Down 12-0 early and facing a late 24-18 deficit, many wondered if Brother Rice would be able to come back and defend their state championship. Those who left early missed a great game, great comeback, and an unbelievable finish to the 2013 varsity season as Brother Rice rugby won its record 9^th State Championship to accompany a National Crown won 9 days earlier.

Nequa Valley got on the board early. Taking advantage of a knock-on on the opening kick-off, the Wildcats put the ball out wide, confusing the Rice centers and seeing them race into the corner for an early 5-0 lead.

A miscue between Rice wing Mike Slattery and fullback Sean Martin on a counter-kick produced a loose ball that again the Wildcat backline was able to pounce on and break away to make the lead 12-0 early; it had the look of a Nequa rout.

“Similar to last year, I knew that was a two try wind. Unfortunately, we gave them those two scores early, and I challenged (our team) to button up and hunker down on defense. We couldn’t afford to allow another, and we didn’t that half. I knew we would have our opportunities in the second half,” said head coach Dave Fee.

Button up they did, as the Crusaders defended their goal line several times to hold the lead at 12-0, and then Rice struck back. Wing Kris Coleman subbed on for an injured Slattery and made an immediate impact, capitalizing on a great phase play by the Crusaders. Big play by James Gannon and Tim Barry saw Rice take possession of a lineout deep in Nequa territory, and Rice was able to take advantage of an overlap out wide, as Coleman darted to the corner to make it 12-5.

Just minutes later, again capitalizing on strong forward play, this time junior center Nate Swanberg found himself in space to dot down before the half to close the gap to 12-10.

Rice opened up the scoring in the second half on a Sean Martin penalty kick to take the lead at 13-12, which began the see-saw battle. Martin would later have the kick of his life-time.

However, Nequa struck back with a break up the far sideline to re-take the lead 17-13, before Naval Academy bound winger Mac Oldfield scored the first of his two try afternoon, giving Rice back the lead 18-17 as the half wore down.

Nequa was able to take advantage of some sloppy play on the Rice end of the field before breaking a few tackles and dotting down under the posts for what looked to be a backbreaking try; with the conversion, Nequa made it 24-18.

With time not on their side, yet showing championship experience, Rice was able to work the ball back into Nequa territory again. Oldfield saw space and raced down the left sideline to make it 24-23 Nequa, with the ever-important conversion kick to come. Martin, who 9 days ago put a dagger into the hearts of Greenwich, CT, again came up huge, as he slotted the conversion to give Rice the 25-24 advantage and their 9^th state championship.

The pipeline appears full as the Brother Rice Crusader JV and frosh/soph teams won their state championship games as well. The frosh/soph team has yet to lose a game in their short 2-year history, and the JV avenged their only loss last year by gaining the JV title.