State Champs Crowned in Connecticut, Illinois, New York
The past week saw several state champions crowned in Boys HS rugby, with New York, Connecticut, and Illinois all seeing championship games.
Here's a roundup:
Illinois
Glen Ellyn ran out to a 24-7 lead and held off Notre Dame de la Salette 36-29 in the Illinois Boys D1 final.
Zane Cross, Dylan Skodal, and Morley Coval led the scoring for Glen Ellyn as they established their lead. However, discipline problems crept in and two concurrent yellow cards to Glen Ellyn put them down to 13 players. La Salette is too smart not to take advantage and they clawed back.
However, once Glen Ellyn was back at full strength, two tries from Joey Pope sealed the game.
Massachusetts HS Finals Finalized
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association rugby season is entering its playoffs.
In an early semifinal Belmont HS defeated BC High 49-14 to advance to the final.
BC came out with an aggressive and stifling game plan and it was a back and forth affair for the first 35 minutes or so. Belmont scored first through USA U18 player Asa Rosenmeier, set up nicely by his fellow Junior Eagles Jake Cornelius. This put Belmont up after 13 minutes but Cornelius was injured on the play and took no further part in the game. The injury is not expected to be serious.
BC High came back and equalized a few minutes later and then it was a tense remainder of the half with dominant tackles and defensive stands by both sides.
The Championship Journey of the Belmont Shore Family
Word came down from various opposing coaches early this season—2022 national cub runner-up Belmont Shore wasn't just good, they were better than laster year.
From the opening week of play that seemed to be true. Belmont Shore brought back several returning players, but also reloaded with a pile of talent and, to a certain extend, a different look.
"Although we never underestimate any team in our SoCal League and Nationals, we were confident with the players we selected in our First XV," said Head Coach Johnny Pua. "After playing great clubs like OC Raptors, Thunder, and especially Mustangs, it definitely brought the best out of our team and helped prepare us for Nationals which also gave us a good indication that we could have a solid chance at winning. Not to forget playing the Northern Cal teams like Danville Oaks at the UCLA tournament as well."
Green Bay Dominant Again in Wisconsin State Win
Green Bay defeated Pulaski 44-17 win the Wisconsin Youth Rugby boys final Saturday, capping off another undefeated season.
This is the third straight state final for the Leprechauns. However, the games have become more and more competitive over the years. Gone are the major blowouts as more clubs have clawed their way out of COVID disruptions and bolstered heir numbers.
D1 and D2 Finalists Set for Connecticut
Fairfield Prep and Greenwich HS will meet up this coming weekend in the Connecticut D1 state final after both won semifinals.
Fairfield Prep beat Simsbury Trojans 69-14, paced by a brace of tries each from Tanner Langis and Ben Sheldon. Seven other Fairfield players touched down: Matt Mitchell, Mike Silk, Charles Dooley, Finn Murphy, Liam O'Hara, Emmet Derby, and Malachi Mercer-Robinson. Matt Mancini converted two and Nicolas Vittoria converted five.
Simsbury got tries from Andrew Kowal and Noah Herbeck witth Vincent Matteo converting both.
Ohio Championships: All the Finals
Seven championships were crowned Saturday at Rugby Ohio's Finals Day.
Played at the Fortress Obetz sports stadium near Columbus, the day included finals for Boys D2, Boys D1 Club, Boys D1 School, Boys JV, Girls School, Girls Club, and Boys School Super Division
Boys D2
Withrow ran out to a dominant lead using some serious pace and the try-scoring of Khile Willis, Francois Kabumba, and Quinterrius Jemison. Key also was playmaker and goalkicker Jamez Early. But Warrior stormed back with two tries from wing Hunter Hickey and threatened to overhaul Withrow.
However, Early's four conversions made the difference as Withrow held on 36-34. This was, according to reports, the first state championship for Withrow HS in any sport.
Seven State Champions to be Crowned in Ohio
There are a few state championships to be decided through June.
Several will happen in the Columbus area this weekend as Rugby Ohio hosts a massive day of finals at The Fortess at Obetz.
The action starts at 10AM with the Boys D2 final and goes on from there with games every 90 minutes. The final game will be the Ohio single-school final between St. Ignatius and Archbishop Moeller, which has been the same matchup for tthe last three years.
10AM Boys D2 Final: Withrow vs Warrior
11:30AM Girls Club Final: Brunswick vs Perrysburg
1PM Boys D1 Club Final: Olentangy vs Hudson
2:30PM Girls SS Final: St. Joe's vs Medina
4PM Boys JV Final: St. Edward vs St. Ignatius
5:30PM Boys D1 SS Final: Medina vs Dublin
7PM Boys SS Super Final: St. Ignatius vs Moeller
Lessons Rugby Teaches: Berks Shakes Off Big Loss at HSNC
One of the reasons we at GRR actually cover rugby is that we believe the sport actually teaches you something.
And that something isn’t always taught when you win. In fact, the lessons are more often taught when you lose.
Berks County Rugby knew they were up against it at the HS National Championships. Tracked into Tier II, they nonetheless understood they were carrying injuries—their front row had been hit especially hard. Coupled with the fact that the team and the program had never been to the national championship before, they were headed for trouble.
And they found it. A bigger, more powerful, fairly healthy Kansas City Junior Blues team put 57 on Berks in a 57-3 drubbing on Day One.
GRR HS Club Rankings Week 19
The club rankings are not completely done, but they are close.
We hve a couple of playoffs to keep track of, but certainly the Top 10 is set. Belmont Shore, which was #2 almost the entire year, ends as #1 after beating everyone they needed to beat.
And the rest of the Top 10 is fairly straightforward to stack. Layton Christian was indeed 0-3 at the national championships. But, as we've pointed out, their lost their three games by a total of five points. So they should be in that conversation, and it's certainly possible they could have been top three. Okapi takes #4 by virtue of having beaten Woodlands on the road. Yes that result is fairly thin hook on which to hang our hat, but the on-the-road bit matters. A 15-10 win at home might have given us pause.
Montana Crowns State Champions
Montana Youth Rugby held its championships over the past weekend, taking an important step back toward buildings ng participation after the COVID shutdowns.
Here are the final scores:
Gold Medal Match HS Boys : Missoula 41 defeated Flathead Valley 21
Gold Medal Match HS Girls: Bitterroot 30 defeated Flathead Valley 0
Bronze Medal Match HS Boys :Gallatin 45 defeated Bitterroot 0
Winning coach Boys U19 - Jackson Thiebes:
Keep Loose, Embrace the Target, Set Standards: Gonzaga's Run to #1
Going into the 2023 HS season it was clear to many that Gonzaga might have a pretty special group.
Goff Rugby Report had Gonzaga ranked #1 and were hard-stretched in throughout the season to find anyone else to take that rankings. In fact, in the 19 weeks of GRR’s Top 50 so far this year, Gonzaga was in the top spot for 17 weeks. Now most programs would try to dodge the favorites status, but, really, Gonzaga couldn’t.
So they didn’t.
“We took a page out of the 2015 All Blacks’ attitude,” said Head Coach Peter Baggetta. “If we’re going to be the favorite, then we just embrace it. In years past our attitude was, ‘let’s not pay attention to that ranking.’ But this time it was more like “let’s own it. If people expect us to perform well, then let’s perform well.’”
Links to Boys HS National Championship Games on TRN
The Boys HS Rugby National Championships games are on-demand on The Rugby Network.
Fans who had been looking for these games were in the same boat as we at GRR—you culdn't find them!
Actually, they've been there all along it just seems like whatever coding populates them onto the High School page isn't there.
So you have to search for them.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 19
You'll be wondering where Week 18 is ... well we didn't do a Week 18.
Instead, with HS Nationals coming up and us being so busy, we waited a week.
Anyway, this is not the final rankings of the year. It's close, but it's not the final one as there are some playoffs still to finish off. However, we can confidently tell you that Gonzaga, which has been ranked #1 every week save for two this season, will end the season #1.
Morris Clinches First-Ever State Title in New Jersey
Morris won its first ever New Jersey state HS club title over the weekend, beating Union 34-17 to get there.
Facing a very big and physical Union side, Morris went into the game with a specific game plan:
Make the Union forwards chase the game all over the field;
Emphasize quick ball from the rucks and quick use of that quick ball;
Send the scrumhalf on snipes when it's on;
Change the alignment to cover the unavailability of starting fullback Sebastian Giese using deep three and a second-tier defending in co-captain Thomas McDevitt.
This approach required patience because if it was designed to tire out the Union players, then that would happen later in the game. Early on the Union pack was pushing the Morris scrums, but as the game wore on it was the fit Morris pack that got the ascendency.
Pendleton Takes Indiana Via OT Kicks
Pendleton Rugby came off a challenging three games at the Boys HS National Championships only to have to play their state final game on Monday against the Westside Black Swarm.
These two teams met in the 2022 D2 semis, with Pendleton winning 35-31, so they knew this game would be a tough one.
The match started well for Westside as Trayvon Mathis regained possession of the opening kick. Two phases later, Pendleton was penalized for a side entry but from the ensuing lineout Pendleton lock Zane Davis stole the ball. Inside center Nick Trout then booted the ball about 40 meters, and the chase was good as Pendleton forced a holding-on penalty.
Quickly Pendleton had turned the tables on Westside. The ensuing lineout was won by Pendleton, but Westside's defense was solid and they forced a turnover.
