Penn Defeats St. Edward
Penn HS of Indiana bounced back from last week's loss to St. Ignatius with a victory over another strong Ohio opponent, St. Edward,
Penn and St Eds have a long history and this meeting was the showcase match of the Penn Spring Invitational. With 14 other games on the day, the Moose Rugby Grounds, stopped play when this one kicked off in front of 400 fans. While the wind was a bit of a factor for both sides, everyone seemed thrilled the forecasted heavy rain held off.
Penn took an early lead with some nifty backline play and never looked back. "We knew we wanted to start fast against Eds," said Penn coach Bart Bottorff. "This is always a physical and emotional game so to go up early was key."
South Carolina State Semis Latest
Rugby South Carolina held their Boys HS semifinals this weekend, with South Greenville and Wando winning in the DI semis.
Wando defeated Irmo 45-10 while South Greenville edged Greenville HS 17-8.
After losing a large portion of their team to a graduating senior class last year and a season filled with highs and lows, South Greenville Rugby Club battled back to the state final by beating Greenville High 17-8 in a comeback victory. After falling to an early 8-0 deficit, South Greenville rebounded when Cade Weston broke through and scored after a long defensive goalline stand by Greenville High. Sid Shoop converted the try and the teams headed to the break with the score 8-7 for Greenville HS.
Liberty to 3-0 in Washington
Liberty HS moved to 3-0 in Rugby Washington boys DI action, and in doing so, defeated the defending state champs.
Liberty edged the Rainier Highlanders 22-19 Saturday, after having defeated Eastside 42-12 and Seattle 68-5. Head Coach Jeff Candler said he was expecting the Highlanders game to be a difficult one.
"They are the defending state champs, and we know they are good this year," said Candler. "But we've got some good kids. I like this team, but we also will have to get through some injuries, and we're going to be missing some High School All Americans when they go to Europe."
Jesuit Over SFGG on Senior Day
Jesuit HS of Sacramento defeated San Francisco Golden Gate 62-12 Saturday in a crossover game between th NorCal Premier and NorCal Top 5 teams.
Genesis Gets By East in Utah
Two years ago in Salt Lake City, Genesis (MS #11) and East High (SS #29) clashed for the first time on the rugby field. That day a major rivalry was born with the latest chapter unfolding on Saturday. Both teams knew coming in to this one that it would be a close, hard-hitting contest and that’s exactly what it ended up being. In the end, Genesis was able to prevail 19-17.
Xavier Over Doylestown
New York's Xavier HS halted, or at least slowed, the Doylestown momentum train Saturday, defeating the strong Pennsylvania squad 29-19.
It was a very physical and intense game between the two. Xavier led the entire match but could not really shake Doylestown, which held on throughout. flankr Michael Hay, wings Eoin Sansevero and Rory Kinsella, and fullback Damon Anderson all scored tries for Xavier, which also got three conversions and a penalty from Kevin Strehle. Hooker Jack Manzo was named player of the game.
Xavier faces Pelham HS Sunday.
Boys HS Games March 22-25
Here are the games for this week and weekend around the Boys HS rugby scene.
Texas gets back on the job with Katy v St. Pius and Lake Travis v Allen two of the big ones. Snow Canyon plays United in an intriguing clash in Utah, and East HS v Genesis is a good one, too. We've got some big games in NorCal DII, while Liberty v Rainier is the marquee matchup in Washington.
Check back for scores.
28 Boys Teams at Maryland Festival
Morven Park will host the Maryland Exiles International Youth Festival this weekend with 28 Boys Varsity and JV teams.
The Elite Bracket includes West Shore United and Downingtown out of Pennsylvania, West End and Prince William out of Virginia, and Loyola-Blakefield out of Maryland, Also in the six-team bracket is Natyre Shores out of Ontario, Canada.
The 1st Teams Bracket includes Frederick, North Bay, NOVA, Richmond, Norfolk Blues, and another Nantyre Shores XV.
In addition to the teams and games listed below, Fort Hunt and Downingtown are going to play their MAPL league game at the tournament. The two teams were supposed to play last week, but weather postponed the match.
The teams will play round-robin shortened games over the course of two days.
Greenwich Past an Improving Fordham Prep
Greenwich HS defeated Fordham Prep 43-25 on Wednesday, pulling away late after Fordham battled to keep it close.
Repeat Connecticut state champs Greenwich (nine years straight), did well to hold on against a tough Fordham team.
“This was a great start to the season,” GHS Head Coach Joe Kelly told Greenwich Time. “We always like to start against a tough team like these guys. They gave us a tough match and now we know what we need to work on. This is exactly what we needed to begin the year with, as we start our campaign toward the nationals.”
“This year we are looking like a very strong team,” said Patrick McTiernan, one of the Cards’ five senior captains. “We want to do something that Greenwich has never done before in the past — win nationals. As this game showed, we have a few things to work on, but we should have a good shot.”
After Surprises Last Week, Florida Playoffs Continue
The Florida HS playoffs continue this weekend after a day of surprise results last week.
In Region 1, Naples is at Orlando, and Westside is at Tampa. Those are region semifinal matchups that were decided a week ago. Tampa has beaten Orlando twice and Naples twice. Meanwhile, Naples and Orlando have not played each other, but Orlando has dominated in their pool.
In Region 2, last week’s quarterfinals were a bit of an eye-opener.
Mustangs over Aztecs in SoCal
The San Diego Mustangs defeated the Young Aztec Warriors 45-19 Wednesday night in a Southern California league matchup.
On a chilly, windy night, the Mustangs took an early lead when Mustangs captain Jackson Baere scored and converted his own try. The Warriors replied moments later and HS All American Ryan James raced through for a try to make it 7-7.
Late in the first half, Baere picked up at the base of the scrum and set up a play that ended with wing Adam Eastwood scoring. Baere converted and it was 14-7. Right before halftime, Baere was once again in the middle of the action. After the Mustangs were held up in-goal, Baere picked up at the back of the scrum and galloped over. The conversion was good and the teams changed ends with the Mustangs up 21-7.
NorCal DII Rundown
Division II in high school rugby can be a hit-or-miss proposition; some of those leagues are for new teams, or for teams that are struggling with numbers, but in Northern California it’s a serious competition, and some excellent teams are coming out of there.
Among them are the Elsie Allen Lobos, who remain unbeaten and are going to the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.
Watch out also for De La Salle, Chico, Sacramento Eagles, SacPD PAL, Santa Rosa, and Buchanan.
All of those teams are unbeaten in league play.
Gamebreakers HS Boys
Here's a list of boys high school players who had some notable performances in the last two weeks.
David Niddrie, San Diego Mustangs
The lock forward helped lead a tough forward effort for the Mustangs in a sweep of opponents in Arizona.
Joey Hobbs, Union County Lions
The hard-running Union County player has been loading up on the tries in wins over Charlotte Tigers and Chapel Hill Highlanders.
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Louisiana Latest - Hurricanes Win, League Down to the Wire
We're coming down to the crucial final games in the Louisiana HS rugby league.
The Bayou Hurricanes is in the middle of a late-season charge, and is now 3-0, the same record as Jesuit of New Orleans.
Bayou defeated Brother Martin 62-15 over the weekend behind yet another player-of-the-game award for Zavier Triplett. Playing in front of their first home crowd of the season, the Hurricanes came out firing with wing Gabriel Cardenas, prop Kieran Webb, outside center James Williams, Triplett at inside center, wing Shane Wright, and lock Amauchechukwo Collins all scoring tries. Cardenas converted three of those tries and hooker Reece Guidry converted one as the Hurricanes ran out to a 38-5 lead.
Mountain View Holds Off Rocky Mountain in Idaho
Week Two in Rugby Idaho saw an epic battle of the mountains. Rocky Mountain and Mountain View clashed in a repeat of last year's Idaho State Championship. It took 68 minutes for the returning champs to take the lead over the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies in this game that came down to the finish.
"Grit," said Mountain View Mavericks Head Coach Hamish Bell. "That's what I call it. They showed grit and determination. Our boys were down early and never gave up."
Rocky's back line, led by two EIRA players, Kyle and Ethan Van Tonder, positioned their centers to score two tries and take a 12-0 lead. The Grizzlies appeared to have the game on cruise control until a few mistakes allowed the Mavericks back in.
