Charlotte Catholic 26 - 24 South Meck

This NC heavyweight match was high-spirited in all the right ways. Some great rugby was played by both sides, and while Charlotte Catholic pulled off the victory, South Meck has little to be disappointed about with their effort.

Here’s how it went down:

Charlotte Catholic came into the game with a 3-0 record, having just defeated Marvin Ridge the previous week. Meanwhile South Meck had just been dealt their first loss of the season by Hough. Both teams had plenty on the line.

The first half was filled with big defensive plays and several rounds of territorial kicking ping-pong, as each side tried to find chinks in the other’s armor. Noteworthy were some clever kicks by Charlotte Catholic fly-half Vince Keller — especially a heads-up 50:22 kick that gave Charlotte Catholic a line-out deep in South Meck’s side of the field.

Charlotte Catholic was first to etch the scoreboard, courtesy of a manlyman run by freshman(!) 8-man Miles Caple. (This kid is going to be scary good by the time he’s a senior)

South Meck answered next. Their forward pack set the table with a series of pick-and-goes, and then a quick exchange to get it wide landed the ball in Jameson Beatty’s hands. He had his work to do, but with a little shimmy n’ shake he was able to dodge a few defenders and put South Meck on the board before halftime, bringing the score to 7-7.

The second half saw Charlotte Catholic score two more tries in the early minutes, both were delivered by their forward pack, guided expertly by scrum half Andrew Kuhn. The scoreboard showed 21-7 and Catholic appeared to have all the momentum.

But South Meck had other ideas.

Nick Flemings, South Meck’s 8-man, timed it perfectly to steal a pass from a Catholic lineout and raced down the sideline for a great individual score. After a successful points-after kick, the score was 21-14.

A blocked South Meck kick - deftly grounded by Keane Teeter - led to another Catholic score, but the conversion was missed. With the scoreboard at 26 - 14 it still felt like South Meck could strike at any moment and tilt the game in their favor. Sure enough, Aiden Gallant busted through from a ruck and downed the ball for another South Meck try. The kick was missed on this one, so the score was 26-19. But only a couple minutes later, South Meck found Jackson Wilson out wide for a score.

With Charlotte Catholic clinging to a narrow 26-24 lead, the final minutes of the game increased in intensity (as did the hootin’ and hollerin’ from the crowd).

South Meck fought ferociously, but Charlotte Catholic held on, the final whistle blew, and Coach Jason Zehmke’s crew moved to 4-0.

Coach Zehmke had this to say, reflecting on the match:

And I’ll just leave it there because that’s a great quote to end on. Cheers!

What’s next:

• Charlotte Catholic has impressed the past couple weeks, taking down last year’s #2 and #3 teams in the state. Now they get to take a crack at Hough, last year’s state title winner — who is ALSO sporting an undefeated record. When: Tuesday January 28th. Where: @ Charlotte Catholic Intrigue Level: 👀👀👀🔥

• South Meck meanwhile faces the boys from Myers Park before getting a well earned bye week to rest up for the final chapter of the season.