Boys HS Scores This Weekend
Here are scores from major Boys HS state playoffs around the country this weekend.
HS Playoffs in Northern Climes Underway
The National Championships may be done, but there are still plenty of playoffs to pay attention to this weekend.
In Connecticut, Fairfield Prep defeated Simsbury 36-33 in the single-school semis. Simsbury led 26-12 at halftime, but Prep stormed back to win it in the final minutes.
Meanwhile, Greenwich came back from HS nationals in time to win a midweek semi over Ridgefield 59-27. So it’s Greenwich v Fairfield Prep in the final.
In the multi-school final, Fairfield made the championship match after beating Aspetuck in the semis. They will take on Cheshire, winners over West Hartford. Fairfield has had an excellent season this year, beating Greenwich in April and also beating Fairfield Prep. Fairfield has not, however, played Cheshire, which beat West Hartford three times this season, but lost to Simsbury twice.
1st-Year Team Wins Nevada
In just the team’s first year in existence, the Las Vegas Black Hawks won the Nevada state championship, defeating the Las Vegas Rugby Academy 40-5 in the final.
It was a somewhat astounding result given that almost the entire team is a bunch of rugby rookies, but Head Coach Leonard Nell said the final was the culmination of a long season learning how to play.
“They’ve grown so much in terms of their knowledge of the game,” said Nell. “They are fast on their feet, and they are starting to understand how the game flows and what the positions need to be doing - where players need to be.”
Video Interviews Granite Bay
Here are some video interviews from after the Boys HS Club final with the Granite Bay players.
(Sometimes embedded videos don't show up on the first attempt in these pages. All you need to do is refresh the page and they will show)
We spoke to Jon Rogers, who scored a key try in the semis, and almost scored one (he says he did!) in the final. Rogers was also part of a very good deep three performance, including Sam Cusano and Anthony Wiley, and he also kicked three penalty goals.
We also spoke to Desi Streater, who directed the attack at flyhalf and lofted a perfect wiper kick to the corner for Wiley to score.
Youngsters Help Grandville to Michigan Title
The Grandville HS rugby team won the programs’ third Michigan state championship in four years with a 13-3 defeat of Kalamazoo this past weekend.
The victory was hard-won, and hard-won throughout a season that included a couple of setbacks. Grandville graduated 12 starters from last year’s team, and this year started five freshmen. It was, said Head Coach Tom Feeney, a learning experience for everyone.
“We’re fortunate that we have a strong middle-school program, but still it was a challenge,” said Feeney. “Bringing freshmen into this level of competition is a bit of a risk, but we worked really hard at it.”
Upset Win Gets Polk County Oregon Title
There weeks before Rugby Oregon’s finals weekend, undefeated Polk County faced off with undefeated Northside Panthers, and the Panthers won 38-17.
Both teams ended up winning their respective conferences anyway, but it seemed clear that Northside was the stronger team.
Of course, that’s why they play the playoffs.
That April 30 38-17 win for Northside was flipped around to the tune of 26 points on Saturday, as the Polk County Lost Boys took the Rugby Oregon Boys Club championship with a 20-15 victory.
Three Championships for Rainier in Washington
After moving up from DII to DI this season, the Rainier Highlanders wanted to show they could compete in DI, and would be able to compete for a long period; on Saturday, they showed they can compete now, and for tomorrow.
2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #14
We've got a good number of HS club games left in this season, but this week we've got the framework for how it will likely all finish.
With Granite Bay winning the National Championships, that secures Danville, which beat Granite Bay in league play, as #1. Granite Bay is #2. Fort Hunt moves up once more and we think that Fort Hunt could have made a nice splash at any major tournament. United, which always does well in postseason, finished strong and moves up, and Doylestown, who backed up their Pennsylvania win with a 2-1 finish at Nationals, along with a close loss to Royal Irish, also makes a move.
West End moves up thanks to winning Tier II, and Prince William moves up thanks to a competitive loss to Fort Hunt and the fact that they beat West End (albeit an injury-hit West End) earlier in the season.
2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #14
A couple of observations as we hit what is very nearly the final rankings for single-school boys teams.
We will update these rankings a few more times because of regional playoffs, but this is the big one - we can't see there being any change in the top three or four.
1) Gonzaga is ranked #1 but this is an tenuous a #1 ranking as we've seen. They beat Jesuit by a point, and were one pass away from losing. In addition, as we wrote earlier, Gonzaga was very fortunate to get by Xavier, who played a very brave game against the Eagles and could have tied that game.
Fort Hunt Wins Virginia
The Fort Hunt Warriors concluded one of their best season Saturday with a 36-19 defeat of Prince William in the Rugby Virginia Boys DI state final.
This was Fort Hunt's third state championship in the past five years.
Prince William, which had edged West End a couple of weeks ago to earn a spot in the semifinals, and did well to then win their semi and hang tough against a Fort Hunt team that has beaten most opponents by large margins.
Utah Crowns West Valley, Herriman, Champs
The West Valley Warriors and Herriman HS both won state championships Saturday in Utah.
The Warriors took the HS club final 45-12 over Kay Toa to finish their season 12-0, including two wins over Kau Toa and a win over well-regarded United.
It was still a physical battle, despite the eventual lopsided scoreline. Hard-charging No. 8 Esekia Tauvao told Utah Sports Action in a video interview that the physical nature of the game was something they knew they could handle.
“It was mentally hard, said Tauvao. “I’d say this game was just kind over matter.”
West Valley has taken care of all comers all season, and it’s the togetherness that has made it happen.
“The chemistry [of the team] is what’s got us this far,” said Tauvao. “No one has the chemistry we have.”
Boys HS State Champions Around the Nation
Who has won the major state, regional, or national championships in Boys HS Rugby?
Here's the list. Check back on this list for updates. The links on each state or regional group gives you news on that competition.
West End Recovers to Win Boys Tier II at Nationals
In one of the more entertaining games at the Boys HS Rugby National Championships, West End defeated Pelham HS 19-15 in the Tier II final.
This was one of the better Tier II competitions since the current format was adopted, with the teams involved showcasing some significant skill and rugby understanding, but usually the programs are smaller (fewer players) and often the players are smaller in stature.
That was mostly true this year and certainly true of the two finalists. Pelham showed some of the best ball handling of the weekend, refusing to let wind, rain, and mud stop them from catching passes and, most importantly, getting under kicks and taking them cleanly. It was their clean fielding of kicks that put other teams, including West End, under pressure.
The game itself was back and forth throughout.
Granite Bay HS Club Champs
Granite Bay exacted some measure of revenge and defeated Royal Irish to win the 2016 Boys HS Club national championship Saturday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
The Grizzlies enjoyed a brilliant performance from their deep three of Anthony Wiley, Jon Rogers, and Sam Cusano, and an aggressive defensive performance from everyone.
The ability of Cusano, Wiley, and Rogers to run back kicks, and use each other to keep those counter-attacks moving, helped negate the Royal Irish kicking game. And meanwhile, the kicking of Gavin Janis at scrumhalf and Desi Streater at flyhalf helped put Granite Bay on the front foot repeatedly.
HS Nationals Day 3 Rundown
Gonzaga won the 2016 Boys HS Rugby National Championships single-school final Saturday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
The game was achingly close and almost ended with a Jesuit win on the final play. More here.
Xavier took third 19-14 over Penn in another thriller. Penn ran up to a 14-0 lead, but Xavier’s team play and dogged and unflinching defense saw them score twice to tie it, and later in the game they got over one more time.
St. Edward defeated Greenwich 17-15 to take 5th. It had been a tough week for both teams as they battled back from losing the opening games. St. Edward pulled it out late. Greenwich Coach Joe Kelly said his team, as always, got a lot out of the weekend.
