HS Boys

2015 Boys Single-School Rankings Week 14

What a wild weekend in the single-school games. #2 Penn lost ... twice. #3 Jesuit was supposed to play Multi-School #3 Granite Bay, but that didn't happen. St. Edward upset three ranked teams to win the Midwest. A ranked team - Brother Rice - struggled to even score points in the Midwest tournament.

Back Bay and Los Angeles played so well in the SoCal club league that the single-school teams that fed them, specifically Mira Costa, got a bump. Thomas Aquinas beat multi-school club #6 in a bit of an upset. Playoffs switched things around. It was wild.

Back Bay Takes SoCal Title

Back Bay took the Southern California HS club title Saturday with a 28-14 defeat of Los Angeles, and it was a fitting finish to the Sharks’ season.

Travis Heer and Aaron Matthews once again led a potent backline attack, with Raymong Tufuga providing a needed second-half spark.

LA led at halftime but had to overcome a stirring start from Back Bay - it was Back Bay that led 8-0 early on, but then they got into penalty trouble. Guilty of not releasing the tackled player and coming in from the side - a sure sign that LA’s big runners, led by Justus Tavai and with Juwhan Johnston playing superbly once more, were causing problems.

Not interested in kicking for points, LA tapped and ran, and tapped and ran again, trundling over for two tries and a 14-8 lead.

St. Edward, Royal Irish Win MW

St. Edward won two Midwest Boys HS championships Sunday, and Royal Irish did what was expected in the Midwest championship tournament in Elkart, Ind. Sunday.

Royal Irish won the multi-school club bracket with a 62-17 defeat of Fishers Sunday. The Indianapolis team finished the two-day, three-game tournament with 138 points for and 22 against.

Pickerington hammered Bishop Dwenger 55-10 to take the Plate and finished 2-1. Brunswick also finished 2-1 after they beat Birmingham 50-26 for 3rd.

Final Multi-School Finish

1. Royal Irish

2. Fishers

3. Brunswick

4. Birmingham

5. Pickerington

6. Bishop Dwenger

7. Catholic Central

8. Marian

Regis, East to Colorado Final

Regis Jesuit and East HS both won their semifinal games in Rugby Colorado’s HS playoffs.

Regis Jesuit defeated Colorado Springs 38-12 in the rematch of a game that was 13-12 last time they met. And East defeated PAC 28-15.

Empire Wins SoCal Green

The Empire Rugby U18s finished their season with a convincing 47-5 win over ORCA to take the Southern California Green Championship Saturday.

Empire had wanted to go into the Gold playoffs as the top team from the Green, but that bid was denied. They settled for getting a Green title, and did so. 

Empire plans to move up to the Gold Division in 2016.

Capital, Rocky Mt. Advance in Idaho

The semifinals for the Rugby Idaho boys playoff are set after Rocky Mountain and Capital won play-in games this weekend.

Capital had been bumped to 3rd in the Southwest/Southeast Conference after losing 22-13 last week against Mountain View. Mountain View won a very forwards-oriented clash, with No. 8 Kody Walker scoring two tries and lock and captain Griffin Moeser, and prop Zavior Cook, each scoring one apiece. That put Mountain View at 6-0 and into the semis, along with North Conference winners North Idaho. Capital dropped to 6-1, seeded just behind 6-1 Rigby out of eastern Idaho. And the #4 team, Rocky Mountain, faced Northern Conference #2 Patriots/Renegades. In that game, Rocky Mountain won 38-14 to advance to meet Mountain View.

Capital defeated Rigby 36-5 in a windy game in eastern Idaho.

Rugby Wa Semis Set

The Rugby Washington playoff matchups are set after the final weekend of play. 

There was no suspense as to which team would be first, as the Liberty Patriots had already clinched the top spot. The only blemish on their record is a 17-14 loss to Budd Bay. Aside from that match and a close win over the same Barbarians team, Liberty was a point-scoring machine, averaging just under 40 per game for the season, and finishing 9-1 after beating Chuckanut 65-25.

Kent, meanwhile, defeated Eastside 31-28 to secure 2nd place, With four wins, however, Eastside had done enough to clinch 4th. That's because Budd Bay defeated Seattle 38-27 to improve to 5-5 and take 3rd.

Tigers, Rattlesnakes Win in NC Semis

The Charlotte Tigers and Raleigh will face off next week for the North Carolina HS club championship after both won semifinals this weekend.

Charlotte defeated Union County 32-12, while Raleigh upended Chapel Hill 39-17.

The Tigers were pleased to welcome some players back from injury, and that are a difference for them, said Coach Riaan Van Schalkwyk. 

“The Tigers just played as a team,” he said. “They were playing the rugby that all the coaches knew  they could play. We have a very young team, and the future looks bright for the Tigers Program.”

Charlotte will play in their fifth state final since 2009, have won the state title twice, in 2011 and 2012, and finished second the last two years.

Ohio Teams Impress in Midwest

It’s an all-Ohio final in the Midwest single-school boys HS tournament as St. Ignatius and St. Edward won their quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday in Elkhart, Ind.

The day included some major surprises, not least of which was St. Edward defeating GRR #2 Penn HS 20-10.

Boys HS Scores

Some Boys HS scored from around the country:

Midwest Championships

Single-School QFs

Penn 50 West Catholic 0

St. Edward 26 Notre Dame de La Salette 12

Brownsburg 12 Pulaski 7

St. Ignatius 43 Brother Rice 5

Single-School Consolation

Notre Dame de La Salette 60 West Catholic 0

Pulaski 21 Brother Rice 0

Single-School Semis

St. Edward 20 Penn 10

St. Ignatius 26 Brownsburg 22

Multi-School QFs

Fishers 7 Central Catholic 5

Brunswick 24 Bishop Dwenger 17

Birmingham 30 Marian 10

Royal Irish 26 Pickerington 5

Multi-School Consolation

Bishop Dwenger 27 Central Catholic 5

Pickerington 39 Marian 0

Rematch Time in Colorado Semis

The Colorado Boys HS semifinals are Saturday and now we get down to two very tight and contentious games.

Top-seeded East HS didn’t get to play a game last week, as winless Cherry Creek, hit by injuries, forfeited. The bye week was a blessing in that no one got injured, but Coach Bill Baer said he kind of wishes his team had been able to get more game time in. The season is too short as it is.

What Baer did do was spend the extra time drilling his players in the art of taking it one game at a time.

“We beat PAC 43-3 the last time we played them, but they are a very good team and we can’t afford to be complacent,” warned Baer. “We can’t afford to have handling errors. What we need to do is playing with confidence and play our dynamic, expansive game.”

So be careful, but not so careful that you shrink away from how you play.

Utah Playoffs This Weekend

Utah HS Rugby enters its playoff phase now that May is here as the single-school and club playoffs kick off.

Sixteen teams are involved in these playoffs, which culminate next weekend, and so don’t conflict with the Boys NIT, ad thus excusing some teams from having to make a difficult choice.

In the Multi-School bracket, here are the quarterfinal matchups for Saturday:

West Valley v Bountiful

Kau Toa v Orem

United v Skyline

Wasatch v Lowland

Led by the scoring of Tevita Tauelangi and Samual Nathan, West Valley has emerged as a real contender. The Warriors lost an early, but very close, game to Herriman, and then beat defending club champs Kau Toa and United on their way to a 4-1 league record. They lost to Lowland, but didn’t need to win that one. 

Midwest Tourney Kicks Off Saturday

The Midwest Boys HS tournament is set for this weekend in Elkhart, Ind., with 38 teams from development level to Varsity playing in five brackets.

In the Single-School Varsity Bracket, Goff Rugby Report #2 Penn heads up a strong field that includes Brother Rice, undefeated in league play in Illinois, GRR #24 Notre Dame De La Salette, GRR #26 St. Edward, and GRR #25 St. Ignatius. Brownsburg, which recently beat La Salette, is ranked #23. 

In the club bracket, GRR #2 Royal Irish leads the field by a wide margin. Catholic Central out of Michigan, and Fishers out of Indiana look strong, but Royal Irish are heavy, heavy favorites.

Eight teams also compete in a festival bracket, while there is also a JV competition, where Penn looks very solid, and a development pool of six teams.

Downingtown Caps 6-0 Season

Downingtown defeated North Philly 68-3 Thursday night to cap off their regular-season in the Rugby Pa Boys Club White division with a 6-0 record.

This was the fourth league game where Downingtown had denied their opposition a try, and in fact Downingtown only surrendered 36 points in those six games.

“Our defense has been very good,” said Head Coach Mark Drill. “We’re doing OK. I’ve been coaching a long time and I try not to get too high or too ow. But we’re doing well. We have an exciting game plan and we’re executing it.