The joy of victory and the agony of defeat both confronted the Saint Ignatius rugby program this past weekend.
The Wildcats' B-side team enjoyed the incredible high of a Midwest Championship, but the A-side fell oh-so-short of its desired goal.
All in all, Saint Ignatius rugby finished 7-1 on the weekend.
A-Side's Agony
The Wildcats' A-side team entered the Midwest Championship with high hopes. The veteran squad entered with momentum from recent wins and confidence from adjustments made in recent weeks.
Yet the Wildcats experienced a tough loss, 39-33, to Fishers on Saturday afternoon.
As Head Coach Dan Arbeznik explained, "It was bitter disappointment. We were held-up 'in-goal' with no time left on the clock. If we had been able to ground the ball (as our kids insist they did), we would have won the match and lived to play on in the other side of the bracket."
The loss did spur the disappointed Cats in the team's second match, though. The Rugby Cats rolled to a 36-5 victory over Carroll of Indiana in impressive fashion.
The men of Ohio City rounded out the tournament with a 19-12 win over Notre Dame de La Salette of Illinois. Walking away with a 2-1 record at Midwests, but no trophy, the Wildcats have some things to work on.
"It was a tough draw for first-round game for our kids, but it has given us a lot to look at and reinforced some lessons for what our team needs to do in order to become a championship caliber team," Arbeznik said.
Next up for the Wildcats is the regular season finale at Archbishop Moeller on Saturday at 2:30 pm. The Rugby Cats will then face the Crusaders again in the RugbyOhio State Semifinal on May 26.
B-Side's Joy:
Facing a difficult road to the title at the Midwest Tournament, the B-side Cats did not flinch.
These blue-collar Cats went right to work in the first round, capturing a 24-17 over a tough Fishers squad. Then, playing a familiar foe from Lakewood, the Wildcats pitched a shutout. The Rugby Cats' 7-0 triumph over the Eagles sent the squad to the final.
In a hard-fought rematch from earlier this year, the B-side Wildcats clawed to a win by the narrowest of margins. The Rugby Cats notched a 15-14 victory to win the Midwest Championship.
"Not only did they win the bracket but they came through the toughest teams," said Arbeznik of the B-side. "The teams on the other side of the bracket went 0-4 on the final day (against the 4 teams on Ignatius' B side of the bracket). Penn gave themselves the easiest road to the Final, while our kids had claw their way just to get there.
"[The B-side] had numerous stands on defense by their tryline and played most of their games man-down as players were sent off with yellow-cards. They fought against all of the odds to capture that cup final."
Next up for the B-side is a contest vs. the Medina Highland A-side on Thursday at 7:30 and then a matchup vs. Moeller on Saturday at 1:15 pm.
U16 Keeps Rolling
The Wildcats' U16/Developmental team swept its two contests this weekend. The squad stormed past Fishers, 24-14, and demolished Archbishop Dwenger of Indiana, 56-0.
The U16 team advances to 6-2 on the year with the wins. The Wildcats will face Highland's B team on Thursday at home at 6:15 and then battle Moeller on Saturday at noon.