The Pride of Perry Street Prep (formerly Hyde) traveled across town to take on the Cadets of St Johns College High School. In their final match before heading into Spring Break neither team was looking to begin their vacation early.

St John’s was awarded the first scoring opportunity of the day with a penalty kick approximately 30 meters out and 10 meters from the touch line. Unfortunately for Pride, that kick sailed wide.

The Pride was awarded another attacking opportunity about 20 meters out. Quick-tapping the penalty, the Pride worked the ball through five phases of pick-and-gos, and Brian Betts, with the help of his brother Robert, drove over the line from five meters out to open the scoring on the day. 10 minutes later, the Pride’s Marcus Mcintyre scored again off a very similar effort.

St John’s continued to pressure the Pride with solid scrums and consistent lineouts, but failed to convert its efforts into points.

The final scoring of the half came off another quick-tap penalty 10 meters out from the St John’s line. Pride flyhalf Jihad Khabir made hard work of the try. Instead of using his three-on-one overload, Khabir cut back in and struggled to get the ball grounded as he went over, but he did manage to touch down, giving the Pride a 19-0 halftime lead.

The second half proved to be a much tighter game as St Johns increased their defensive pressure and increased their inroads into the Pride’s territory.

The only scoring of the second half was the result of Pride scrumhalf Justin Owens chip-kicking over the ruck. Khabir raced 30 meters to the ball but was unable to scoop the it up and opted to kick it further down field. Khabir won the foot race and managed to dot down just before it went into touch.

“I am really happy with the efforts of our forwards as they do a lot of the work that doesn’t get noticed or make our highlight tapes.”  said Pride coach Tal Bayer. “As a team, we needed this type of game to test our resolve.

“St John’s physically took it to us today. Their size and strength and physical style were a real challenge for us, and I am sure we will be feeling the effects for the next few days.”

Following spring break, St John’s will face Landon, and the Pride will face their toughest test of the season in an also undefeated Gonzaga side.

Click here to see video highlights of Pride vs. St John's Prep