GRR HS Club Rankings Week 16
These top seven are something.
All are perfectly capable of being #1, and several have been. This HS National Championships club bracket will be like last year's with any game a tossup.
Big movers: Charlotte Tigers pulls off a big win in the North Carolina playoffs and maybe they've got it together now.
Tempe moves up because we dropped them down mistakenly too far last week. They actually won via forfeit over Red Mountain in their state final.
New teams come in. Morris is back. Birmingham showed something at Midwests. We thought about bringing Hudson and Olentangy into the rankings too, and the likes of Elkhorn or or Eagan or Edina. We'll wait. Edina and Eagan don't have the kind of competition in Minnesota we need to see them get ranked ... maybe when they play each other.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 16
A little movement around #10 as really we're looking at who it poised to chase down Gonzaga.
The HS National Championships have their influence here as we look at the rankings and wonder who will be seeded where. The anomaly for us is Herriman, which has been a bit shaky, and remains shaky, but can unshake all of that with an emphatic victory over East. Of course East will have something to say about that.
Olympus returns to the Top 50 after pushing Herriman close. Xaverian Brothers and Palmer enter also. The biggest mover up is Fairfield Prep, and the biggest mover down is Staples, which unfortunately has been slammed by injuries.
Herriman, East to Face Off in Utah School Final
Herriman and East HS will meet in the Utah Youth Rugby school final next week after both won semifinals over the weekend.
These two teams met in the regular season on April 8 with East pulling out a 29-27 victory, so the final promises to be hotly contested.
Herriman 17 Olympus 14
In a game that was closer than many expected, Herriman got a late try from Josiah Dunn to avoid the upset.
Tight Final, Plenty of Competition at Boys Midwests
St. Ignatius won the Midwest Boys HS Championship, defeating crosstown rivals St. Edward 17-15 in Sunday's final at the Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, Ind.
This was not expected to be a tournament on the Ignatius radar as it is Prom weekend and so seniors would not be available. However, when there was a late pullout, the coaching staff decided to test out a lineup of only juniors and sophomores (and one freshman) ... and it paid off.
Ignatius defeated a very strong Westside Black Swarm team 24-12 in the opening round, while St. Ed's took care of HSE Mudsock. Also winners in the quarterfinals were a hard-nosed Penn over Indiana rivals Royal Irish, with two tries from wing Maddex Reynolds and tries also fromSam Sullivan, Wally Kenach, and Vince Horner.
St. Xavier edged Bishop Dwenger 17-15.
Okapi Caps Off Perfect Season With Florida State Championship
Okapi capped off an excellent season, beating Boca Raton 38-5 to win the Florida U19 league.
"Our defense showed up again to have full control against last year's champion and our attacking system closed the game in the second half with three tries from our backs," said Okapi Head Coach Juan Orfila.
Flanker and captain Keaton McLeavy was excellent once more and lock Kris Poux was also outstanding in this final.
The game started with both teams defending strong around the breakdowns. The hard hits forced mistakes and it took a while for Okapi to find their rhythm. After 15 minutes the Wanderers made a couple of adjustments, speeding up their game.
"We were able to adjust our attack by playing faster the breakdowns and opening our pods," said Orfila. "Gaps in Boca defense started to appear."
Granite Bay Holds Off Danville in Rugby NorCal Boys Final
The Premier HS Boys Final in Northern California unleashed a high level of rugby and competitiveness as Granite Bay held off Danville to take top honors.
These two teams had played to a 26-26 tie earlier in the season so it's no surprise that this game was close as well.
Granite bay ran out to a 17-3 lead in the first half and were seemingly in control of the match. But some over-aggressiveness led to two yellow cards for Granite Bay.
That meant the Grizzlies were down a player for 20 of their final 35 minutes, and it mattered.
Fairfield Prep Impressive in Win Over Staples
Fairfield Prep defeated Staples 43-14 in midweek Connecticut action.
Staples would kick off with a massively high kick from Eoin Cuddy, who would use the boot all day to try to play territory against Prep, and whose restarts are elite level. Staples would retain several of their restarts.
Staples pressed but a ripped ball from Brice Muller ended up in the hands of Matt Mancini, who took off from inside his own 22 to score the opening try before three minutes were up. Prep would score again through Langis from a physical run through multiple defenders.
Next Phase Rugby Set to Launch Academy, Camps, and 7s Tournament
Next Phase Rugby has big plans for the rest of 2023 and beyond. The rugby recruiting platform, known for connecting high school players with United States collegiate programs in the United States, will be introducing its Academy team this summer. It will also launch summer/winter camps, clinics, and a 7s tournament in 2024.
“Next Phase Rugby’s mission is to connect high school athletes with collegiate rugby programs in the United States. By adding camps, Academy teams, tours, clinics, and 7s tournaments, we will bring a hands-on approach, as we include collegiate rugby coaches to work directly with high school athletes. It is all about providing as many opportunities as possible for players and coaches to connect and grow the sport of rugby in the United States,” said Next Phase Rugby co-founder/President, Greg Stelluti.
Cascade Cup HS Competition Coming to a Head
The Cascade HS rugby conference is coming down to the wire this month.
Played in eastern Washington state (and most of the state is eastern as it means the east side of the Cascade mountains), the league includes six teams that are all quite widely spread: Schoolhouse (Wenatchee), Yakima, Ellensburg, Liberty Lake (Spokane), Moscow (Idaho), and Tri Cities.
The teams don’t play in the Rugby Washington’s playoffs because of the distances involved, but they are part of RugbyWa. Instead these teams play for the Cascade Cup, which will be decided May 20.
But how it is decided gets figured out this weekend.
Big Next Several Days in HS Boys Rugby
We're getting close to 100 games this weekend with playoffs and tournaments and much more going on.
The Midwest Championships
This is a well-run tournament with a championship tier plus an Open/JV division and a development division too. We aren't listing the development games but the other two are in there. Interestingly, we weren't expecting to see #2-ranked St. Ignatius in the championship bracket but there was a late pullout. It's St. Ignatius prom weekend (or something, we're actually not sure) that keeps the seniors away, so this will be a full-underclassmen team. So in a way it's a preview of what this team might look like next year.
The team we're watching here is St. Edward, which gets their biggest and most varied challenge yet, and could well be the favorite.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 15
Hmm ... are we happy with these rankings?
Well, maybe. There are several teams that have faltered a bit but we think will bounce back.
At the same time, we have some teams that have logged some very good results of late, but how big a jump should those results provide? Should Monarch be in the Top 50? Yes and probably should have been earlier. Should they be as high as they are because of a couple of really close wins? That's the question.
Should Gregory the Great be pushing for the Top 15? Probably. But they are tough to track. Can Penn rebound from a couple of iffy performances? Sure.
Fortunately, the Midwest Championships, state playoffs, and HS Nationals are all coming soon.
GRR HS Club Rankings Week 15
Some moves within the HS Club scene, and a new #1.
Why a new #1? Because we think they are all really close at the top. Belmont Shore, through no fault of their own, had their game called off. Well, at the same time, Granite Bay put down a huge performance against Jesuit of Sacramento. That's enough to move the Grizzlies up.
Some other moves and a few teams join the Top 50 (Rebel Rugby should have been there earlier).
Woodlands Wins Two
Woodlands won games over Celina and St. Thomas Aquinas over the weekend.
Aquinas was making the trip to Houston in a good warmup for HS National Championships.
It was a good, competitive game but this was also a rolling subs game and provided Woodlands with a chance to test some players.
Last-Second Penalty Sees Neuqua Past ND De La Salette
Two of the stronger teams in Illinois faced off over the weekend and the game proved to be as close as you'd hope.
La Salette was undefeated in-state and Neuqua had lost just the one game as they traveled downstate to Georgetown, Ill.
Match conditions were ideal save for the gusting winds that made the kicking game a material challenge for both sides. The match started out in typical fashion with both sides exchanging some hard-charging runs to probe and test the other before Neuqua opened its account with a penalty kick at the 11-minute mark to go up 3-0.
Big Win for GGA in Rugby PA
The weather played havoc with plenty of rugby this weekend, including the Rugby PA games.
Sunday's game between Berks and Conestoga didn't survive the rain. But the big clash between LaSalle and Gregory the Great did get played.
Both teams came into the matchup 3-0 and looking for the top seed in the playoffs.
But the day belonged to GGA as they defeated LaSalle 32-7.
