Southern California HS League Kicks Off
After a long preseason period, Southern California sees high school rugby return.
Several very highly-regarded clubs are in action this weekend after several weeks of preseason clashes. Perhaps a little hard-done-by not to get an invitation to the Boys HS Rugby National Championships, Thunder Rugby has something to prove.
Belmont Shore remains a talented outfit, while 2019 National Boys HS Club champion, Back Bay, is in a bit of a rebuilding phase and opted not to apply to nationals this year as they retool. That doesn't mean they will be a pushover.
And the SOC Raptors, which have been invited to nationals, are looking to continue surprising teams. The San Diego Mustangs will be at Thunder Rugby this weekend, while San Clemente visits the Raptors and Belmont Shore hosts rivals Back Bay. The combined Aztecs/OMBAC side has a bye.
Rugby Returns For Virginia, Maryland Area HS Teams
Games in Rugby Maryland and Rugby Virginia are on the schedule, finally.
After a couple of weeks of preseason games (Rugby Maryland Comes Back), Maryland's league season begins this Saturday.
North Bay is at West Carroll, while Frederick hosts two games with the Diamondbacks and the Maryland Exiles both in town. The Bethesda Roosters are also in the league but will have a bye this weekend.
A week later all six teams will be in action with West Carroll at Diamondbacks, Roosters at Frederick, and the Exiles at North Bay.
D'montae Noble's Journey to the MLR
Old Glory DC lost a hard-fought match against New York in D’montae Noble’s fourth match of the 2021 MLR season, but for Noble it was a match of firsts.
Late in the first of half the match Noble scored his first try as a professional rugby player; we caught up with the rookie Old Glory wing to discuss how the former West End, Atlantis, and Kutztown star is adjusting.
Noble's road to Old Glory DC and the MLR began when he was 8 playing for the Warrenton Wolfpack.
“I started out with basketball and football," he said. In high school he would letter in both sports. "Robin Reid and Greg Hicks got me started [with rugby]. I was kind of forced to play it at first but when I tried it, I loved it.”
Northern California HS Rugby Return to Action
Finally Northern California High School is about to start.
April 24 signals the beginning of the Rugby NorCal league, and it's going to be a sprint through May for these teams as many shoot for a place in the Boys HS National Championships.
Rumors of some clubs being in trouble because they weren't able to recruit are somewhat exaggerated; yes certainly that's an issue but some of the clubs we at Goff Rugby Report World Headquarters had heard were not going to field a team have, in fact, been able to pitch-up.
This coming weekend, 12 boys HS teams and six girls HS teams are in action.
These include National Championships-bound Danville and Jesuit Sacramento. In addition, at some point SFGG and Marin will play each other for a spot at nationals.
Rugby NorCal Games For This Weekend
Gamebreakers All Over The Map This Week
More leagues are opening up and that means more chances to be a Gamebreaker.
Here are who put their hands up this week in Boys HS rugby.
Jacob Landry, Jude Stender, Xavier Hamilton and Joseph Kerstiens, Gregory the Great
OK, so four players this time, we don't care, that's who we have. These four led a massive team effort, especially on defense, to hold Cumberland Valley tryless and win 34-9.
Joe Fabini, Bishop Dwenger
The captain and the leader of the forwards, Fabini set the tone, kept the pack moving, and scored two tries as Dwenger beat Penn HS.
Boys 2021 HS Club Rankings Week 8
The two big pieces of news in the HS Club rankings are first off that the top of the rankings held up quite well with close games in two key matchups of top-10 teams; secondly, we're adding several teams because leagues are starting or about to start.
We've got some Maryland teams starting, too, but we're going to wait for league games to see exactly where they all fall. But we've gone the opposite direction and put six new Californian teams in the rankings, albeit in the lower tier, as they start league play this coming weekend.
Two Pennsylvania teams also come in with Doylestown and Downingtown both showing well in games. With all this action, teams that have been idle for a while drift down. We've also dropped a few Florida teams, but even as their season end, they might be able to move up pending a complete audit of the results.
Boys 2021 School HS Rankings Week 8
So we're up to 50.
With New Jersey kicking off we add two teams from the Garden State to the rankings, while also adding in Medina, Salesianum, and Spring Hill.
We move Herriman up to #1 after they beat two well-regarded and ranked teams. With California gearing up we could see some major shifts near the top.
Moeller moves up dramatically because, well, we should have had them up there before and they keep doing well. Wando gets a bump after they get to play some league rugby. Westlake's win over Lake Travis, which perhaps was winning ugly, is still enough to bump the Chaps up.
Watch out, more leagues are coming.
HS Boys Games Nationwide Wrapup
Here's a look at what happened in the Boys High School rugby scene around the country.
We refer to the team's ranking from last week when appropriate. If we say S14, that means a School team ranked 14 among School teams. A ranking of C19 would be the #19 team in the HS Club rankings.
Brother Martin Holds Off St. Paul's
Although Southeast Louisiana had received over 12 inches of rain in the past four days, the rain paused long enough to allow Brother Martin and St Paul's to play at Hunter Stadium on the St. Paul's campus in the final week of Louisiana Rugby's regular HS season.
Since the Hunter Stadium surface was artificial the torrential rains over the past days were not a factor. St Paul's was much improved from its first game against Brother Martin, a game that Brother Martin won 48-12. St. Paul's has been working on the basics, tackling, running straight, and rucking hard.
Phoenix Alpharetta Gets by Germantown
Phoenix Alpharetta defeated Germantown 31-18 Saturday in a game that provided a good test for both teams.
Germantown, ranked #15, started its best side and took a 15-0 lead into the break. They then ran in their 2nd, and Phoenix ran away with the second half.
It was a perfect day for rugby in Georgia. Having made the trip from Memphis that morning but kicking off at 4:30, Germantown came out firing from the whistle, pinning Phoenix in their own half for the first fifteen minutes. After appearing very comfortable, the Phoenix defensive wall finally slipped to let the Mustangs in following some powerful pick-and-goes.
Phoenix then started to play with the intensity expected and proceeded to make their way up into the Mustangs half with some clever positional kicking.
Royal Irish Gets by Aspetuck in Intense Battle
Royal Irish defeated Aspetuck in a clash of two top-ranked HS clubs Saturday, with the Indiana team edging out their Connecticut rivals on the second-last play of the game.
The game itself was of high intensity throughout as the two teams matched up very well—Aspetuck's backline was effective and dangerous, as was that of Royal Irish; both teams had big, physical forwards who worked hard.
"The game was really well played," said Royal Irish Head Coach Dave Snyder. "I was surprised it was so low-scoring."
Genesis vs West Valley; This Game Had Everything
In a hugely entertaining and intense clash in Utah, #2 HS Club Genesis defeated #4 West Valley Warriors 40-33.
The game was a thriller from start to finish. It featured high-level physicality, exceptional athleticism, and plenty of rugby skill. West Valley, led by a highly-talented backline featuring Lucius Asiasiga, Sala Lomu, Aisea Mahina, and scrumhalf Tasi Vake, burst out to a 14-0 lead early in the first half.
Genesis responded nicely and tied the game up. The game continued to bounce back and forth between the two teams, and whenever one team got the initiative, the other would come back. Finally, with just a few minutes left in the game and the score tried at 33-33, Genesis senior Reed Johnson broke through for a 70-meter gallop to score the game-winner.
It was Johnson's second try of the day, and he set up a third.
Gibbons, Hammerheads to Florida HS Final
It will be Cardinal Gibbons vs Naples in the final of the Florida Rugby U19 championship after those teams won semifinal games Saturday.
Naples, aka the SWFL Hammerheads, edged a rebuilding but tenacious Jacksonville team 22-19 to make it through the semifinals. For the Hammerheads this was their 7th straight victory in Florida competition and the third decided by less than a try.
In a very intense match. Jacksonville came out aggressively and scored a quick try off a scrum penalty. The Hammerheads came back to score two tries to take a 12-7 lead at halftime.
Games This Weekend in Boys HS Rugby
We have some thoughts on who might vault to #1 this week, and there are some games that could have an effect on that.
Live stream for Salesianum vs Georgetown Prep >>
Highlights of Berks vs Media
Check back for scores.
Who Are These Guys? Pendleton Rugby
Barely able to get on the field in 2020, Pendleton is a new high school club out of Indiana with big plans.
This past week Pendleton made the team's debut, playing the Raptors from Tennessee and pulling off a 29-0 shutout victory.
The game started with Pendleton freshman center catching the restart and breaking through two tackles. That set up a series of passes that ended up with fullback Clifton VanDuyn in for the try. It was just a couple of minutes in and Pendleton led 5-0. Pendleton did well to defend when the Raptors got the ball back and when the Indiana team regained possession they worked the ball through the hands and No. 8 Justin Beeler was over to make it 10-0.
