids are fit, intelligent, cohesive, and skilled. They deserved to win the first two contests of the year.  I'm a firm believer that one learns more from losses than wins.  It will take a mammoth effort for David to take down Goliath tonight.  I know our kids are 100% up to that challenge though.”

They were, but still fell a little short.

But perhaps future clashes will be difference. St. Edward is relatively senior-heavy this year, while St. Ignatius started four sophomores.