The Gonzaga College High School rugby team finished fourth in the USA Rugby National Invitational Rugby Championships. In the first round, the Eagles defeated Brownsburg from Indiana 14-7 with trys from Nick Hopkins and Patrick Abod, converted by Ben Cima.
The semifinal game between Gonzaga and Penn (also from Indiana) ended in a tie, 8-8. Because of rules limiting the amount of minutes that can be played in a game, no overtime was played and a kicking competition took place where each player gets one shot at goal. Whoever has the most after five kickers wins, and if it’s still tied, the competition continues as sudden death. The Eagles lost in the 11th round of the kickoff, ending their pursuit of a national championship.
In the third/fourth place game, the Eagles suffered a loss to longtime rival Xavier HS 17-7 to finish fourth. It was the fourth year in a row the Eagles have made the final four. This year’s Gonzaga squad finished 15-1-1 winning Jesuit, PRU (13th in a row) and MAVRC championships and collecting wins against six top 20 teams.
