Indiana Latest: Pendleton Overcomes Scare Hat Trick
Pendleton defeated Bishop Dwenger as Rugby Indiana action starts to heat up.
The varsity match was back-and-forth early on as both sides lacked recognizable continuity.
Still Pendleton did get on the scoreboard. Center Nick Trout took advantage of a penalty near the five-meter line, tapped, and was immediately tackled by an offside player. That led to a penalty try and a 7-0 Pendleton lead.
Bishop Dwenger immediately answered, scoring right off the restart with senior No. 8 Ashton Skarie going over. Skaire was a major standout for Dwenger and he scored twice more in the first half.
Pendleton's response was with the very active flanker Eli Arthur powering through tackles to score. And then as the half ended Trout punished a Dwenger mistake to go over.
Epic NZ Tour for Danville
On Easter Sunday, the Danville Oaks Boys Varsity Team touched down at San Francisco International Airport after a very successful 10-day tour to New Zealand through Irish Rugby Tours.
Irish Rugby Tours is a Goff Rugby Report sponsor and they take teams all over the world; they organize cultural and natural-wonder side trips as well as competitive and enjoyable games. Go to IrishRugbyTours.com for more>>
The tour comprised of three matches, two high level training sessions, and covered a good amount of the North Island from Wellington to Auckland. Also sprinkled in were some amazing Maori cultural experiences, adrenaline fueled jet boating, downhill luging, whitewater rafting, and a Hurricanes Super Rugby match to cap off an epic week.
The games
Back At It: HS Games This Weekend
We're picking up after Easter and for some regions that means the opening of the season overall.
Several teams have been on tour with ... well we could say mixed success but winning games isn't always the issue. St. Ignatius went to Japan and lost convincingly in their opening game—missing a couple of players with minor injuries didn't help. They then won their next game against one of the better HS teams in Japan (3rd nationally last year) before losing their final effort 14-7.
That counts as a success.
Granite Bay won two games out of three in the UK and Danville were heavily challenged in their trip to New Zealand. Same goes for Gonzaga in France and Xavier in Ireland.
Last Minute Try Sees Improving Medina Over Olentangy
Medina Rugby secured a late comeback win in Ohio, bypassing well-regarded Olentangy 17-14.
The win was enough to bump Medina into GRR's HS Club Top 50.
"Olentangy is a quality program and are a very physical, skilled, and tough opponent," said Medina Head Coach Brian Scerca. "They were aggressive in the contact area the entire match and contested for possession in every tackle, which was something we needed to adjust to as the match went on."
Olentangy's kicking game kept Medina pinned back and as a result they found it difficult to launch too many strong scoring chances. Olentangy led 7-0 at the break and with captain Bryce Morris in the sin bin for a high tackle, things went from bad to worse for Medina.
Olentangy took advantage of Medina being shorthanded and were over for their second converted tri.
GRR HS School Team Rankings Week 12
A very light week and still we're late in posting.
Obviously the biggest result was East HS of Utah over Herriman. De La Salle's tie with Marin was a close second. So what do we do? In both instances we moved the higher-ranked team down and moved the lower-ranked team up, but not so far that East or Marin (in club) is equal to or ahead of Herriman or De La Salle.
Why? Because of the totality of results. Now, Herriman's totality of results isn't quite that of De La Salle's and Herriman lost, rather than tied, so Herriman moves down further.
Somebody, to be honest, has to take these rankings by the scruff of the neck, and the only team to do that so far has been Gonzaga.
GRR HS Club Rankings Week 12
This is a short HS Club rankings report because the Easter Weekend, along with Tropical 7s, slowed everything down.
We have some shifting in the Top 10 because of the big games that happened there. It looks as though Belmont Shore and San Diego Mustangs are the top teams in that region ... but of course that can change.
San Diego Mustangs Fend Off Thunder in SoCal
The San Diego Mustangs made a bit of a statement win, defeating SoCal rivals Thunder 31-12 Saturday.
San Diego struck early, punishing a Thunder penalty. They kicked to touch, set the maul, and drove over, with prop Matthew Staycer touching down.
More pressure from the Mustangs saw flyhalf Jonty Lee snipe around the weak side and then pop a pass to wing Ryan Valenzano, who went in untouched. Thunder looked to answer and after turning over the ball near their line looked to work outside of their end. But a mishandle turned the ball right over to San Diego and No. 8 Jacob Jaffe jumped on the ball to score.
Thunder finally did get over the line, working the scrum and scoring off a No. 8.
Belmont Shore Gets By Tough SOC Raptors Team
Southern California's Boys club season got a jolt over the weekend as the four teams expected to challenge for the championship were involved in two games.
SOC Raptors were downed by a solid Belmont Shore side 38-17. The Raptors did see Clarence Chaney and Jacob Bower score tries, while Keegan Hannon added a conversions and a penalty, and Redmond Chelsey also added a penalty.
The Raptors put Belmont Shore under pressure especially in the opening minutes, but a penalty and a long kick from Belmont put Shore up 7-0. The Raptors continued to have the lion's share of the territory through the first half, but Belmont led 14-3 at the break.
Belmont Shore Head Coach Johnny Pua said his club's tour of New Zealand and their experiences at the HS National Championships helped the players learn to believe they could—and should—play fast.
East HS Upsets Herriman in Utah
East HS upset Herriman 29-27 Saturday in Utah Youth Rugby's school league.
It was a good showing from East, who hit Herriman hard and fast and who also kept out of the penalty trouble that has sometimes plagued them.
"Just too many mistakes," said Herriman Head Coach Jeff Wilson. Wilson has been saying that his side hasn't been outside much this year and with no games for three weeks he felt they were undercooked. "We just need some practice and game time," he added.
The Mustangs scored first from a penalty goal and then scored in the corner to lead 8-0. But a kick that didn't find touch offered a counterattack chance for East, and they took it. Spencer Black took it in for East's first try, and with Jack Bateman's conversion, it was 8-7.
Marin Holds De La Salle in NorCal
The Marin Highlanders pulled off a big result over the weekend, holding well-regarded single-school team De La Salle to a 10-10 tie.
Needless to say, although we're still saying it, it was a defensive battle.
And yes, certainly, DLS has some injuries and unavailabilities, but they expected to beat Marin ... which may have been the issue all along.
"Disappointing to say the least but Marin has always played us tough," said DLS Head Coach Derek Holmberg. "They are always set up and ready to tackle and we weren’t able to capitalize on the big runs we made."
Marin's goal line defense did a good job and some impatience on De La Salle's part near the goal line didn't help.
Tropical 7s Boys, Men Wrap
It was a pretty eventful Tropical 7s boys and men's competition this past weekend, with champions coming from all over.
Here's a look at what happened with some comments from the players.
U18 Elite
The expectation was that the Rangataua team form New Zealand would be the best side there and that proved to be correct. Their execution was spot-on, they made decisions quickly, and worked very hard to avoid getting isolated in the tackle—that last being perhaps the most glaring difference between them and the opposition.
Led by captain Hohepa Chandler, the physicality of Jackson Wood, and some superb playmaking and tenacity from Gideon Lasaga, Rangataua rolled through their pool games and won their quarterfinal by 42 points.
Latest from Boys Brackets at Tropical 7s
Who's good at Tropical 7s, the male version.
We talked more directly about Atlantis last night.
Atlantis Impresses on Day One at Tropical 7s
But yes, they have shown well in the U18 Elite and the U16 brackets.
U18 Boys Elite
Eagle Impact Rugby Academy brought a powerful team to the fore this time around with Cort Schmidlin making plays and several players working together in a nice pattern. They played a tough defensive front.
Rebel Rugby lost their opener and weren't too happy about it but slammed Future Elite before beating Layton Christian in what has become a nice rivalry.
Atlantis Impresses on Day One at Tropical 7s
Day One at the Tropical 7s was a big one for Atlantis.
Having run into some tough times in the last few years as more programs have improved to challenge them, Atlantis was on top form Friday in Tampa, Fla.
The big difference? It was probably the power and physical game. With teams with bigger players who could win the battle at the breakdown, Atlantis was then able to leverage their skills and team play to the fullest.
You can't do that without the ball.
This Weekend in Boys HS Rugby: Tours and Showdowns
It's a bit of a slow weekend in Boys High School rugby as it's Easter Weekend.
Several teams, including Gonzaga (France), St. Ignatius (Japan), Xavier HS (Ireland), Danville (New Zealand), and Granite Bay (England and Wales) are on tour.
Tour all over the rugby world with Irish Rugby Tours>>
Interestingly enough, Granite Bay just played a team that was right near where your fearless GRR editor used to live—Finchley. GB got a big win over Kingwood 82-0, while Gonzaga beat RC Salanois in France 27-20.
Head Coach Peter Baggetta gave us a little insight into the action. They played in the stadium and the whole town turned out to watch, with the band playing and a very impressive post-match reception.
A Feel-Good Look at the Maryland Exiles Trip to Atlanta
The Maryland Exiles took a trip to the Atlanta area this past weekend, meeting up with Phoenix Alpharetta, AYR Inman Park Knights, and AYR War Eagle Rugby.
It turned out to be more of a rugby celebration and development opportunity than major competition, but that might actually have been the smart move for everyone. The Georgia teams combined in what was a wonderful display of teamwork and sportsmanship.
The Exiles brought down their younger players—no seniors—and while Head Coach Dan Soso was worried they might be overmatched, it didn't turn out that way.
"The Atanta teams selected to match our kids, and our boys raised their level of play," said Soso. "We learned so much."
For Maryland, flanker Daniel Boger, prop/lock Leander Green, center Thaddeus Kerr, and fullback/wing Cameron Webster all showed well.
