Application Window Open For US Rugby Foundation Scholarships
The US Rugby Foundation 2023-24 college scholarship programs are now open for application.
The programs are designed to provide financial assistance to deserving student-athletes who demonstrate a strong commitment to academic achievement and rugby excellence.
This year's scholarship application period will run through August 31st.
This Week in Boys HS Rugby
This weekend is the weekend before the Boys HS National Championships, but that doesn't mean it's empty.
In fact, it's pretty full. We have Michigan playoffs, Maryland semifinals, Illinois quarterfinals, the Pennsylvania finals, and we have the Oregon finals.
And we have some rankings-related games in there too and of course the Florida International Showcase.
GRR HS Club Rankings Week 17
It's been a bit of a hectic week so we're late with these rankings.
Next week we will probably not update the rankings because HS Nationals starts on Thursday, and we'll incorporate this coming weekend's activities (Illinois playoffs, Cascade final, Oregon finals, Wisconsin and Minnesota playoffs) into the rankings for Week 19.
This week, Green Bay is making us a believer, Westside makes a bit of a move, and Layton Christian moves into the Top 10 in time for a push at Nationals. Schoolhouse and Olentangy are in the Top 50 now, too.
Last-Minute Try Gets Xavier Past Greenwich
The Xavier Knights and Greenwich Cardinals arrived at Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, NY knowing that their match was a must-win and a key HS Nationals seeding game.
In a dramatic clash, Xavier won by a single point 19-18.
“This game was all about heart,” said front-row Matthew Lane. “I feel like we had it in us from the start. We lost our way a little, but we knew our game was a forwards game. We had to fight hard and when we started playing our game, that’s what gave us the win.”
Certainly, the game was about heart, and for first seven minutes of the match there was an almighty struggle for possession as the two teams battled hard for the ball in the middle of the field.
Granite Bay Plays For Stricken Teammate
In a rugby match against CenCal Rugby on April 30, 2023, Granite Bay front-rower Tyson Wasser sustained a blood clot in his neck that quickly turned into a stroke, and while Wasser is thankfully alive, he has a long road ahead of him.
During the match, Wasser started behaving erratically—he was losing function on his left side. Two players from the opposing team, Thomas Finocchio and Boston Bradford, noticed and, while play was going on, abandoned the game to assist Wasser and call for help. Their selflessness and quick thinking helped save Wasser's life. Because they identified a problem before anyone on the sideline could see, help came more quickly, and paramedics were called more quickly, and that care ultimately saved Tyson Wasser's life.
Tyson Wasser joined the GBR Program in February 2023 and immediately become part of the team.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 17
Very few movers this week, but we do see Regis Jesuit jump up significantly.
This is the sort of thing that happens when a team erases an earlier loss with a win, perhaps even a win that surpasses the loss, over the same opponent. Regis beat East and moves up.
Staples moves down significantly based unfortunately on injuries that have slammed them. Detroit Central Catholic moves up because they shut out a team that performed well at Midwests the week before. This also allows us to look at DCC's close loss to St. Edward in a different light—maybe DCC is better than we thought.
Notre Dame de la Salette moves up after a victory against a solid Glen Ellyn side, and SLUH, which has had results all over the place, kind of hangs it hat on a state final win over a very good KC Jr. Blues side.
Bixby Holds Off F5 in Oklahoma State Final
Despite a wet field and a one-hour thunderstorm delay, Bixby managed to defeat F5 to win the Oklahoma state championship over the weekend.
"We knew it was going to be all about field position," said Head Coach Chris Smith.
F5 started the game with possession and put Bixby under plenty of pressure. Bixby was having trouble kicking out of their own 22 and F5 patiently waiting for their chance. After about 10 minutes F5 broke through in the midfield and scored.
The silver lining for Bixby was that they were now able to kick off and let their defense go to work in F5's half. It worked. They got a penalty and Aaron Montgomery was, as usual, accurate and it was 7-3.
Moments later Bixby lock Nick Roberts side stepped a defender and found his way under the posts. Mongtomery converted and Bixby had the lead 10-7.
Boys HS National Championships Brackets, Schedule Finalized
The brackets for the 2023 Boys HS National Championships are out.
Also finalized is the schedule for the tournament, which will be broadcast LIVE on The Rugby Network.
As has been the usual format for this tournament, the top eight single-school teams are tracked into the single-school bracket, and the top eight HS clubs are tracked into the club bracket. The other eight teams go into the Tier 2 bracket.
The Tier 2 teams are:
SOC Raptors, Vienna, Penn, KC Jr. Blues, Aspetuck, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Raleigh Redhawks.
Here is the bracket and schedule.
Expanded Referee Group for Boys HS Nationals
The Boys HS National Championships is fast approaching, and the seeds and brackets are going to be released very soon.
The tournament will be held at the Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, Ind. for the second year in a row, in keeping with the tournament's habit of hosting the event at the same venue for two years (as long as there aren't interruptions by pandemics or other major disasters).
All four finalists from the Tier 1 championships are back, with defending single-school National Champions St. Ignatius and the team they held off in the final, Gonzaga, in the single-school bracket and HS clubs Granite Bay and Belmont Shore (#1 and #2 last year, respectively) also returning.
This year's tournament will be shown live on The Rugby Network, free to access.
State Finals And More Around the US
We crowned a few state champions over the weekend and learned who will be battling for a couple more.
In addition, we had a couple of key games that likely have an effect on HS National Championship seedings. Here's a look.
Greenwich vs Xavier
This game was most certainly thought of as a key Nationals seeding game, and it settled very little as Xavier held off Greenwich 19-18. There is certainly more to come from both of these teams.
Pennsylvania
Gregory the Great won convincingly 61-15 over Cumberland Valley while an injury-hit Berks had all sorts of trouble in getting by LaSalle 17-14 in the D1 semis.
Championship Weekend in HS Action
Several state finals or semifinals are here.
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri all get their state finals this weekend. MAVRC already had theirs ... notes on that below.
In addition, Utah crowns champs and so does Colorado, Virginia, and North Carolina.
These are all pretty interesting. St. Martin's has been emerging is a serious challenger for St. Thomas Aquinas in Kansas and already beat them in the regular season. KC Jr. Blues in Missouri is enjoying one of their better seasons in a while and would love to put a stamp on it with a win. East HS and Regis Jesuit are very close in Colorado and that's a bit of a tossup. Injuries have not been kind to Vienna and certainly their clash with Fort Hunt is a bit of a tossup in Virginia.
"Both teams are playing well at this point and are ready for the match," said Fort Hunt Head Coach Dale Roach.
Big Shutout Win for Pendleton in Indiana
Pendleton pulled off a big win this week with a 52-0 shutout of Royal Irish.
After winning most of their games by small margins, Pendleton has recently unleashed a bit more of their offense. A 41-5 defeat of Westside at the end of April showed how a more patient, disciplined approach to their attacking shape could provide more tries.
They followed that on with the shutout win over Royal Irish. Pendleton controlled the opening kick and churned a few phases into Royal Irish territory. After a penalty in the second minute from thirty yards, Nick Trout slotted the first of his points of the evening.
901 Holds Off Raptor to Win Tennessee
The Tennessee State Championship went to 901 this past weekend after the Memphis-area team held off Raptor Rugby 24-22.
These two teams were meeting up for the second time in two years and also faced off in the fall, 2022 7s final.
In the first several minutes, both sides were finding it difficult to get momentum due to defensive line speed from both clubs. Miscues from both backlines saw turnovers, leading to many set pieces. One of 901’s biggest Achilles heels in recent years had been lineouts. They lost their first two lineouts in this game, but both times it was in Raptor territory so it didn't cost them much. After that, however, hooker Duncan Hornsby found his timing with the jumpers, and 901 didn’t lose another lineout all game.
Xavier Beats Pelham, Chaminade
Xavier defeated the Pelham High School Pelicans and Chaminade in two games over the weekend.
“I thought that we were comfortable playing our own game," said Xavier hooker and Player of the Game vs Pelham, Anthony Dabao. This game, he added, was the performance against a tough Pelham team is what the Knights needed to get back on track for nationals.
The Knight’s first try came nine minutes into the first half by the inside center Jamie Franchock. The next try came two minutes later by Sean Kull, who started at wing due to an injury to Alex Zagoreos earlier in the week.
“We moved Jake Billows back to fullback and he felt at home there," said Xavier Head Coach Greg Norris. "We brought Kull in to play wing, and he certainly put his hand up for the position.”
Some Action Around the Nation
Here’s a look around the country in HS rugby over the past several days.
Texas
Woodlands won 20-0 over West Houston to take the Texas HS Club championships.
It was a tight game for much of the final, with center Trace Biltz’s eight-minute try holding up well into the second half. It wasn’t until the 53rd minute that flanker James Lopez got over to double the lead at 10-0. Scrumhalf Neel Menon then converted and soon thereafter added a penalty to make it 15-0.
Biltz iced it late with his second try.
So while, yes, it was a 20-0 shutout and certainly Woodlands defended well, this was a close game for most of the time.
