Boys HS Scores March 8-10
The weather has been awful, but teams are starting to get on the field.
Check back for scores.
Washington Loggers Boys Win Vancouver 7s Invitational
The Washington Loggers boys U18 rep-side team won the Vancouver 7s Invitational, preceding the HSBC World Series 7s in Vancouver, BC Canada.
The Loggers opened day one of competition facing Edmonton Gold, running to a 14-0 half-time lead. In cold, early morning conditions, the Washington visitors failed to respond to a constant Alberta attack, falling-off tackles in the second half to lose 21-31.
In the next pool matches, the Loggers hammered British Columbia Gold 38-10, then Manitoba 38-7, in an impressive display of open, enterprising rugby that saw a total of 9 Loggers contribute points to the board.
All-California HS Championship Saturday
Four teams in California will collide for the first California Rugby State Championship this Saturday at UCLA. The day will start with the third place match where Saint Augustine from San Diego will play athletic powerhouse De La Salle from Concord. In the Championship match Saint John Bosco from Bellflower will play Jesuit of Sacramento.
‘We are extremely excited to play in the California Rugby State Championship’, stated Saint Augustine Forwards Coach Ethan Willis. ‘This game represents a great step forward for high school rugby in California. Each school participating has a historic athletic pedigree and their participation in the State Championship illustrates the support each school has garnered from its respective athletic department.’
Herriman Comes Back To Beat West Valley
IN a clash of two very highly-ranked teams in Utah, Herriman came back from an early deficit to defeat a physical West Valley side 27-14 on Saturday.
This was a matchup that featured the defending Utah State Champions from the Club (West Valley) and Single School (Herriman) divisions. The Utah snow has kept most teams from playing or even practicing much outdoors, so both team were grateful to get on the field. It was the first game for West Valley, while Herriman was coming off of a 42-5 victory over United at the Ra Puriri Classic the previous week.
Creative Playmaking Sees Georgetown Prep Past Malvern
Georgetown Prep opened its season with a decisive victory of Malvern Prep 38-14 led by a senior core group that return for their third year starting for the Hoyas.
Two tries from Patrick Dolan, and tries from seniors John Kirlin, Jack Ondeck, and Matt Crowe, plus one from sophomore Tommy McHale, placed an exclamation point on the creative play making from Ultan Horrigan and Matthew Zaudtke.
Prep nearly took the lead inside on two occasions inside the first five minutes but a pair of knock-ons into the try zone saved Malvern. Ultimately, McHale and Kirlin both punched it in to give Prep an early lead of 12-0. A long run from Dolan after junior David Koffi took three with him, put Prep ahead 19-0 only to concede a try just before halftime to cut the Prep lead to 19-7.
To Be Broughton Or Not Be Broughton; New Team NC Champs
Not Broughton High School’s first year in rugby has ended with a state championship.
The team defeated Corinth Holders in the semi on Saturday during the Charlotte Ruggerfest, and on Sunday defeated the Providence Panthers in the final.
For Not Broughton, this was a huge triumph, coming as it did in the program's first year. The name even has a story. Broughton High School's athletic director denied a request to start a rugby program at the school—he wouldn't issue a club charter—but players still wanted to play. So they called themselves Not Broughton as a dig at the school. The coaches wore "Not Coach" on their jackets. The parents, many of whom had kids who played on the Raleigh Redhawks HS club team, rallied around the program.
Lamorinda Ride To #1 Helped By Tour To Ireland
Last year, Lamorinda took a tour to Ireland, played some rugby and saw some sights; in and of itself it was a fun and exciting time, but the benefits have been far-reaching, culminating last week in being ranked #1 among HS Clubs by FloRugby (in partnership with Goff Rugby Report).
Run by Irish Rugby Tours, the trip to Ireland had a direct influence on making Lamorinda a program that could knock off the 2018 national HS club champs, Danville.
Penn, St. Thomas Aquinas Meet Up At Lindenwood
Penn defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 39-0 in a season-opener for the Indiana team.
It was Penn's third time outside, and while Aquinas had been on the field already, but this was still early days.
Meeting on the campus of Lindenwood University, the teams had cold, dry weather on Friday, March 2 and the snow slammed into the area that night, so Saturday's rematch was very different.
On Friday, Penn did well to unbalance a much larger St Thomas side. While both teams struggled a bit early some very solid rugby was played. The Penn defense kept Aquinas in check all game, but it was some nifty offense led by senior captain Cian Messner at flyhalf that paced the Penn effort.
EIRA Superb At Las Vegas Invitational
Eagle Impact Rugby Academy enjoyed a hugely successful Las Vegas Invitational, rebounding from a slightly disappointing 2018 result.
EIRA Red won the Boys Elite 7s in Vegas, defeating longtime rival British Columbia ELite 1 in the final. EIRA Blue lost to Plate Final to Rock Rugby in the same bracket. The EIRA U16s blew through the Boys U16 bracket, while for the first time an EIRA girls team took the field, logging wins over Shawnigan lake and Legacy RA to take 9th.
(The Redshirts defeated the Utah Cannibals 41-12 in the Girls Elite final.)
HS Boys Games March 1-3
The Carolina Ruggerfest boasted over 80 teams, up from ten in its first year.
A massive tournament, the Ruggerfest is a superb testing ground for HS teams from all over the country, not just North and South Carolina, but Maryland, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, and elsewhere.
It's a big part of this weekend, but not all.
Check back for scores.
Gonzaga Downs Fort Hunt In Physical Contest
Gonzaga HS defeated Fort Hunt 33-12 Saturday in an early-season high-ranking clash.
Gonzaga, ranked #1 among single-school teams, had to deal with a couple of injuries, but bested an improving Fort Hunt squad.
"The forwards did an excellent job," enthused Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta. "They took over the game."
A very physical and intense contest, the result was a solid outing for Fort Hunt, who had lost two games on an early trip to North Carolina before beating Doylestown last week. While this was a loss, holding Gonzaga to 33 and scoring two tries is something for the #20-ranked HS club to build on.
Xavier Slams Doylestown
Xavier HS laid down a bit of a marker over the weekend with a very comfortable win over Doylestown.
Pennsylvania-based Doylestown is in a bit of a reloading phase but hasn't shied away from playing some big-time opposition. This game, however, was all Xavier. The New Yorkers were able to monopolize possession for a good proportion of the game, and showed good ball-handling despite the weather and it being so early.
Of note from the Doylestown side, the teams played extra on the day to provide competition for all of the players, and the Doylestown front row battled through all of it.
Xavier was able to use a large number of players.
Evolution 7s Has Big Weekend at LVI
The Evolution 7s won the Boys Open 7s in Las Vegas, with the new girls team taking 8th, an impressive showing for the Idaho-based program.
The Boys team was led by several strong performances, with captain Logan Hill at the head of the effort, with Jackson Pabst, Jake Pingree, Clint Hersey, Tiai Vavao, Tyson Bradford, and Tyler Williams having srong weekends.
"Even though we are not currently in-season for 15s or 7s, and the weather is a big factor with snow and rain, our preparation has gone really well and injury-free leading into the tournament," said Wesley Van Tonder, who oversees the program. "We are very excited to field a girls team for the first time. Because of Evolution's success last year we are getting requests from athletes in other states to try and get a foothold in those states to get national representation."
LVI HS Elite Latest
The HS Elite brackets in the Las Vegas Invitational are underway.
The Redshirts won the Girls Elite 7s, running through the West Idaho, Carson, and Rhinos White in pool play, and then beating Shawnigan Lake in the semis.
The Utah Cannibals beat EIRA, Red Hawks, and Legacy in three shutouts in pool play, Rhinos White finally scored on the Cannibals, but Utah made the final, only to lose 14-12 to the Redshirts.
In the boys bracket, Western Sydney went 3-0 in Pool A, Rock Rugby won three very close games to go 3-0 in Pool B, BC Elite 1 took all three in Pool C, and EIRA Red was undefeated in Pool D.
Rugby Ontario, Stars, EIRA Blue,and Rhinos Black all took 2nd in their pools.
The boys bracket concludes on Saturday.
HS Nationals Breakdown: Who And What
The Boys HS Rugby National Championships has seen a massive changeover for 2019.
Announced last week, the field of 24 teams has nine changes from 2018, which is significant in what organizers said was the most competitive field of applicants they had ever seen.
Last year, the mix of single-school and HS club was not even — there were in fact 13 club teams and 11 single-school teams. As a result, while there are four new single-school teams this year—East HS, Kahuku, Snow Canyon, and Rocky Mountain—only three teams do not return. Those are Fishers, Brownsburg, and St. Edward.
