St. Edward Edges St. Ignatius for Ohio Crown
St. Edward won the Rugby Ohio state championship Friday night, defeating longtime rivals St. Ignatius 12-7 in a typically difficult, tense game.
St. Edward took the lead with an unconverted try in the first half, but St. Ignatius replied and 7-5 at the break.
Jaret Williams pushed St. Edward ahead in the second half with a try, which was converted to make it 12-7, and that’s how the game ended.
St. Edward came in with some injuries after playing in the Boys HS Rugby National Championship - a tournament where they finished 2-1 and in 5th place, beating Mira Costa and Greenwich on the way.
But Coach Tom Cleary said before the game that his team was mostly healthy and ready to go. The key, he said, was to take the emotion out of this rivalry game and just play good rugby.
They did enough of that, but perhaps just barely.
Boys HS 7s Saturday Schedule at CRC
Here is the schedule for Boys HS 7s at the HSRC.
All games are at Talen Energy Stadium fields, or the stadium itself, in Chester, Pa., on Saturday.
Boys HS 7s in Philly - Scores
Here are scores and standings of the Boys HS 7s at the HSRC in Philadelphia and Chester, Pa.
Pools OA, OB, etc. are from the Open Division. Pools EA, EB, etc. are for Elite.
Top Four Minnesota Teams Head to Semis
Edina has been plowing through the Minnesota Youth Rugby season, but they didn’t so much plow this week in the MYR quarterfinals.
Sure, Edina won, but their 26-12 scoreline against Southside was by far the closest game they’ve played in the Gopher State. Before that game, Edina was 6-0 with an average score of 66 to 3.5. In no game did they score fewer than 39 or allow more than 12.
Head Coach mark Dalton said this was one of his team’s less successful outings.
“For the first time all year we just didn’t have the work rate we normally have,” said Dalton. “I don’t know if it was complacency - it might have been. But Southside was very tough and they gave us a wakeup call.”
Chargers and Nicolet Renew Rivalry in Wisconsin Final
The Chargers will take on in-conference rivals Nicolet in the Wisconsin boys HS final on Saturday.
Nicolet, the #2 team out of the Badgerland Conference, defeated Northeast Wisconsin winners the Pulaski Roos 31-18 Wednesday in the semifinals.
The Chargers, the Badgerland winners, took down Badgerland #3 Elkhorn 60-5.
For the first time all season, the Chargers were able to run out a fully-healthy side, but then five minutes in outside center Beau Goudreau had to leave the field and the Chargers were using backups again.
Michigan Names All-Conference, All-State
Rugby Michigan has named its post-season selections in the Boys HS division.
Four separate conferences named all-conference teams. The entire state also named scholar-athletes - players who have maintained a 3.5 GPA or better. And all-state teams for DI and DII have also been named.
Archmere Leads Field in HSRC Open 7s
In last year’s HS 7s at the CRC weekend, competition was split between single-school and club teams, and the single-school winner was a team few followed costly - Archmere Academy.
The Auks won because they play a lot of 7s, and know how to do it. Archmere is in the Boys Open Division this year, and the Auks look in good shape to take this bracket.
But it won’t be easy. Burrell and Media, as well as the National Athletic Village 2nd team, join Archmere in Pool A. It’s all to play for in Pool B, with Malvern Prep, Bishop Shanahan, Downingtown, and Union City. Those teams are relatively close, but Downingtown is probably favored.
HSRC Elite 7s Preview
The Boys Elite bracket in the High School Rugby Championship 7s invitational in Chester, Pa. features some very talented select, regional, and high school sides from around the country.
Two of the top teams in the competition may well be in the same pool. The Utah Cannibals are part of a resurgent select-side program in Utah and will feature a well-coached, athletic group of players.
SoCal Holds All-Star HS Tournament
Southern California Youth Rugby ran a mini all-star tournament this past weekend, fielding regional select sides from around the area in an effort to help pick the Varsity and JV SoCal teams for later all-star competition.
Boys teams played two 50-minute games on the day, with coaches under instruction not to play any player more than 90 minutes (per World Rugby guidelines). Teams had open subs and while the scores weren’t officially recorded, the games were very competitive.
Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week
Over the last couple of weeks, various teams have been in the middle of their playoffs and championship games.
This is our Gamebreakers column from this games, not including the Boys HS Rugby National Championships - we’ll have an additional edition for that one.
Tucker Donlon
The captain of St. Xavier led his team to the Kentucky state championship over Trinity.
Emmanuel Albert
The powerful No. 8 and onetime center has led the Eagan to the Minnesota semifinals with his impressive running and defense.
Union Titans Repeat for Oregon Single-School
The Union Titans repeated as Oregon single-school champions last week, defeating the Portland Pumas 49-38 in the final.
It was a dramatic and difficult final for Union as they had defeated Portland fairly easily in the regular season. But since then the Pumas had improved markedly, and studied Union enough to cause them some real problems.
Regis Jesuit Wins Colorado in Close One
Regis Jesuit got some revenge this past week, defeating East HS in a close Colorado state final a year after East did the same to Regis Jesuit.
The 2015 final was 10-5 for East, and this game was only slightly higher-scoring.
“The guys just played their hearts out,” said Regis Jesuit Coach Zach Fenoglio. “That we held them to 16 points was a credit to their heart. East plays very disciplined, mistake-free rugby, and so we knew that when they made those few mistakes, we had to get something out of it.”
Regis was led by flyhalf Ryan Maxfield, who captained the team and, said Fenoglio, led by example. Center Cade Alcock was outstanding as well, while the forwards got big performances from Dylan Able and Matt Peppercorn. And then there was Lou Vera, who played a crucial role with his goalkicking.
Union Mudturtles Win NJ Again
The Mudturtles of Union County New Jersey won their fifth consecutive State Championship Saturday, beating Bridgewater, a team they lost to earlier in the season, 32-12.
These two teams met April 24, with Bridgewater winning comfortably 38-5. But it was a different story this time around, as the Mudturtles got off to a fast start. Jack Dabulas scored twice in the opening minutes, and then Ben Kelly made it 15-0 with a long run down the sidelines. Bridgewater replied with a try to make it 15-7 at halftime, but in the second period, Union seniors Brendan Collum and Eric Swanson dominated the rucks and open field play, showing impressive fitness in hot weather.
Phoenix Wins 7s Tourney
The Annual Memorial Day Sevens Festival took place in Alpharetta, Ga. on Saturday in a variety of age-grade brackets.
The teams enjoyed perfect weather and played in front of a large crowd. Phoenix Rugby of Alpharetta won the HS division, beating the North Carolina All Stars 68-12 in the final.
The North Raleigh Red Hawks won the U14 division over Charlotte. The Clayont Copperheads won the U10s.
Chris Bagby of Phoenix (pictured below) won the Jim Turner Award as the tournament MVP.
Delbarton Wins NJ Single-School
Delbarton repeated as the New Jersey single-school champion, defeating St. Augustine 27-14 Saturday.
The two teams met recently, with St. Augustine winning that game, but Delbarton got revenge Saturday.
“St. Augustine has improved dramatically in the last two years, probably more so than anyone else in NJ,” said Delbarton Head Coach Nicholas Infante. “They have some players that are new to rugby but they are definitely tough, athletic kids and well-coached.”
