Hawaii HS Playoffs Latest
The Hawaii state chanpionships are underway with the semifinals and final on Saturday, April 16.
Friday saw the quarterfinals. The Hilo Reign from the Big Island edged Kalihi 10-5. It was a tough, intense contest made all the more difficult for Kalihi as two students at the school had suffered tragedies this week.
St. Francis, which has been getting better and better through the season, defeated Kamehameha 39-0 to move on, while top-seeded Kahuku earned a bye to the semis.
One more team was to be picked for the semis, the team that lost the closest. That would be Kalihi, but with one of their classmates having died this past week, the students will not be available Saturday, and in fact Kamehameha will face Kahuku in the semis.
Hilo will take on St. Francis in the other semi. The winners play at 3pm for the final.
Close Games Promised in Florida Playoffs
An intense and competitive Florida Youth Rugby Boys DI season comes down to this - four teams with a shot at the state title.
For a while, it seemed as if the Tampa Krewe might cruise to the championship. Tampa began 5-0 and it would have taken a real pessimist to point out that some of those victories were very, very close. But since then the Krewe have gone 1-2-1, dropping from 1st to 4rd. Meanwhile, RBMA has been on a roll, winning their last four.
“It’s been a long season,” said Tampa Coach Eric Saunders. “Having nine games in this new format has been great. It allows us to play different teams, well-coached teams, but it’s demanding, too.”
East HS Tours New Mexico
East HS defeated Colorado Springs 25-22 Thursday night in Rugby Colorado league action, and it was a nice cap off to a successful week for the East team.
The East squad toured New Mexico this past week. The team travel to Albuquerque where they began with their traditional tour-opening activity of a Goals Banquet, where each player stated his personal and team goals.
HS Boys Games This Weekend
Here is a rundown of Boys HS rugby games this weekend.
Check back here for scores and updates. Already we have a few scores and links to some previews and reports.
Among the games of note: The Florida semifinals are about to get underway, with four very strong teams in content. Speaking of strong, the Jesuit v Danville Northern California is a can't-miss if you're in the Danville area. We previewed the Jesuit Classic already (Gonzaga Hosts Jesuit Rugby Classic) and that's a tournament to watch. We'll post scores here and in our report.
Montana 7s Tournament Targets Suicide Prevention
The Montana State HS season is underway with Black & Blue, Missoula Mud Dogs, Montana Iron Horse, and Helena all having registered wins, but the big victory is of a more important kind.
Oregon - Polk Surprises, Undefeateds Clash
Twenty-two boys HS teams will be in action in Oregon this weekend, with the Varsity and Club contests well underway.
In the Varsity Division, 4-0 Union takes 3-0 Portland Pumas in a clash of the top two teams in the league. The two teams haven’t shared much in terms of common opponents - just Newberg HS, which both beat comfortably. Union is the defending state champion, but will have its hands full this weekend.
Meanwhile, perhaps the story of the week is Polk County, which upset Beaverton 21-15 last week.
Despite carrying a relatively small roster, Polk has been able to play at a fairly high level. Coach Joe Boyd said last week’s game was the most physical he’d seen in high school rugby.
“The kids were just really going for it,” he said.
St. Edward Over St. Ignatius in Ohio
Ohio rivals St. Edward and St. Ignatius met Thursday night in the first of what is likely to be at least two, and maybe more meetings this season, and St. Edward ran away with a convincing 31-5 victory.
These two teams battle each other each year and the game are usually very close. Not so this time around, as St. Ed's scored five tries and had a handful called held-up in-goal.
"We poached more ball," said St. Edward Head Coach Tom Cleary. "We out-rucked them."
BC High v Belmont Early Test in Mass
It’s early days in the Massachusetts Boys HS rugby competition, but Friday brings one of the bigger games, as Boston College High School takes on Belmont High.
Both of these teams are regular contenders for the stare title.
Both teams are also 1-0 in the Massachusetts Youth Rugby DI league - BC High beat St. John’s Prep 24-5 last week, and Belmont edged Needham High 15-14. Both are chasing Xaverian Brothers, which has won close ones over Bishop Hendricken and Needham.
Gonzaga Hosts Jesuit Rugby Classic
Gonzaga HS will host the Jesuit Rugby Classic this weekend at Morven Park in Leesburg, Va.
The tournament includes seven teams that are ranked by Goff Rugby Report, including, of course, single-school #1 Gonzaga. Fort Hunt, the current HS club #10, Charlotte Catholic (SS #15), and West End (club #16) also will participate.
Chapel Hill, Charlotte Catholic, Continue Winning Ways
Charlotte Catholic and the Chapel Hill Highlanders continued on their winning ways in North Carolina.
Catholic defeated the Hough Huskies 57-0 and remain undefeated in the Single-School league where Myers Park sits 7-1 and atop the division.
The Highlanders, too, are unbeaten, and recorded a 47-7 defeat of the North Meck Vikings to go 4-0.
“Our backline is firing on all cylinders,” enthused Chapel Hill Coach Robert Joseph, whose team had to contend with a small field and plenty of wind against North Meck, but still attacked nicely.
“We are moving in the right direction,” said Joseph. “We are still figuring out some key positions - we have the luxury this year of having 3 capable scrumhalves and a couple of flyhalves too.”
2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #9
We expanded our Goff Rugby Report HS Club Rankings for the second week in a row as more teams get involved and produce more results.
Polk County beat Beaverton - that's an obvious addition. Same goes for Desert Vista beating a ranked team. Union County out of North Carolina deserved to be there a week ago. The Chargers started off nicely this season. Aside from that, the two big moves are Katy, moving up despite a loss because it was 15-13, and for South Greenville, beating Wando made for a move of 9 spots.
Orlando v Okapi Finalizes Florida Top 4
The Orlando Griffins defeated the Okapi Wanderers 25-15 Wednesday to finish off the Florida Boys DI HS regular season.
This was a re-play of a weather postponement, and had to be played because Okapi still had a shot to make the top four and thus the Cup Semifinals.
However, Orlando won, and by winning by ten, they bypassed the Krewe for 3rd. (The first tiebreaker is head-to-head, but Tampa and Orlando tied 12-12 April 9, so the next tiebreaker is points difference, and Orlando wins that by a single point.)
So the Cup Semis are:
2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #9
Gonzaga remains #1 after a good win over #4 Xavier (we love those sorts of matchups, but the Goff Rugby Report Boys Single-School Rankings have some shifts further down.
Greenwich gets pinged hard for their loss against Fairfield, but certainly can bounce back (one result does not a season make). We're getting increasingly impressed with Pelham, not only for the fact that they're winning, but how good their defense is and how convincing the wins are. You can argue that the Florida teams they beat weren't at their best - fine, argue that - but Pelham still beat them in impressive fashion.
Other moves of note - Jesuit of Dallas drops because their loss to Lake Travis was by a lot. Snow Canyon moves up after beating a very strong San Diego Mustangs team (there's much more to come from Utah this season).
Jesuit New Orleans Secures Playoff Spot
The Jesuit-New Orleans Blue Jays have secured a place in the Deep South HS league semifinals thanks in part to this past Saturday's 31-14 win over Shreveport.
Shreveport is a new HS team in the Deep South and despite being 2-5 has been competitive in the program's first outing, with an average points difference of less than 4. The Sharks started strong against Jesuit and punished some poor handling. But the Blue Jay cover defense recovered enough to stop the charge, turn the vall over, and counter. A big push from several teammates helped senior Nick Fresneda push his way over the goal for a score. Senior Scott Derbes’ kick was good and the Jays led 7-0.
KC Jr. Blues Win HOA
The Kansas City Jr. Blues won the Heart of America Tournament in what was a somewhat strange finish.
Consider that the Jr. Blues had lost to St. Thomas Aquinas earlier this season 15-0. And so, when Aquinas was pipped at the finally whistle by Colorado Springs in the semis, you’d think that the Grizzlies would have a solid chance of beating the Blues. Instead, the Blues won big, 41-7.
