Day one at the Midwest RCT in Fishers, IN, is in the books and the in-form teams were easy to see. However, a couple, namely the Wolfhounds boys squad and Tennessee girls team, were perhaps a bit of a surprise.

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Boys Varsity

Wisconsin played well but a tough early start dropped it to the second group of three (all teams will be in a round robin of three on Sunday). Indiana (below in yellow) showed up with a fairly small squad (in terms of number of players) and battled through to the top three regardless, compensating for a lack of experienced backs with hard-nosed defense and good teamwork.

The Wolfhounds of Southern Ohio put in a shocker. A 15-7 defeat of the Florida Elite Dragons and then a 15-0 shutout of the Illinois Tornadoes put them at 2-0 as well. Hooker Arturo Mendoza and lock Nick Marsh connected nicely on the lineups, and Chris Klein was very dangerous on attack. But the key for the Wolfhounds was defense. The Dragons only managed a try late in the game, and Illinois didn’t even get that far.

Celtic joins those two in the top group, and those three will play a round-robin for first place. Celtic was led by Charlie Green, the flanker who was expected to play well and stepped up anyway.

Boys JV

The Fort Hunt Warriors impressed, and that wasn’t much of a surprise as the squad has played together through the season. The Warriors front row included Josh Gonzalez and Brian Flamenco, who did well to impose their will on games. Fort Hunt takes on Celtic, which was led by flyhalf Matt Pietch and center Eamon Carr. 

In the other semi, it will be Wisconsin against the Show Me Hoosiers (a team of players from Indiana and Missouri). Wisconsin got some good work from hooker JT Szymanski and No. 8 Aaron Schleicher.

Girls Varsity

No one really saw Tennessee coming. A team that exploded athletically and showed it could also execute a details game plan courtesy of head coach Heidi Whitman, the Tri-Stars blew their Michigan opponents away.

Indy Speed did give them a run in one of the better games of the day, but Tennessee prevailed and looks to make it 3-0 against Celtic. Celtic is 1-1 after getting smacked by Indy Speed and then beating Michigan. 

Girls JV

Celtic was solid in Girls JV and plays Tennessee in a much-anticipated game at the beginning of Sunday.