2017 Boys High School Rugby National Championships

Indiana Teams Bounce Back For State

Indiana Teams Bounce Back For State

Royal Irish, Fishers, and Penn have little time to get back from Nationals to play their state tournament.

May 26, 2017 by Alex Goff
Indiana Teams Bounce Back For State
A week after winning the High School Club National Championships, the Royal Irish out of Indianapolis are setting their sights on a new challenge in the Indiana state semifinals on Saturday.

Royal Irish head coach Scott Peterson said this week has presented one of his team's hardest tests of the season.

"We have to come down from winning the national championship and get ready for state," he said. "It's our toughest week."

Royal Irish will take on Fishers, which defeated Brownsburg 34-27 on Wednesday to earn a place in the semis at Cyntheanne Park in Fishers, IN. In the quarterfinals, Tigers scrumhalf Seth Sontich scored a try, set up two, and made an astounding 24 tackles in an MVP performance. Center Michael Nettleton scored a try, caused two turnovers, and made 15 tackles.

"Fishers is a very good team," Peterson said. "They wanted to be up in the top league in Indiana, and they deserve to be. If we don't come to play hard, we're going to have trouble."



Penn, meanwhile, is coming off a third-place finish in the single-school bracket at nationals and will play Carroll in the other semifinal at Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, IN. Carroll is 5-2 in league play, beating Leo (twice), Dwenger, Arsenal Tech, and Culver, while losing to Brownsburg and Penn.

Penn's only loss was 15-13 to Culver when the Kingsmen were resting players for nationals.

The winners of the two semifinals will play in the state final on Monday, May 29.

null