St. Pius and Alamo Heights
February 28, 2009
The Westlake rugby team notched another cup victory by beating an overmatched but determined St. Pius squad 55-10 last Saturday afternoon before an enthusiastic home crowd. Westlake’s second side played a much closer “friendly” match against Alamo Heights High School but ultimately prevailed by a margin of 12-5. Although rugby fans braved gusting and chilly afternoon winds, they were treated to two spirited rugby matches.
For the second cup match in as many weeks, Ellis Glaw got the scoring underway for the Chaps when, just minutes after the opening kick, he picked up a ball at midfield and tore through the St. Pius defenders. Minutes later, after the Westlake scrum again advanced the ball downfield, Sean Potter scored after a short run on the left side of the defense. With St. Pius unable to generate much offense and it’s scrum continually pushed back by Westlake’s props Alex Putnam and Kelvin Arrindell, its hooker Colin Harmon, and its flanker Shane Carlisle, the Westlake backs, led by the experienced tandum of fly half Markham Sayers and fullback James Robison, ran wild. Robison scored on a long run mid-way through the period after breaking through the defense, as did Paul Brown and Evan von zur Muehlen. Despite constant wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour, von zur Muehlen made good on three conversion kicks during the period, leaving Westlake up 31-0 at the half.
St. Pius regrouped during the break and led off the scoring in the second period. They hung another try on Westlake shortly thereafter, but Westlake’s superior strength and athleticism proved too much for visitors. Paul Brown, Evan von zur Muehlen, and Sean Potter all scored their second tries of the day in the period and Vince Costa also displayed speed on the wing by outrunning the defense for a score of his own. Von zur Muehlen added two more conversion kicks that brought the final score to 55-10.
The Alamo Heights contest featured evenly matched scrums that battled each other at midfield for much of the first period. Westlake had its scoring opportunities during the half but could not convert and the period ended with neither team having scored.
But Westlake’s scrum, with aggressive rucking by Rogan Lye, Eric Wiggin, and Josh Womac, and inspired play at hooker by Will Slade, came alive in the second half, allowing the Westlake backs, led by fly half Thomas Robison, to finally move the ball. This paid off for the Chaps when Alex Lokken scored twice during the period. Lokken added a conversion kick and, even though Alamo Heights scored late in the game, they ran out of time. At the end of the day, Westlake’s rugby team had claimed two more victories.
Charles Vermont