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| Highlanders vs. Jesuit Blue Jays at South Championships May 3rd 2008 Match Report by Tom Kepler
The annals of sport are rife with heart-warming tales of underdogs overcoming
insurmountable odds to win the big game and the pretty girl. Alas, the Highlanders'
story today ends differently. When the final whistle blew to signal the end of
the second and decisive game of the South High School Championships, the scoreboard
clearly indicated that the first-seeded and heavily favored Jesuit High Shool Blue
Jays had scored 14 points while the Highlanders scored but 12. But what was not
revealed in the bright lights of that display was the far rarer and infinitely more
valuable accomplishment of elevating oneself to the status of champion in defiance
of the final score.
The day started well, with the Highlanders engaging the South Carolina Spring Valley Vikings in an artful match, which they controlled throughout but did not dominate. Drew Zabor scored first
with a swift run into the far left corner of the try zone, but grounding the ball only
after bringing it thoughtfully near the posts to ease Graham Joseph's conversion. Graham
gratefully acknowledged this act and put the Highlanders up 7-0 early.
The sky was overcast and threatening, the fields were sodden, and the wind blew in great
gusts against the Chapel Hill kicking game. One of the tents erected by the team just
beyond the try zone was flung up and over a seven-foot cyclone fence. It rampaged down
the touchline, menacing substitutes and staff, until it was gang-tackled and wrestled into
submission near midfield, where it was hastily disassembled and returned in pieces to its place.
A second Highlanders drive found them pounding at the goal line, but a penalty against South
Carolina resulted in a successful kick by Graham to put the Highlanders up 10-0.
The boys continued methodically to diassemble the Vikings' game, with rucking, tackling and
crisp fundamentals. During the five-minute halftime, thick gray clouds that had obscured
a pure crystalline blue sky parted and the second half kickoff occurred under the full warmth
of the vernal sun. The Vikings threatened early with an out-of-nowhere run, but the Highlanders
regained control and ended the contest without further drama.
The second game was the one everyone anticipated most keenly. The Jesuit High squad proclaimed
its storied history from the backs of its t-shirts: Louisiana State Champions the last five
years in a row, Southern HS champions the last three. What remains somewhat mysterious is
why the Blue Jays ended up playing in the multi-school (meaning support from no school) division,
since they are clearly the team of a very proud single high school, as is evident from their
prominent display on the Jesuit High School website (http://www.jesuitnola.org/extra/rugby.htm).
Whatever the reason, the Blue Jays were there to play rugby, and did so most impressively in
their first match against a team that I shall not name, leading their disspirited opposition
28-nil at the half. I could not bear to watch the rest of it.
But the game they were about to play against the Chapel Hill Highlanders will not soon be forgotten
by any man, woman or child fortunate enough to have witnessed it.
The Blue Jays struck first, scoring off of a flying stiff-armed run from their star back Michael
Bordes and converting the point after. The Highlanders retaliated swiftly and decisively when
Drew Zabor intercepted a Blue Jay pass at a full gallop and touched the ball home before half the
Jesuits could turn around to see him score. Graham added the point after to tie the stunned Jays 7-7.
The Highlanders played electrifying rugby from that point on, dissecting their opponents' tightly
orchestrated passing game and keeping play in the Jesuits' end. The boys were winning line-outs
and scrums and playing with a smoldering intensity torn straight from Homer.
But Drew Zabor, who was thus far responsible for both of the Highlanders' tries, was called
for what the referee saw as a high tackle, shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin. No one
would have been surprised had the the boys failed to keep their anger in check, but they chose to
respond, not by complaining, but by reaching ever deeper, and discovering in themselves an altogether new level of athletic desire. The Blue Jays pushed, and ground, and rammed, and, in spite of awe-inspiring goal-line defense, eventually nudged the ball past a short-handed Highlander squad to take a 14-7 lead into halftime.
The second half opened with the Highlanders still playing a man down, caked with mud and sweat,
playing ferocious rugby. Drew Zabor rejoined the squad with 15 minutes left to play. Shortly
thereafter, the Highlanders seemed poised for a flash score when Sebastian took a pass, evaded
several tacklers and had just one Jesuit to beat as he sprinted toward the try-line. This last defender, however, brought Sebastian down with a high tackle. Here again, the boys might well have cried foul, and insisted on a penalty try or wondered aloud how such a deliberate foul could be punished so mildly. But they simply played on, making tackles, rucking, running and shining through the grime.
Then, threatening near the Blue Jay's try line, Graham took a quick tap off of a Jesuit
penalty and dished off to Kieran, who crashed through a wall of defenders to ground the
ball in the extreme right end of the try zone to bring the Highlanders within two. Graham
was given a severe angle for the conversion attempt; his kick flew straight and high, but
took an odd tumble at the end and passed over the post, missing by no more than inches.
The two teams would have at each other for another few minutes, every muscle twitch full
of fire; every blow shaking the very earth. But the whistle would sound and the contest
would draw to a close with the scoreboard reading 12-14 and the Jesuits moving on to the
final game.
As a spectator of many years, I have never before seen a sporting event at any level played with
greater passion. As a teacher of young people, I cannot recall another group of them functioning
together so selflessly in pursuit of a common goal. As a father, I cannot imagine having greater
pride in these lion-hearted sons. These young men are truly champions today.
Thomas B Kepler, Professor
Center for Computational Immunology
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
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