HS Boys

Indiana - Wins for Royal irish, Penn

Penn HS and Royal Irish started the Rugby Indiana Super League on a winning note, as once again the league of four ranked teams kicks off.

Royal Irish played two games, one in-league and one not, beating Brownsburg 25-10 and then on Sunday defeating Ohio-based Archbishop Moeller School 41-9. 

It was a good weekend for the defending HS club NIT champs.

“We’re looking OK,” said Coach Scott Peterson. “I wouldn’t say we’re where we need to be, but we’re getting better at certain things every game.”

The problem for the Royal Irish is that a series of player unavailabilities (we asked Peterson the reasons, and he said “you name it”) has meant it’s been difficult to establish consistency.

“We’ve had a lack of continuity,” said Peterson. “But guys have done a good job filling in. We’ll see how far that can go.”

Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week

Playoffs, tournaments, and big games - it was a busy couple of weeks, and here are some of the players who were hard at work in Boys HS games:

Dalton Hola

The hard-running No. 8 was a central figure in Red Mountain’s playoff win over the Blackbirds in Rugby Arizona’s semis.

2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #10

Well, we had a nice bunch of games in the Jesuit Rugby Classic, and that, along with the St. Edward win over St. Ignatius, colors much of what our rankings do this week.

We have added some teams - ten in fact - to the rankings to reward some good results in the JRC and elsewhere. East HS out of Utah is the biggest entry, but St. Francis out of Hawaii is another.

Utah Latest - State Roundup

It was an eventful weekend in Utah's Boys HS tournament, with the various conference-leading teams all in action.

West Valley defeated Bright 33-27 to stand 3-0 in the Multi-School Central Conference - Brighton was the only other undefeated team in that Conference. Kau Toa won convincingly over TC Fusion in a clash of two 2-0 teams. Kau Toa took the game 41-5 and now is along on top of the Multi-School Northern. 

In the Multi-School Southern, Genesis won by forfeit, and United had a non-conference game - we'll discuss that one later on in this article. 

Barnburner in NJ as CBA and Hudson Meet

Third-year varsity program Hudson Catholic traveled down to Thompson Park to face perennial New Jersey power Christian Brothers Academy.

It was a barnburner of a game, with 92 points scored, and in the end Christian Brothers edged Hudson 48-44.

Hudson Catholic struck first when fullback Dayshawn Muhammad grabbed a grubber kick from a CBA back at the goalline and brought it out to 22 meter line. He offloaded to center Royaal Jones, a standout for the Atlantis select 7s team, and Jones who used his trademark speed to take it the length of the pitch for the try. 

St. Xavier Downs South Doyle

St. Xavier of Louisvulle, Ky. defeated South Doyle this weekend in a clash with the defending Tennessee champs in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Tigers came out fast and hard and took an early 12-0 lead on tries by Logan Butler, Tucker Donlon and a conversion kick by Alec Campisano. South Doyle weren’t about the let that stand without a response, and scored two tries to lead 14-12.

Peninsula Green Wins NorCal DI

The Peninsula Green Beavers defeated CK McClatchy 38-12 to win the Northern California Boys DI champinoship.

It was a very impressive performance by Pen Green, now 10-0.

Mountain View Downs Capital in Idaho

Two top Idaho single schools played Saturday in a rematch of last year's State Championship, with the Mountain View Mavericks and the ranked Capital Eagles taking each other one.

When the dust had settled, Mountain View were winners 32-25.

The Eagles were undefeated leading up to this match, dominating their previous opponents by a combined score of 185 to 15. The defending State Champs started the match quickly, scoring on a penalty kick to give Capital a 3-0 lead.

Jesuit Rugby Classic Clash of Top Teams

No surprise that Gonzaga HS won the Jesuit Rugby Classic, but there were a few notable results aside from that.

On Saturday in pool play, Gonzaga's A side beat Myers Park of North Carolina 55-7, and Delbarton out of New Jersey 31-0. Also 2-0 was Greenwich, which defeated West End (Virginia) 34-19 and Good Counsel (Maryland) 26-0. Fort Hunt out of Virginia also went 2-0, beating Gonzaga's 2nd side (Gonzaga Black) 42-0 and St. Xavier (Ohio) 24-0. Charlotte Catholic defeated West Shore 24-19 and Archmere Academy 33-5 to finish out the list of 2-0 teams.

Rainier Over Budd Bay in Wild RugbyWa Clash

In a wild, end-to-end game, the Rainier Highlanders defeated the Budd Bay Barbarians 32-27 to improve to 4-0 in the Rugby Washington Boys DI.

The Highlanders were in DII last year, and won that division. Their special style of quick-hands rugby has stood them in good stead in DI this season. 

The game’s scoring started in something of a bizarre play. Budd Bay was knocking on the door at the Rainier tryline, when a turnover allowed a Rainier to break away and race downfield. He was caught by fullback Uli Togiola, and while the Rainier players flooded in to recycle and continue the attack, they were a little frantic and were penalized for a ruck infraction. This was fortunate for Budd Bay because half their team was still trying to get back onside. 

Cougars Hold Off O'Dowd to Win NorCal DII

TREASURE ISLAND CA-The Carmichael Cougars scored 24 points in the first half and then withstood a late O'Dowd onslaught to hold on to win the Northern California Boys DII championship Saturday.

"The Cougars are a great outfit they play some very exciting rugby. They were well organized and athletic, some impressive team speed,” said O’Dowd Coach Ray Lehner. “As much as I’d like to say otherwise they earned that victory."

the Cougars started very quickly, and that, said Coach Ian Meadows, has been his team’s hallmark.

Danville Takes NorCal Premier

The Danville Oaks defeated Jesuit of Sacramento with an impressive comeback Saturday to win the Northern California Varsity Premier division.

Jesuit led at halftime, but the Oaks shut out the Marauders in the second half to take the title.

Danville won the toss and opted to go against the wind in the first half. Jesuit certainly seemed ready to take full advantage early. Captain Christian Dyer finished off a line break from wing Jayme Thomas to score a try, which Luke Thayer converted, and with Jesuit using the boot to gain good field position, Thayer added a penalty goal for an early 10-0 lead.

Danville managed to get some tracking and scored a try when wing Carlos Gomez burned down the sideline for 70 meters. Thayer added another penalty, and Justin Lego added one for Danville to make it 13-8 at halftime.

Kahuku Wins Hawaii

The Kahuku Red Raiders won the Hawaii Boys State Championship, winning both their semifinal and final on Saturday.

Kahuku faced off with Kamehameha in the semis, winning comfortably 67-0.

This was Kamehameha’s first season and the players competed well through the season.

“They have some really cool kids who love the sports and play with so much respect and passion,” said Kahuku Coach Seamus Fitzgerald. “They'll be stronger next year and we're so happy to have another single school to compete with - I believe their inclusion this year in Hawaii rugby is such a huge Milestone that'll it'll change a lot of the game for the future.”

Meanwhile, another relatively new team, St. Francis, shut out the Hilo Reign in the other semi to set up what is becoming a heated rivalry.