Tennessee High School Rugby

Brentwood B Bests Seymour for the Bowl
By Pat Dorwin, Sports Writer
The Mountain Press
May 05, 2002

MURFREESBORO — Led by a strong defense, and helped by Seymour turnovers, Brentwood B defeated Old Blue 28-10 Sunday in the Tennessee High School Rugby League Bowl Championship. The Brumbies scored three first-half tries to lead Seymour 15-10 at the half. Brentwood picked up a couple second-half tries off Seymour errors to seal the win. Brentwood also saw its top side win the Cup Championship with a 15-5 win over Murfreesboro Oakland.

Old Blue got on the scoreboard just a minute into the match Bowl final when flyhalf Ben Williams booted a 21-meter penalty kick to put Seymour ahead 3-0. At the 6:30 mark of the 35-minute half, Brentwood punted deep downfield. Seymour let the ball bounce and the Brumbies’ Ori Armstrong tipped the ball, gathered it in and burst under the goal posts for an 18-meter try. The conversion missed and it was 5-3. Fourteen minutes into the first half, Brentwood had a lineout deep in Old Blue’s half of the pitch. Seymour stole the lineout and the ball was passed back to Williams in his try zone to attempt to kick the ball downfield and clear pressure. But a Brentwood player blocked the kick and Will Higgins fell on the ball in the try zone for a score and a 10-3 lead. Five minutes later, Seymour outside center Isaac Allen broke a couple of tackles and went on a long run before the ball went out of bounds, setting up a Brentwood lineout. Old Blue stole another lineout ball and forced Brentwood into coming offsides for a penalty. Seymour took a quick tap penalty and Derek Percy burst through the Brumbies’ defense. Percy was tackled and set the ball behind him where Jimmy Collins scooped it up. He wasn’t able to break through the defense, but big Justin “Bear” Whited drove into the maul and pushed the pile of players into the try zone where Collins landed for the score. Williams kicked the conversion to level the scores at 10. With about eight minutes left in the half, Brentwood flyhalf David Walker scored a try to make it 15-10.

Brentwood added a penalty kick 10:50 into the second half for an 18-10 lead. A few minutes later, a Seymour back was isolated after getting tackled and Walker picked up the turnover and raced in for the try and a 23-10 Brentwood lead. Seymour scrumhalf Josh Clanton helped move Old Blue downfield with a couple of quick taps, but with Seymour just five meters from the try line, an Old Blue player was penalized for playing the ball on the ground with 17 minutes left in the game and Brentwood kicked the penalty downfield. Brentwood’s Brad Echols then went on a 70-meter run before Williams chased him down, made the tackle and picked up the ball and booted it into touch. Toward the end of the match, Walker again picked up a loose ball off a Seymour turnover and raced in for his third try as the Brumbies won 28-10.

Walker was named the Bowl division Most Valuable Player. In the Bowl division semifinals on Saturday, Seymour beat Upperman 36-5 and Brentwood B stopped Knoxville West 18-3.

Reprinted with permission from The Mountain Press