Gonzaga Handles St. Ignatius In Early-Season Clash
Gonzaga HS is thinking national championship again and took an impressive step toward that end with a 34-12 defeat of St. Ignatius out of Cleveland.
This is a regular meeting between these two teams, and it's often very close. While still a competitive game, it was a little more on Gonzaga's side, and there's a reason for that.
"We’ve got the sophomores and juniors from last year starting to emerge as leaders on our team," said Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta. "We also have some guys who have been varsity for three years. And they've been doing the work."
Under the watchful eye of captains John O'Toole, Alex Billups, and Joe Royston, the Gonzaga players worked hard in the offeason on weight training and skill work, and it paid off with a quick start.
Bosco Wins SCIRF In Controversial Game
St. John Bosco upset St. Augustine to take the SCIRF title over the weekend, in a win that was not without controversy.
Bosco did well to stifle an impressive St. Augustine attack, and held the Saints to just 11 points.
But in doing so, Bosco also struggled to get its offense moving and trailed 8-0 into the second half. But Bosco found an extra gear and surged through with three tries in a 22-minute period to go up 19-8. Augustine added a penalty goal, but nothing more, and Bosco took the Southern California Interscholastic Rugby Federation title 19-11.
Wando Defeated Phoenix Alpharetta
Wando defeated Phoenix Alpharetta 39-12 this past weekend in Mid-South Independent Rugby League action.
Wando set the tone early with tries tfromo Caleb Calandra, Ben Wakser, and Cole Frank in a high-tempo match. Powerful No.8 Ahmad Alquza closed out the first half with a surging run that put him over the line.
Phoenix improved their play in the second half, attacking with more structure and putting Wando under pressure. Phoenix scored two tries, while wando wing Will Perritt scored matched that.
Pelham Wins Tour Match In Texas
Pelham HS of New York is on tour in Texas and started off with a nicely-taken 53-10 victory over St. Thomas in Houston Thursday.
Winter weather and an iced-up plane made for a very long travel day on Wednesday, but the Pelham team fronted up well after a relatively slow start in the rain.
The game started with several knock-ons (starting with Pelham dropping the opening kickoff), but eventually the teams found their hands.
St. Thomas scored early from an eightman pick, and then scored right off the resart to lead 10-0.
But then Pelham went to work with No. 8 Nick Lappanesse scoring three tries while Philip Dulock scored two and kicked 13 more points for a personal haul of 23.
"We spent about 11 hours traveling, with all the delays," said Pelham Head Coach Matt Persanis. "But we enjoyed great hospitality here."
Lamorinda Win Thrusts Team Into Limelight
Lamorinda shook up the Northern California, and indeed the national, high school scene with a 36-29 defeat of defending national HS Club champion Danville Oaks over the weekend.
For Lamorinda, this was a huge accomplishment and it’s not a coincidence that a couple of days later Lamorinda was invited to the 2019 HS National Championships.
“We felt pretty good about our prospects for this match,” said Coach Mike Leksan. “These guys have grown up with each other as rugby players and have developed together. We feel pretty good about what we have.”
A couple of years ago, the decision was made at the club to keep the younger players separate from the older players. Basically, freshmen and sophomores remained on the JV team even if some might have been good enough to play on the varsity team.
Jesuit Sacramento Handles Highlanders
Jesuit of Sacramento defeated Marin 69-14 over the weekend paced by some outstanding work from fullback Max Schumacher and forward Laiatu Latu.
Jesuit scored early thanks to a Schumacher penalty. The co-captain would not miss a kick all day.
Bayou Hurricanes Shut Out Tourists
Christian Brothers of Tennessee visited Louisiana over the weekend and took on the Bayou Hurricanes of Raceland, La.
The game was a tough one, but the Bayou Hurricanes had the better of their scoring opportunities and came away with a 51-0 win.
The Hurricanes used this non-divisional match to hone in their skills against a competitive opponent. They also used this match to work on mistakes that were noticed in their previous game against Woodlands in Texas. This included penalties, work around the break down, defensive integrity, support, and offensive shape.
Phoenix Alpharetta Posts Two Shutouts
Phoenix Alpharetta traveled to Knoxville on Saturday to open their MSIRL season against Tennessee Academy. Tennessee are an area side with players drawn from the East Tennessee region and this is their first year competing in the MSIRL. Phoenix came into this match-up unbeaten in their first 6 games with comprehensive wins against out of state opposition in Jacksonville and South Greenville.
Phoenix opened strongly and, following some strong carries from forwards Justice Reeder and Kyle Warmack and a strategic kick from Seb Kennett, began pressuring Tennessee inside their 20 meter line. Several of their forwards went close to scoring and Phoenix had two tries disallowed by the referee.
Boys HS Rugby Games Feb 14-17
The weekend of games gets busier and busier.
In the SCIRF, we;re getting down to the wire. Undefeated St. Augustine is coming off a nice win over San Clemente led by Jake Armenta, who scored one try, Michael Cross, who scored three, and Michael Colucci, who converted all four of his kicks. Cross ran his season tally to 14 tries and leads all of Southern California in tries. Michael Colucci has scored 72 points (31 conversions and 2 tries) on the season to lead the league in scoring and holds a narrow lead over Cross who has 70 points.
Man of the Match honors, selected by the San Clemente captains, were given to Elliot Florance for the forwards and Jake Armenta for the backs. Overall Man of the Match was Michael Cross.
HS Boys Player Of The Month: Mike Cross, St Augustine
Still unbeaten in the SCIRF, St. Augustine has emerged as a powerhouse single-school program.
One of the players leading the way is Mike Cross, and he is our Player Of The Month for January, 2019.
(Editor's note, yes, it's not been January for two weeks, sorry, we're late with this one but will be more prompt in the future.)
Cross has been one of the Saints' best players. He is among the top try-scorers in the the SCIRF and is leading the St. Augustine pack. He has worked enormously hard in the off-season to build his game. That, with a little age has brought him to the fore.
Cross started playing as a sophomore, and moved to hooker in his junior year. This is undoubtedly one of the tougher positions to pick up quickly, but he did that.
Atlantis HS Programs Reach Exciting Milestone
The Atlantis elite select side has announced that Sophie Pyrz and Jack Bradfield have become the first former Atlantis High School players to play with the senior Atlantis women and men’s teams on an overseas tour.
Atlantis was a senior men's and women's program only for many years before adding high school teams. Their trip from high school to senior rugby was, in both cases, aided by several Atlantis alumni and alumnae coaches.
Jack Bradfield
Jack Bradfield started playing rugby in 2010 at the age of 12. His first high school rugby was for St. Edward HS in Cleveland, Ohio in 2013.
Jesuit Sacramento Starts With A Win
Jesuit made the trip up the hill to play Mother Lode at Ponderosa High School in the early going of the Rugby NorCal season.
The first ten minutes were error-strewn with the wet, cold day having an impact on both teams. The Jesuit team was led by senior captains George Henry Miller, playing hooker, and Max Schumacher, lining up at outside center. It wasn’t until almost 15 minutes were gone before the Jesuit backline was able to find some space. A good interchange allowed wing David Starnes to get free and score under the posts. Schumacher hit the conversion. Jesuit 7 Mother Lode 0.
Schumacher was at it again just three minutes later with a long break and some nifty footwork to score and convert. Jesuit 14 Mother Lode 0.
Rugby Georgia Update: Week 3
Roswell Park was the scene for two unexpected, lopsided victories in Rugby Georgia week 3 action. The evening started with the Roswell Rebels, fresh off an emotional loss to the rival Phoenix RFC, hosting the upstart Etowah River Valley RFC.
Etowah, boasting the largest pack in the league started out strong and never looked back. ERV fullback Lance Delisle, who also handles all kicking duties for his club, opened the scoring from 5M out for a 7-0 lead. Last week’s hero, Raymone Devezin continued his scoring streak, going in from 20+M out for a 14-0 lead. ERV Captain Caden Price closed out the scoring in the half for a 21-0 lead.
Woodlands Comes Back To Beat Pius
In a clash of two ranked Texas teams, The Woodlands (#16 in HS Club) took on St. Pius X (#36 among single-school teams), Woodlands defeated Pius 21-10 over the weekend.
St Pius started the game very strongly, confidently passing the ball around in both midfield and out wide. After a half break up the middle, St Pius recycled the ball twice, creating a gap out on the left and they scored.
That put St. Pius X ahead 7-0.
The hosts held onto that lead, but couldn't build on it. The Woodlands to slowly gain momentum and start to put pressure on the hosts and force errors. From one such error deep inside the defensive 22, Luke Rizzo was able to charge down a clearance kick from St Pius, gather the ball, and score under the posts. Manu Sanchez added the simple conversion to tie the score 7-7.
