Aquinas Visits Regis, East in Colorado
St. Thomas Aquinas is following up their trip to the Lindenwood HS tournament with a two-game visit to two of the stronger teams in Colorado.
Aquinas faces Regis Jesuit on Saturday, followed by East HS on Sunday.
“We have a good relationship with Aquinas,” said East HS Head Coach Bill Baer. “We visited them last year, and it’s important to play outside of your region.”
East started their season with a 19-15 win over Regis Jesuit last week. Regis was missing a couple of players, and Head Coach and current national team player Zach Fenoglio, a Regis alumnus, said he is pleased with the depth of his program.
“We’ve about doubled our roster,” he said. “We’ve got some good athletes and the guys are really excited about playing a team outside of our state.”
Littleton Hopes to Ride Momentum
Rugby Colorado’s league season may be getting off to a snowy start - when does it not? - but it’s a start with many implications, as the Littleton Eagle take on perennial state champs Colorado Springs.
“We’ve been doing a lot of shoveling,” joked Littleton Head Coach Charlie Riley about his team preparing for the always tough Grizzlies.
But the preparation has been more than just getting the snow off the field. Littleton played in the Boys Open HS 7s at the Las Vegas Invitational, and were impressive, bringing a size and power to the competition that saw them beat some impressive Canadian teams and win four in a row before they fell to Atlantis in the cup semis.
That was a strong indication that perhaps the Eagles have something going.
2015 Boys HS Club Rankings Week 5
There's a new #1 in town. It might not last too long, but Danville, thanks to the fact that the Royal Irish have not started yet and the Danville Oaks keep winning, we put Danville in at #1. Liberty moves up in Washington after a good start over Eastside, while Red Mountain drops below United thanks to a loss against United (it was in a warmup tournament, so the meaning of that result might fall away quickly).
Kent beat Seattle, so Kent moves in, and Katy beat Kingwood, so they move in.
2015 Boys Single-School Rankings Week 5
Very few changes in this week's Boys Single-School rankings as most of the teams did what was expected.
We had some teams we might have let slide out, but we also wanted to add some teams in due to various results, so we've expanded to 35.
Part of that is because Wando is back playing and winning in South Carolina, so they move back in, and part of that is because we had Kahuku ranked as a HS Club, but upon further review, we see they are a single-school team. So out of the club rankings they drop and into the single-school rankings they come, and at #12. Brother Rice moves back in because we are sure they should be there, and Olympus lost two out of three this past weekend in St. George, but they were very close losses to good teams so they move in.
Nash Bash Draws Tough Crowd
The Nashville Rugby Club hosts two Nash Bash tournaments in March, with the first one being for High School teams.
This year it’s a good one with 26 programs entering 30 teams in an A and B division for HS Boys.
Most of the teams are from Tennessee, with Father Ryan and South Doyle heading the list of local squads, but there are some other teams from further afield. Sir John A MacDonald school from Waterloo, Not. is the sole foreign entry, but St. Louis University High (Mo.), Southern Pines (NC), The Chiefs (Ill.), Dallas Jesuit (Texas), Kansas City Jr. Blues (Mo.), and teams from Arkansas, New Jersey, and Kentucky round out this intriguing group.
Southern Pines enters the tournament 3-3 and still getting there.
Good Week for Kahuku
Kahuku HS followed up thier successful trip to Las Vegas with a 48-0 defeat of the always-tough Kalihi Raiders in Hawaii HS action.
"It took us a while to settle down," said Head Coach Seamus Fitzgerald, noting that once captain Misifoa Matagi left the game midway through the first half with a knee injury, the backs lost their cohesion for a time.
Still, Kahuku scored three tries in the first half, two from flanker Sione Uasi, and one from No. 8 Lopaka Keoho-lessary. The second half saw Kahuku's continuity return, and flyhalf Will Fonoolafi took control of the attack. The big (6-2, 205) pivot kicked four conversions and added two tries in the second half.
Boys National Invitational Field Announced
The Boys HS National Invitational Championship has announced the 24 teams invited to the 2015 tournament.
Twelve single-school teams and 12 high school club teams have been selected by a panel of coaches to play in three brackets at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC May 14-16, 2015.
The list includes 2014 club champions Royal Irish out of Indianapolis, Ind., and 2013 cub champions United out of Alpine, Utah, as well as 2014 single-school champions Gonzaga out of Washington, DC, and 2013 winners, Jesuit of Sacramento, Calif.
NorCal Latest - Danville Rolls
Danville is solid atop the Northern California Varsity Gold Bay conference as they beat one of their biggest rivals for the HS club championship, Hayward, 45-19 this past weekend.
That Danville was able to win speaks to the team’s quality, but that they won by so much speaks even louder. Danville Head Coach Jon Straka said it was still a difficult contest.
“It was a very tough game,” said Straka. “But we were able to physically match Hayward and play more disciplined. Hayward had a lot of chances with a heavy wind at their backs in the first half, but they didn't capitalize.”
Kent Back in Wash?
Well it’s been one weekend in the Rugby Washington boys HS league and already it’s a confusion.
Defending champions Seattle lost 24-22 to Kent, while Eastside, who started the season with solid aspirations, found themselves on the losing end against the always-athletic Liberty.
And the third game in the boys top league had Chuckanut beating Budd Bay 26-25 on the final play of the game.
So it seems that top to bottom, this league is once again as competitive as any in the country. Of the six teams listed, only Eastside has not won a state title this century. For Kent, though, it has been a long time. At one point considered one of the top teams in the country (they lost at nationals to Highland by two points one year), the Crusaders played in the 2nd division last season. They won it, and are back in the top division.
Georgia Latest - Two Unbeatens Left
Georgia now has only two unbeaten teams after Alpharetta Phoenix "A" soundly beat previously undefeated Mill Creek 41-7 on Friday night. Mill Creek, with a huge pack, trailed only 15-7 at halftime, but really had no answer to a very talented and disciplined Phoenix team led by loose forwards Malik Williams and Bennett Erickson. Phoenix veteran Joe Lynch grabbed a brace of tries for the forwards while the Phoenix backs accounted for the other five Phoenix tries. Next up for both teams is the Ruggerfest tournament in Charlotte next weekend.
Penn Impresses in Victory(s)
Perhaps the most impressive element of the Lindenwood HS tournament wasn’t Penn HS winning the Elite Division, but Penn’s JV team winning the Super 12 Division, shutting out three opponents and beating a team’s top side (Jefferson City) in the final.
Fallbrook SoCal Varsity Champs
Fallbrook retained the Titan Shield and won the Varsity Red Division in Southern California with a snappily-taken 33-20 defeat of Torrey Pines in the final Saturday night.
The win capped off a six-game win streak following their opening-week loss to Cathedral Catholic December 19.
“We were rocky in that game but we started to get it together after that,” said Fallbrook captain Steven Branham. “We just started to play better off each other and be more confident with each other. That was the key.”
NC Ruggerfest Returns to Matthews
MATTHEWS, NC - The North Carolina Youth Rugby Union (NCYRU) is hosting the 12th Annual Ruggerfest March 7th & 8th. The event will bring in more than 1,000 high school, middle school, and elementary school rugby players--plus their families--to Mecklenburg County from all over the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest. More than 40 youth rugby teams in divisions ranging from 2nd graders through 12th graders, will participate in the event.
Ruggerfest will be held at the Mecklenburg County SportsPlex in Matthews, NC. The Sportsplex hosted Ruggerfest last year just after its grand opening, already paying dividends as a national sporting events draw for the county. Ruggerfest will utilize all 5 of the full-sized all-weather field turf fields at the Sportsplex.
St. Paul's Keeps Rolling in Deep South
St. Paul’s improved to 3-0 in the Deep South boys HS league this weekend with an 81-0 defeat of the New Orleans Marine & Military Academy.
With some of the more well-known teams in Louisiana embroiled in a tough series of wins and losses, St. Paul’s has emerged as potentially the top team in the region.
