The final whistle signaled more than a victory; it marked the Saint Paul’s rugby team’s rise to tournament champions over their arch-nemesis.

Over the summer, the Saint Paul’s Rugby Wolves defeated their longtime rivals, the Poboys, 19-17 in the Birmingham Vulcans Sevens Rugby Tournament. The Poboys were a combination of top rugby athletes from Jesuit and Brother Martin High Schools.

Four teams represented the high school bracket: Saint Paul’s, Poboys 1, Poboys 2, and Red Top Varsity. Poboys 1 consisted of the varsity players, while Poboys 2 was the junior varsity team.

Over the past three years, the Poboys varsity team had been Saint Paul’s biggest rival in “sevens” tournaments. Traditional rugby consists of 15 players on each side with longer matches, whereas sevens has only seven players on the field with shorter matches, making the pace fast and furious.

The Wolves had a history of winning their bracket in every tournament, even beating the Poboy teams in qualifying matches. However, they consistently failed to come out on top when faced against the Poboys for a second time. They lacked the fortitude needed to win the championship match. Mental and physical fatigue would consistently take its toll on the team, making it difficult to come together when the stakes were at their highest.

However, that day was different; this was the day everything changed. The energy on the field was electric, the crowd on both sides was cheering, and the St. Paul’s Rugby Wolves looked excited, laser-focused, and ready to play. From the first blow of the whistle signaling the start of the Championship game, the Wolves took control and set the tone. They were breaking away faster, tackling harder, and passing smarter. It looked as if they could read each other’s minds as they each moved seamlessly in and out of a sea of navy and red jerseys. They played united, and as if all of their hard work had come down to this moment.

The opening play was a 70-yard breakaway run from fly-half, Lane Hamaker, off a scrum (a way to start play by having three forwards from each team bind together and push against one another to gain possession of the ball). As the Poboys were closing in, Hamaker cocked his head to the outside while pitching the ball behind him to fellow teammate Brady Flanagan, who was following closely in the wing, meeting him step by step. Flanagan broke away to the inside while feverishly running to the center of the goal posts, scoring their first try in under a minute. The extra point kick was successfully converted, making the score 7-0.

The Poboys responded quickly and scored in the next phase by driving the ball and running the length of the field after a missed tackle by the Wolves. However, the Poboys missed the conversion kick by a few inches, keeping St. Paul’s in the lead 7-5.

The tension was visible as both teams looked determined to take control. Sweat was pouring off the players, and almost every ball was contested in the ruck. Both sides were intensely competing for the ball on the ground using their leg drive to push it back and forth to defend their position after each tackle.

Up to this point, the Wolves had been physically dominant in the middle of the field, forcing the Poboys to devote more attention to the center. As a result, the Wolves decided to quickly throw the ball to the outside, where Saint Paul’s junior Christopher Curtis was left wide open and scored a crucial try. Even though the conversion just missed the uprights, the Wolves entered halftime with morale at an all-time high.

During halftime, head coach Chip Curtis reminded the Wolves of all of their hard work leading up to this point, as well as their history against the Poboys, and simply asked them, “How bad do you want to beat these guys?” This hyped the Wolves, and they were ready to head into the second half with tenacity.

The second half opened up with multiple collisions that echoed across the pitch, many of which caused both audible grimaces and gasps among crowd. The nonstop clashes eventually took their toll and led the Poboys to score back-to-back tries off an exhausted and battered St. Paul’s team. The tide had turned; the Poboys made one out of two of their conversion kicks, putting them in the lead and setting themselves up for yet another Championship title.

St. Paul’s was now trailing after leading the entire game; the Wolves felt temporarily defeated and wondered if history would repeat itself.

However, trailing by two points in the final four minutes of the game did not entirely discourage the Wolves. They quickly started gaining momentum with each and every play, and instantly, the fire inside every Wolf came to life.

From that moment on, the Wolves became dominant with every tackle, scrum, and ruck. The Poboys could not keep up with the pace and started making crucial mistakes. The tide had turned, and the Poboys appeared to suffer from confusion and exhaustion.

In the final minutes of the game, the Wolves scored two more breakaway tries and successfully completed both conversion kicks to  

After the final whistle was blown (signifying the start of the final play), Saint Paul’s senior Luke Cuccia excitedly kicked the ball out of bounds, ending the game and clinching the victory for Saint Paul’s.

“When the ref then told me time had expired, I had never kicked a ball out of bounds with more power in my life. When the final whistle blew, it was like I was in a dream. I was honestly looking around for answers, as if we could never beat the Poboys, but we did,” an excited Cuccia said in an emotional post-game interview.

Emotions were running high, and every player was hugging each other as tightly as they could.

Saint Paul’s senior Sean Parker was overcome with joy. “I was feeling like a part of me that was missing had finally been found. All of the hard work that I put into every summer felt like it had finally paid off,” Parker said.

“I will never forget that day I toppled Goliath with my brothers,” Parker added.

Saint Paul’s rugby mom, Lisa Hamaker, was among the many fans who were as ecstatic as the players about the big win.

“I told them before the game, ‘Somebody has to win the game; it might as well be you,'” Hamaker said.

Before the final match, the Wolves had performed exceptionally well in the qualifiers. The Wolves defeated the Poboys junior varsity in a very close 15-14 match to begin the tournament. Then, the Wolves claimed a lopsided victory over the Redtop junior varsity squad before defeating the Poboys in the finals.

Overall, this win was a monumental step in the right direction for the future success of Saint Paul’s rugby.