Dons Earn Rugby Title

By: Luke Jackson

The John Carroll rugby team isn't used to losing Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championship games. But it happened this spring.

The Patriots failed to gain at least a share of the MIAA title for the first time since 2002 after being defeated by Loyola Blakefield, 14-7, on Monday. John Carroll had rolled over local competition in recent years on its way to national tournaments, but that didn't happen this season.

“It was a groundbreaking season," said Patriots' senior fly-half Evan McGann. "We never had to really try to win games before. Now, winning requires effort. It’s no longer a walk in the river with these good teams.”

The Dons helped cement their place as a "good team" on the strength of back-to-back trys about five minutes into the first half. Just after John Neskow scored a try for Loyola, the Dons' Brian Fitzpatrick took back the ensuing kickoff for another try to make the score 14-0.

McGann said that in the entire first half, and in particular both of Loyola's trys, the Patriots' tackling was the culprit of the Dons' success.

"Both [of Loyola's] trys were scored because of missed tackles," McGann said. "If we got lower, we could have saved at least one of them.

"[On the return], there were several missed tackles. We had trouble tackling [in the first half]."

John Carroll's poor tackling in the first half helped put it in an early hole, but a strong second half by the Patriots nearly pushed the match into overtime. McGann scored a try with about five minutes left in regulation and a strong runback by McGann on the ensuing kickoff set the stage for a last-gasp push that fell just short.

"We won the second half," said McGann. "They killed us in the first half."

Despite the stakes being so high, McGann felt neither team played its best. He said John Carroll's game plan to win the championship was to play like it did in the semifinal.

"[We wanted to] play like we did versus Mount St. Joe -- play with confidence and play like we knew how to play," said McGann.

McGann will graduate from John Carroll June 1 and will leave behind a rugby team with high hopes next year.

"[This season, we were] a very young team -- 11 starters were juniors," McGann said. "Next year we should have a lot more experience and an older team."

Posted May 13, 2008