St. Joe's Prep players holding their own in rugby

Aram Keshgegian and Eric Jackman looked at each other and both started counting with their fingers.

Keshgegian and Jackman, teammates on St. Joseph's men's rugby team who also went to St. Joseph's Prep, couldn't remember which of their former high school teammates are playing in the Collegiate Rugby Championship at PPL Park this weekend.

St. Joe's Prep will be well-represented in the 20-team rugby sevens tournament that starts with pool play at 9 a.m. on Saturday - with Keshgegian and Jackman both on the Hawks, Ryan McNulty playing for Penn State, and Dan Conmy for Notre Dame.

The two-day tournament comes at an exciting time for the sport, as both men's and women's sevens rugby will make their Olympic debuts in Brazil in 2016.

"I think it's really cool that we're all here showing St. Joe's Prep rugby is legit," Jackman, a senior, said. "You always hear of players coming out of Xavier [New York] and Gonzaga [Washington, D.C.], and there's a lot of guys here trying to make Prep one of those schools."

Brian McCloskey, one of two rugby coaches at St. Joe's Prep, isn't surprised at how his former players have progressed. Not only does the program focus on both 15's and sevens rugby and play a competitive schedule, but it's also a fixture in the high school bracket at the CRC.

"The Prep kids aren't going to get too freaked out," McCloskey said. "They've had this experience before."

While Keshgegian feels like he has more experience than a lot of freshman in the tournament, he's never competed in the stadium at PPL Park. Only the high school championship is played there, and St. Joe's Prep made that a year before he joined the team as a junior.

His first game in front of the stadium crowd will come against Arizona before he squares off with McNulty, who he considers a best friend, and Penn State later in the day.

"I feel everywhere you turn this weekend there's a St. Joe's Prep player," Keshgegian said. "Apparently that's going to be no different on the field."