Twenty-two boys HS teams will be in action in Oregon this weekend, with the Varsity and Club contests well underway.

In the Varsity Division, 4-0 Union takes 3-0 Portland Pumas in a clash of the top two teams in the league. The two teams haven’t shared much in terms of common opponents - just Newberg HS, which both beat comfortably. Union is the defending state champion, but will have its hands full this weekend.

Meanwhile, perhaps the story of the week is Polk County, which upset Beaverton 21-15 last week.

Despite carrying a relatively small roster, Polk has been able to play at a fairly high level. Coach Joe Boyd said last week’s game was the most physical he’d seen in high school rugby.

“The kids were just really going for it,” he said. 

Last year Polk was a very young team, and while they are still young, they now have experience and understand the rigors of the league. 

“Once they got some game time and experience, they really started to develop, so my young kids don’t seem so young anymore,” Boyd said.

Among those who have begun to let that experience shine is flyhalf Madison Stepp. Despite being a flyhalf, he’s really effective in the breakdowns, and stole seven or eight possessions from Beaverton on Saturday.

No. 8 Dylan Thompson is a hard guy to stop and he scored on a pick-and-go against Beaverton, and outside center Hunter Nash scored two tries. But perhaps the difference was hooker Zachary Diaz, who is also the team’s goalkicker and was 3-for-3 on conversions against Beaverton, who missed all three of their conversion attempts.

Beating the top team in the league has done wonders for the Polk confidence.

“We had belief before, but it’s really coming along now,” said Boyd.

Oregon games this weekend:

Club

North Clackamas (1-2) at Beaverton B (0-4)

Oswego (3-1) at Polk County (3-0)

West Linn (0-3) at Northside Panthers (3-0)

Beaverton A (2-1) at Valley Rams (2-2)

Bend (2-1) at East Oregon (2-2)

Clark County (2-2) at Southeast (1-3)

Varsity

Union II (0-3-1) at Prairie (0-2-1)

Reynolds (2-1) at Oregon City (1-2)

Portland Pumas (3-0) at Union I (4-0)

Summit (1-2) at Battle Ground (0-1-2)

Newberg (1-2) at Lincoln (2-1)