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It was a great day Wednesday for Harvey’s boys rugby team who prevailed 29-17 at home against New Rochelle High School. Coach Phil Lazzaro filed this report:

Harvey vs. New Rochelle

4.29.26

Starting XV

1          Ryan Geagan

2          Grahm Bryant

3          Frank Zhang

4          Gus McCourt

5          Titus Welsh

6          Sullivan Wieting

7          Stephen Millette

8          Jordan Falk (Field Cpt)

9          James Gittleman

10        Ben Lawrence-Comerford

11        Jake Rubin

12        Charles Engelhardt

13        Rayce Volpi

14        Henry Burke

15        Ruggero Franchetti

 

Substitutes

58th minute - Birch for Burke

61st minute - Rinaldi for Zhang 

 

This (Thursday, April 29) afternoon, the boys welcomed New Rochelle to campus to rekindle a rivalry that began in 1995. Our boys put in a great week of work, focusing on options in attack, support, and on being strong at breakdowns.

The match started well as our scrumhalf, James Gittleman, fielded the opening kickoff and found Falk in support. Falk broke through the Huguenot defense and scampered nearly 40 meters! We were unable to keep the ball as we lost a scrummage 14 meters out of the try line. New Rochelle was unable to gain much ground due to strong tackling by Zhang, Welsh, Falk,

Lawrence-Comerford, and Engelhardt. We regained possession in the 5th minute near midfield and went back on the attack. Runs by Lawrence-Comerford, Geagan, and McCourt saw us 10 meters from a score. 

In the 7th minute, our fullback, Ruggero, received the ball and, from only 7 meters out, popped a kick over the Huguenot defense, raced past the defenders, caught the ball, scoring a fantastic try! Our conversion was short, and we led by five points. We lost momentum on the kickoff with a knock-on and were forced to play defense. New Rochelle ran successive “pick and goes,” but our defense was strong. Unable to re-secure possession, we were dinged on successive penalties, swinging momentum to our opponents.

Eventually, in the 22nd minute of play, following two more penalties, New Rochelle found the try zone to knot the score at five. Undeterred, the boys dug in. Our tackling remained strong, and we eventually gained the ball when Ruggero poached a tackle on our 20-meter line. We went on the attack and were relentless. Gittleman and Lawrence-Comerford led the team in attack. Runs by McCourt, Falk, and Geaghan pushed us into New Rochelle territory. Following a ruck at the New Rochelle 17-meter line, Gittleman found Ruggero, who raced past two, and through one, New Rochelle defenders to dot down in the corner to make the score 10-5 Harvey in the 31st minute. Halftime came a few minutes later, and the boys earned a well-deserved five-minute break. We encouraged the boys to continue to support their rucks and hit low on defense. I am proud to say the boys executed well in the second half!

New Rochelle started strong in the second half, but the boys were ready. Our tackling was superb, and we forced a turnover. Bryant won a terrific lineout, and we kept up the pressure on the Huguenots.

Eventually, in the 42nd minute, we were in a good position. We won our scrum at the 23-meter line, and Gittleman fed Ben, who found our outside-center, Engelhardt, who did the rest. Charles pulled away from the defenders and found glory. We led 15 to 5. Unfortunately, we once again misplayed the kickoff, and New Rochelle held the advantage.

In the 47th minute, New Rochelle nearly scored, but we held them up in the try zone. Our subsequent dropkick from the try line was poorly defended as we failed to come up together at pace, leaving New Rochelle with some gaps which they exploited to score and narrow our lead, Harvey 15, New Rochelle 12. The next 10 minutes saw some intense rugby with both teams making threatening forays into enemy territory. Titus had a beautiful 15-meter bulldozing run to help us escape the shadow of our try line and recapture momentum in the 52nd minute. Soon after, we were marching again.

In the 57th minute, flanker Sullivan Wieting darted into the try zone for a 17-meter score following strong runs by Falk, Gittleman and Ruggero. Lawrence-Comerford’s conversion was true, and we led 22 to 12. We responded well on the kickoff and drove the ball again. Titus had a strong 25-meter run, and following three rucks, Falk found the try line from 7 meters out. Lawrence-Comerford converted to bring the score to 29 to 12.

In stoppage time, New Rochelle found a gap and dotted down, and the final whistle saw the scoreboard read, Harvey 29, New Rochelle 17.