North Carolina HS Latest
In North Carolina, the single-school teams now know who is in the final, and the open club teams know who is in the semis.
Among the single-school teams, Fort Myers defeated South Meck 43-19 Friday night for the right to play in the North Carolina state championship.
The Fort Myers Mustangs went into the semifinal 6-2 in the regular season, while the Sabres were also 6-2.
Myers park got off to a quick lead, scoring off the kickoff. South Meck quickly capitalized off Myers Parks mistakes, tying the score up 7-7. Myers Park came back to make it 14-7 with good execution of phases, and a series of powerful pick-and-go moves.
As the game wore on, Myers Park's deep three did well to counter South Meck's kicking game, and set up tries in the latter stages to finish it off 43-19.
Highland Wins Big Utah Clash
Highland HS defeated East HS 38-7 in Utah Youth Rugby league action.
Highland got on the board early, with Ezra Dunford putting his side up 7-0 (with Bryan Geertgens’s conversion). Five minutes later, East equalized 7-7, but then Highland’s Izzy Vaifoou put his side up 12-0. Geertgens added the extras to make it 14-0. With East down a player due to a yellow card, Fernando Trecano scored, and then Colton Pulver added another. Geertgens convertd the second try and Highland led 26-7 at halftime.
Vaifoou scored his second midway through the second half (Geertgens converted), and James Lombardo scored late in the second half.
Rugby Texas Playoff Latest
We're down to four teams in the Rugby Texas boys HS playoffs.
As we reported earlier, the Dallas Harlequins Colts beat St. Pius X in the tight one on Friday night.
Xavier v Greenwich
Xavier HS defeated Greenwich 19-5 in the annual rivalry game between the two northeast HS teams.
It was a typical Xavier v Greenwich game. Both tams and players are very familiar with each other, as the two programs play each other every year at a variety of age levels. The game was intense and physical, but overall Xavier had the lion's share of possession and territory, and converted that into three tries.
Two of those tries were from Xavier's effective lineout-and-maul.
Quins Colts Win Texas QF over Pius
The Dallas Harlequins Colts continued their strong second half with a 19-12 defeat of St. Pius X in the Rugby Texas quarterfinals.
It was a bruising encounter for both teams, and St. Pius led 12-7 at halftime. But two second-half tries saw the Colts through to the semifinals.
MAVRC-Maryland - Good Counsel, Georgetown and More
As the playoffs approach in the Maryland area, Good Counsel has made many take notice with a strong weekend.
The Olney, Md.-based high school beat rivals Georgetown Prep 24-19 last week, and followed that up with a 2-1 weekend at the Jesuit Classic. GC lost to St. Thomas Aquinas, but beat Clayton and a highly-ranked Union County.
Add to that earlier wins over St. Johns and Loyola Blakefield, and a close loss (29-10) to defending MAVRC and national champions Gonzaga, and you've to plenty of evidence that Good Counsel is a solid team.
Georgetown Prep came into the match against Good Counsel on a three-game winning streak since returning from their Ireland tour, having outscored their opponents 229-3.
Boys HS Games April 26-30
It's playoff time and almost playoff time in various parts of the country.
Southern and Northern California both have their playoffs gearing up, as does Texas. We've got the Pacific Cup in action, and some major matchups, including St. Ignatius v St. Edward, a crucial pair of games in North Carolina, Gonzaga v Georgetown Prep and Good Counsel in action, Oregon's Union (4-0) against 3-1 Portland Pumas, Fordham Prep v Pelham in New York, and also in New York, the classic rivalry between Greenwich and Xavier.
Check back for scores.
Pacific Cup Day One
It's been a thrilling day at the Pacific Cup in Hawaii, with the USA-based teams showing very well in a tight, competitive tournamnt.
Two-time defending champs Danville out of Northern California ended the day 2-0, as did the Coastal Dragons of Southern California, and Hawai'i-based St. Francis. They were the only three teams undefeated.
All 12 teams played two 40-minute games on the day. They will play one more 40-minute pool game and a semifinal on Friday. On Saturday all teams will play one 70-minute placement game.
Down to Wire in North Carolina
The playoffs loom in the North Carolina Open League, with teams still vying for the top four spots.
With only one weekend left in regular season play, last year's state champions, the Chapel Hill Highlanders, and perennial contenders the Charlotte Tigers find themselves within two points of each other in th standings, trying to get that coveted 4th seed. Both are 5-3. The Highlanders have more bonus points.
The Highlanders control their destiny. Highlanders beat North Meck 76-5 last week and are ahead of the Tigers. Their problem is that they face 8-0 Charlotte Catholic, who leads the league, with Union County 7-1 and 2nd, and the Raleigh Rattlesnakes 3d at 6-2. It's possible that the Highlanders could catch the Rattlesnakes, if they beat Charlotte Catholic and the Rattlesnakes lose to 1-7 Cape Fear. The Tigers are too far behind Raleigh to move into 3rd.
Phoenix Alpharetta Wins Georgia
The Georgia Varsity state final matched perennial in-state rivals Alpharetta Phoenix and East Cobb Trojans in what was a repeat of a somewhat controversial 2016 championship gam that was halted for lightning and never finished.
East Cobb won that 2016 event, as they led at the point of the game being halted. Phoenix wasn't happy about it, and did well to put the game in their pocket this time around.
It was a physical, intense game at Kennesaw State University.
Boys Nationals Teams Confirmed
The Boys HS Rugby National Championship has updated its list of participating teams.
With a couple of teams pulling out due to injury or player availability issues, here is the new list:
Fort Hunt (Va.), Granite Bay (Calif.), Elsie Allen (Calif.), St Louis University HS (Mo.), Royal Irish (Ind.), KC JR. Blues (Mo.), West End (Va.), United (Utah), Doylestown (Pa.), Okapi (Fla.), Greenville HS (SC), Blue Valley (Kan.), Charlotte Catholic (NC), Penn HS (Ind.), Jesuit (Calif.), Herriman (Utah), St Thomas Aquinas (Kan.), Greenwich (Conn.), Xavier (NY), Gonzaga (DC), South Bay (Calif.), St Edward (Ohio), Brownsburg (Ind.), Fishers (Ind.).
Boys Single-School Rankings Week #14
Here is the latest Boys Single-School rankings.
We don't have a lot of shifting near the top, as those tams did what was expected. (It's worth noting that Jesuit's loss to the Australian St. Ignatius was the closest of any game the tourists had in the USA). Charlotte Catholic takes a big hit for losing to non-ranked West Shore in the Jesuit Classic. But it was a shortened game and the score was 8-7 - just the sort of result we could throw out if Catholic logs good results going forward. Even, they didn't drop down very far.
Good Counsel and Neuqua join the Top 50. Good Counsel beat two ranked teams this weekend, and Neuqua beat one. So that's pretty straightforward.
Pacific Cup Official Program
The Pacific Cup kicks off in Oahu on Thursday, with teams from Utah, California, Arizona, Hawai'i, Tonga, Cook Islands, and New Zealand in a highly challenging boys HS tournament.
The teams will play shortened games over the first two days, setting up the final full-length games.
Below is a look at the pools in the official electronic event program: (if you don't see the program at first, please refresh the page.
Neuqua Wins Big One in Illinois
Neuqua HS is now 3-0 in the Rugby Illinois Suburban league after defeating Notre Dame de La Salette 20-17 on Saturday.
It was a long day of rugby for La Salette, as they played two league games, beating the Fox Valley Chiefs 39-0. But for Neuqua, this was a big result.
Gamebreakers HS Boys
Here's a look at the HS Boys rugby players who made an impact over the last couple of weeks.
Steve Rohde, St. Thomas Aquinas (Kan.)
The St. Thomas Aquinas No. 8 was a powerful presence offensively and defensively when Aquinas beat rivals KC Jr. Blues, and also in a good showing at the Jesuit Classic.
Ivan Pula, Budd Bay
The Budd Bay back scored a try and was central to the Barbarians' attack as they beat Chuckanut.
