Early Big Games Highlight Deep South Weekend
The Deep South Boys HS kicks into high gear after a couple of smaller weekends.
Already there’s a bit of an air of disappointment in the Brother Martin camp after two tough-to-swallow losses. Still there’s time to rebound, but Brother Martin is still smarting from a 22-19 loss to New Orleans Jesuit Jan 17 and then a 41-38 loss to Lake Area.
“We are inexperienced,” said Brother Martin Head Coach Gary Giepert, whose team will take a trip to Houston this weekend to play St. Thomas and St. Pius. “We have some good athletes who are still learning the game, and we will be in the mix.”
NorCal Boys Season Starts with Questions
The Northern California Boys HS leagues get started this weekend, and there are many questions to answer.
Did De La Salle rebuild well enough to compete against a favored Jesuit?
In the Varsity Single-School league, longtime powers Jesuit will open against De La Salle. While De La Salle was one of the top teams in the league last year, they have graduated some key players and will have a tough time against a Jesuit squad that is just as strong as they have ever been.
Bellarmine, which was in the middle of the pack last season, faces a Clayton Valley team looking to move up. This result will tell us a lot, because one of these programs has a shot to push the regular leaders, and the winner of this game will likely be that team.
2015 Boys HS Club Rankings Week 2
Now that a few teams are on the field we update our Boys HS Club rankings. The big mover is Back Bay, which really won't get going until the club season in SoCal gets started. But they played as a club in the Storer Classic and beat three very good teams from Northern California.
So they get a big boost. So does Phoenix Alpharetta by virtue of playing, and beating, a number of strong teams in the Southeast. Simple as that, play games against tough opposition, and win them, and your ranking goes up.
Atlantis U16s Set for LVI
The Atlantis U16 boys select side has named its squad for the Las Vegas Invitational. The team is made up entirely of 15-year-old high school players, most from the Mid-Atlantic states.
Among the list is 7s prop Chase Schor Haskin, who was a participant in the High School All American winter camp. He plays for Weston HS in Florida.
Atlantis U16 Boys
Garrett Lyons Georgetown Rugby FH/C
Mike Weir Doylestown Rugby FH
Chase Schor Haskin Weston Rugby Prop
Nick Aumann Cardinal Gibbons SH/W
Noah Geltman Manhattan Play Rugby W/C
Dan Brown Phoenixville Rugby H/P
Christopher Bortuzzo Union Rugby C/W
Ian Kilcullen Gonzaga Rugby C/FH
Adam Borai Hermits Rugby Prop
Dan Bark Media Rugby P/C
Ashton McGovern Doylestown Rugby SH
Ryan Ebel Gonzaga Rugby W/H
Poll Results - HS All-Star Tournaments
A poll conducted by Goff Rugby Report might help define all-star rugby going forward.
USA Rugby’s Youth & High School Director Kurt Weaver said in January in an interview with Goff Rugby Report that the National Governing Body’s goal is to have the high school club rugby season morph into the Regional All Star Tournament season.
So high school players would be in single-school leagues exclusively through the spring, and then the Regional All-Star Tournaments (now being called Regional Cup Tournaments) would be less about bringing state select-sides to play each other, and more about traveling teams - clubs, basically - playing each other.
So we asked readers, What Should HS All-Star Rugby Be?
The options were:
Tournaments for State select sides only
2015 Boys Single-School Rankings Week 2
It's startlingly early to rank the Boys single-school teams, but we've made an effort to update them. A few early results give us something to work with, and it is only logical that the teams playing - those in Southern California - get a little love.
Aircraft Charter Solutions PoW - Marcos Young
Bursting onto the HS rugby scene this year has been Key Biscayne, a product of the heavily Argentine/Uruguayan community in the island off Miami Beach, and already one of their own is garnering praise as a player.
Key Biscayne started as immigrants from Argentina and Uruguay started teaching their young kids how to play rugby. Some of the kids started playing at the age of five. As the kids grew older, so did the age-level of the teams Key Biscayne. They moved up the ages, and are now entered into the High School league in Florida.
“Some of these kids have been together since they were five,” said the Rats’ Head Coach, Nicola Seigal. “We just started it all from the bottom and moved up.”
LVI Elite HS 7s - Our Picks
The Boys HS Elite 7s at the Las Vegas Invitational is, in fact, the oldest high-level HS 7s tournament in the USA.
It’s only in its fifth year, but 7s is still in its infancy in terms of being considered a legitimate activity for young players in the USA (yes, we know how that’s ridiculous, but it’s true). Still the LVI Boys HS Elite 7s is a wonderful tournament because it gives anyone an opportunity to expose young talent to 7s.
This year, there are two pools that are seeded as you’d expect, that is, with two very strong teams and two that might be a surprise, but aren’t favored as much. Then there’s Pool A.
Pool A
Ontario I, Atlantis, HS All Americans II, and Washington Loggers. This is a fabulous pool, because any team in the group could win it, or finish last.
Florida HS Latest
The first full weekend of Florida Boys HS rugby is in the books with the Cape Pirates winning another close game to be the only team to go 2-0.
The Pirates played an early game against the Tampa Krewe last week. They won that one 15-0 and then won this week 10-7 over Jupiter.
It was a windy day - 35 mph by some counts, and in fact win would have an effect on other games in the state. The Pirates took an early lead when captain Brennan George was the guy with the ball as the forwards mauled over following a lineout. The Cape Pirates finished the first half down to 13 players due to two yellow cards close to each other. Still Jupiter couldn’t capitalize. They did, however, cap off a long period of pressure in the second half to take the lead 7-5.
Jesuit Starts Well in KOT
The Kickoff Tournament for HS boys was held in the Sacramento area this past weekend, with ten boys brackets from U10 to Varsity HS.
In the top level, Jesuit HS of Sacramento looked to strongest, shutting out Sierra Foothills and Dixon.
Hayward was also 2-0, shutting out McClatchy and Cougar, but a much-hoped-for meeting between Hayward and Jesuit didn’t quite come off for nebulous reasons.
Sierra Foothills, Cougar, and Mother Lode were all 1-1 on the day.
In the Varsity Silver division, Pleasanton was 3-0, beating PITS, Bishop O’Dowd, and Elk Grove. Dixon was 2-0-1, tying the Sacramento Eagles and beating Elsie Allen and Sierra Foothills.
UC, So. Pines Win in Greenville Jamboree
The 6th annual Greenville Jamboree was played this past weekend with three teams from North Carolina and two from South Carolina.
Deadlock for Top Teams in SD HS League
The Mettle Cup game between HTH/Pt. Loma and UC/Clairemont, two high school teams in the SoCal Varsity White Division, didn’t end the way either team thought it would.
The annual rivalry game is played between two teams that make up the bulk of the San Diego Young Aztecs U18 program. So it’s a rivalry game with plenty of friendship involved. This year, both teams were undefeated in league action going in … and remained so going out, as the game ended in a 19-19 tie.
Phoenix Alpharetta Downs Charlotte Tigers
Phoenix Alpharetta completed a successful weekend with a 19-0 defeat of the visiting Charlotte Tigers Saturday, following a 67-0 defeat of Walton HS in league play.
The Tigers were lacking five of their starters due to the SAT being held this Saturday. In a tough game in cold weather the Tigers suffered several injuries and two yellow cards. Phoenix capitalized and stymied the Tigers' attack. Phoenix was led by Lechandt Opperman, who was their player of the game, while Wesley Wilder was the best of a spirited Tigers effort.
This was the fifth time that these two teams have played in their annual two-game series. The second half of the series will be played in Charlotte. This was the first time Phoenix had won a game in the series.
Boys Kickoff Tnmnt in NorCal
The Kickoff Tournament in Sacramento is one of the largest, if not THE largest preseason boys HS tournament in the country.
It starts Saturday morning at Cordova HS in Rancho Cordova, Calif. This is the 31st running of the KOT.
Here is the schedule:
Florida HS Season Fully Underway
A week after the Cape Pirates opened the Florida Boys HS season with a 15-0 victory over the Tampa Krewe, a full slate of games is set for this weekend.
The Pirates got tries from Brennan George and Elvis Espanal and a conversion and penalty from Brock Roper, but it was really all about the defense. The Pirates were impressive in shutting out the Krewe, and now have a job ahead of them as they take on the Jupiter Sharks.
One of the more intriguing teams is St. Thomas Aquinas, which has started a program from whole cloth and with the backing of the football coaching staff. This past week in a preseason tournament they were winless, but there’s reason for optimism. They lost by a try to Boca, and 12-0 to Weston, before tying Naples.
