Santa Monica v Back Bay was one of the most anticipated clashes of the Southern California HS club league, and it didn't disappoint.

Despite the rainy conditions the game went ahead and turned into a tightly fought contest that saw the Santa Monica Dolphins triumph 28-11.

Both team came into the game unbeaten. Back Bay is the defending U18 SoCal champion, and Santa Monica has won both the Santa Clarita Kickoff tournament and the Fullerton Invitational.  Bay Back started on the front foot, driving the Dolphins into their own 22 with some aggressive attacking play resulting in a penalty. Back Bay opted for a kick at posts and took a 3-0 lead.

The Dolphins immediately responded from the restart, drawing a penalty from Back Bay, and flyhalf John Conor Shalloe hit a 40-meter kick to level the score. 

Thereafter the Dolphins forwards seemed to take control driving the ball deep into Back Bay’s territory. A score looked certain but a fumble forward at the critical moment gave Back Bay scrum five meters out. In that scrum, the Santa Monica pack shoved forward, took possession, and No. 8 Benny Gonda smashed through for the first try of the game.  

Back Bay responded with some hard running rugby to push the Dolphins back into their own 22, where their over-anxious defense jumped offside. Another straightforward kick and it was 8-6. Then, just before halftime, Santa Monica’s Quinn Perry made a sensational individual run to score between the posts. Shalloe's conversion made it 15-6.

Early into the 2nd half Shalloe added a penalty to make it 18-6. Back Bay responded again, pushing Santa Monica back on to the goal line and No. 8 Sefo Mailangi crashing over for the Sharks' only try of the game. That made it 18-11, and anyone's game, But Santa Monica's strength in the scrums started to tell, and their backs began to break through more frequently.

Another big scrum from the Dolphins set up Shalloe to sell a dummy and go in on his own. Shalloe also converted to make the score 25-11. The rest of the half was predominantly a defensive game with both teams making big hits causing fumbles and turn overs in a very wet and muddy field.  Before the final whistle the Dolphins were awarded another penalty and Shalloe took the three points to make the final score Santa Monica 28 Back Bay 11.