The Saint Ignatius Rugby Cats hit the turf of Wasmer Field on Wednesday evening,  squaring off against Southwest Conference's Avon Lake Shoremen.  

Previously, the Cats blew out the Shoremen 50-0 in a scrimmage, so they were looking to have the same kind of game tonight.  

With that in mind, and after a long week in France and a few big games coming up soon, Coach Arbeznik decided to give the starters from the A-side squad a rest tonight. 

This opened up a chance to some of the B-side players and A-side reserves to show what they had in store, and boy, did they show a lot in an impressive 48-0 win. 

Tommy Lavelle got the game started for the Cats with two quick scores to take a 10-0 lead before 5 minutes had even elapsed. Garrett Lamb and Michael Mangan also joined in on the scoring to help the Cats to jump out to a 24-0 lead about midway through the first half.  

The Cats finished off the half strong with Joe Johnson and Anthony Labate adding their names to the scoresheet to create a 43-0 lead at the half for the Cats, thanks in part to a slew of conversions by Andrew Boldy.

The second half was very back and forth on both sides, with Avon Lake not wanting to finish with such a huge deficit, but the Shoremen just couldn’t muster any scores throughout the whole half.  This allowed Gabe Oliss to add on another score for the Cats and that was all she wrote. The Wildcats finished with a final score of 48-0.

This contest proved to be a huge confidence builder for the Wildcats, as they were able to win with such a high advantage and to further prove how much depth they have as they approach the midway point of the season.  

The game also helped the Rugby Cats get back on track after a tough loss to Gonzaga College High School this past Saturday.  But the past is the past, and now the Cats look forward to a huge matchup with Xavier of New York at Penn State University scheduled for this Saturday, April 15, with kickoff at 11 am.