Another Close One in NorCal While Jesuit, Lamo Win
It was a good weekend for Jesuit, Granite Bay and SFGG this weekend in Northern California.
After two very close losses, Jesuit of Sacramento put a more complete performance against the Marin Highlanders.
Fully healthy and having taken on some lessons from one-try losses to Granite Bay and Danville, ran out to a 28-0 halftime lead over Marin and held on 31-0. Head Coach Andrew Acosta praised his team's composure.
Senior lock Wade Johnston opened the scoring thanks to a maul. Hooker Josh Baleiweilagi scored ten minutes later and that was followed by tries from wing Cannon Davey (capping off a nice counterattack from fullback Maverick Nagel) and senior flyhalf Jack Patock (back from injury) on a weaving run. Davey was a perfect four-for-four with the conversions.
BC High, Fairfield Prep Lead the Way Day One at Fairfield Tourney
Boston College High and Fairfield Prep are at the top in Fairfield's Northeast Jesuit Tournament after Saturday's pool play.
Everyone will be in action on Sunday, with most teams playing two more shortened games.
BC High won their pool with well-taken wins over Fairfield Pegasi and McQuaid Jesuit, while Fairfield Prep beat Simsbury and Canisius. Both teams earned bonus points for four tries in a game, and so the tiebreaker for the #1 seed into the semifinals came down to points different, and BC High edged Fairfield by four points.
BC High will take on Trumbull in the semifinals; Trumbull lost a tight one 21-19 to Fordham Prep in the Pool A decider. Fordham faces Fairfield in the other semi.
Caveman Swing Their Clubs in Friendship Cup
Heads were definitely turned at the Friendship Cup in Day One with #1-ranked Charlotte Cardinals almost losing, and the #2 team Woodlands finding themselves on the losing side.
The team that did all of that? Cavemen. The program out of American Fork, Utah has quietly been building through their youth program and last year were Utah D2 champs. They knew they had more to give and, as you've seen on GRR's pages, have started the season in Utah's D1 on fire. They sure surprised their opponents.
Tournaments and HSNC Dress Rehearsals in Big Weekend
Spring breaks are over for some and starting for others in HS rugby.
But we do have a couple of tournament that make this end of March especially interesting.
Fairfield
For many the Fairfield Tournament is really a preseason warmup, and as such the teams will run unlimited subs. But this is still a stern early test for a number of Northeast teams.
Hosts Fairfield Prep are in a pool with Canisius from the Buffalo area and Simsbury from Connecticut. Boston College High, McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester, NY) and the Fairfield (Conn.) Pegasus club. Fordham Prep, a very tough Trumbull HS out of Connecticut, and BC High's 2nds are in Pool C, and there's a JV pool, also.
Two Big Wins for Jesuit New Orleans
New Orleans Jesuit wrapped up a good week with two wins, beating HCYA and East Jefferson over the weekend.
This puts the Blue Jay rugby squad in as, currently, the top team in both the Louisiana Cup and the Texas/Louisiana Varsity Cup. The Blue Jays have lost only one league match across both competitions and hold an overall league record of 7-1. In those matches, they have scored 267 points while allowing just 70.
This past weekend, the Jays faced a demanding doubleheader: a Varsity Cup league match against the HCYA Raptors followed immediately by a clash with the East Jefferson Warriors. With several players unavailable due to injuries, retreats, and college visits, Jesuit had to dig deep to field two competitive sides—and they rose to the challenge.
HS Boys School Top 50 Week 11
IN a few weeks St. Ignatius plays Xavier and, of things keep going the way they've been going, the winner of that game will be #1.
Right now Ignatius (as well as Gonzaga and, recently, St. Thomas Aquinas) are on tour overseas. That's good for the teams but difficult to judge for the rankings.
We do move Fairfield Prep up a spot after a good win over Pelham, and we move Greenwich up after a good win over Staples.Notre Dame de la Salette gets a big boost. However, we could well see some major shifts as teams back up early results.
HS Boys Club Top 50 2025: Week 10
The game of greatest note this week had to have been #5 San Diego Mustangs over #3 Belmont Shore.
This is one of those games where we strongly suspected the outcome would be what it was (29-5 for the Mustangs) but had no evidence to back it up because of how the schedule falls in SoCal. We just had to wait.
Liberty ut of Washington moves up after a delayed result trickled in and then they back it up.
And we have two other teams joining the Top 50.
Keep an eye on the Friendship Cup this coming weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. We have several highly-ranked teams making a big trip to face each other. We'll be very interested in that.
Top-Ranked HS Clubs Make Statements
The top-ranked HS clubs in GRR's Top 50 were in important action over the weekend.
The #1-ranked Charlotte Cardinals defeated an injury-hit Richmond Strikers in emphatic fashion 58-7. This was the general MO of a pretty polished Cardinals side that has been winning games by wide margins since club action began.
With a cadre of players that have been playing well together for some time, the Cardinals will stay #1.
The Woodlands, ranked #2, played a Katy team that is much improved.
Woodlands took the game 26-5 in a windy, scrappy game that provided much-needed competition for both teams.
Fort Hunt Wins Battle of the Beltway
Fort Hunt defeated Vienna 40-31 Saturday in a rivalry match that has become known as the Battle of the Beltway.
It was a highly competitive, hard-fought, open, and high-scoring game that either team could have won.
Fort Hunt pressured Vienna for most of the game, but Vienna was able to score points. Vienna went ahead with five minutes to go, but Fort Hunt applied good defensive pressure and took advantage of a couple of forced errors to come out winners.
In blustery conditions, fans witnessed a superb display of place-kicking from sophomore James Thorley of Vienna and senior Miguel Lopez of Fort Hunt.
Thorley was 5-for-5 and Lopez was 5-for-6.
Play-Ins For Nationals Filling Up Hugely Competitive Field
With several Boys HS Rugby National Championship play-ins completed this weekend we know more about who will be at the tournament.
New Trier, Berks, Fort Hunt, St. Edward, Notre Dame de la Salette, and Greenwich have all played their way into the Big Dance, with more spots waiting.
The play-ins have been really interesting this year because teams that have attended previous events find themselves having to play in. The reason? More applications. More teams, and more very strong teams applied, making it tougher and tougher to get a berth. The selection process was intense, with the HS Nationals Committee going through five separate conference calls and hours of study to make the decisions.
Another Close Game in NorCal
Danville Oaks handed Jesuit of Sacramento another close loss in what has become a wildly competitive NorCal Premier HS league.
Of the nine games in NorCal Premier played so far, four have been decided by a try or less.
Jesuit ran out to a 7-0 lead with a try from Joshua Baleiwelagi just three minutes into the match. Danville answered with a Jared Randall penalty goal, but Jesuit actually built a commanding lead going into halftime. Brady Lofrano's try, with a Cannon Davey conversion, made it 14-3 and another Marauders try put them up 21-3.
However, injuries had hit Jesuit by then. with three players going off injures. With the lineup shifted around a bit Danville struck with tries by Tommy Ashton and Marco Romeo, with Randall converting one. Byt halftime it was 21-15.
St. Edward Defeats Moeller, Books Nationals Spot
St. Edward defeated Archbishop Moeller 29-8 on a cold Saturday in Cleveland, Ohio to secure a play-in for the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.
Ed's defended well in a fixture that is always intense and carries plenty of physicality. But with scrumhalf Owen Ahern and flyhalf Tommy Graham working well together they were able to run in five tries.
It was cold at kickoff and it got colder, with a few snowflakes floating around. Ed's began on the front foot with Graham's shiftiness complemented nicely by the mobile play of the front row consisting of Andrew Henderson, Luke Dotson, and Ray Jenne.
It was their ability to get into position and also embrace contact that got the Eagles going and finally No.8 Tommy Van Oosten worked it over. Graham converted and it was 7-0 St. Edward.
Cavemen Look to Build on Big Result in the Snow
Utah Youth Rugby is a HS league to keep an eye on as there seems to be a bit of a changing of the guard.
Cavemen Rugby have logged a nicely-taken win over East HS over the past weekend and now look to follow that up against a physically imposing Highland side.
The Cavemen vs East game was a match between the defending UYR D1 state champs, East, and the 2024 UYR D2 winners. Having moved up to D1, Cavemen have been on a mission to prove they belong there.
The game itself was played during a dense snowstorm (see our report on the week in D1A college rugby for an example). Cavemen took control early, shutting out East 26-0 in the first half with tries from flanker Carlos Uyema and hooker Briggs Love in the forwards, as well as fullback Zaeden Selu and #scrumhalf Chris Malo in the backs.
Play-Ins and Major Rankings Matchups in HS Rugby Weekend
As March hits its second half we start to see many of the leagues start to get going and some important games in HS rugby, including play-ins for the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.
So far the Play-Ins have kind of shown why the BHSNC Committee wanted the game in the first place, as they've been very close. New Trier vs Pendleton was decided by two points, with new Trier securing a spot. Berks vs Aspetuck was decided by one point, with Berks getting the edge.
That's good for the game that these types of matches happen.
This week we have
Vienna vs Fort Hunt. Judging from the results so far Fort Hunt might have the edge this year. But it, again, promises to be close.
St. Edward vs Moeller. Who knows with this one. Both teams have had flashes of good rugby and moments they'd like to have back.
Doylestown Throws RugbyPA for a Loop
Doylestown looks ahead to some interesting Rugby PA challenges after a notable 17-15 win over Gregory the Great Academy this pst week.
This following on from a 45-42 win over Vienna (a team GGA beat 7-3, go figure), Doylestown seems to love the close ones.
But Head Coach Mike McCandless has some insight on that.
"In the early part of the season our training focused on our offense and getting structure to our offense," McCandless told GRR. "Clearly we didn't do enough defense. So we worked on that after the Vienna game and I was really pleased with out defensive performance."
McCandless said that while he feels good about the Doylestown team, they are still very young.
