Gamebreakers in HS Rugby As May Begins
With games all over the nation, we have a wide range of Gamebreakers this week—here's who made key plays and important contributions to their HS teams over the past several days.
Liam Malloy, Fort Hunt
The Fort Hunt captain and hooker (pictured) led the Warriors to a 33-0 shutout of Xavier, providing leadership to the forwards, a steadying presence everywhere, and scoring two tries.
Brady Weatherly, Germantown
The sophomore outside center scored three tries in Germantown's state semifinal win over Father Ryan.
Caleb Brubaker, West Shore
The center scored two tries and nailed down the midfield defense as West Shore defeated Cumberland Valley.
Gonzaga, Georgetown Tie 26-26
Gonzaga High School played its first official game Wednesday, running into a more seasoned Georgetown Prep side and coming away with a 26-26 tie.
Georgetown Prep did well not to implode after giving up two early tries and getting an early yellow card for a high tackle. But thanks to two interception tries, one in each half, and some tenacious defense, Prep started to claw its way back in.
Gonzaga opened up the scoring with scrumhalf Jack Ries speeding out around the edge and in under the posts. Ries converted and Gonzaga was up 7-0. But moments later Gonzaga flyhalf Benji Kemp was taken off the field after he injured his leg after behind tackled as he kicked the ball to touch. It was a rough blow to Gonzaga, but they still managed to control field position well — assisted by Georgetown Prep's poor handling of the odd grubber kick.
Boys 2021 HS Club Rankings Week 10
The loss Royal Irish suffered in the Midwest tournament was only a two-point loss in a 50-minute game to a well-regarded opponent; that's the sort of result that we have a hard time using as justification to drop a team down.
So Royal Irish remains at #3, but it's worth remembering that the HS Club Top 10 is packed with high-quality teams. Despite the fact that Charlotte has been #1 all season, there could be changes.
Six teams enter the Top 50 this week, with Fort Hunt's shutout of Xavier vaulting them to #18, and West Allegheny and Eagan finally getting their due. Eastside and Liberty won in Washington, but that's going to be a tough state to judge for a while because the games are always close (Eastside won 17-12 over Budd Bay, who doesn't make the rankings) and so we probably won't see anyone float up too high unless they play out-of-state.
Monarch Opens CIRA Boys League with Win Over Debutant Valor Christian
Monarch HS started the Colorado Interscholastic Rugby Association season with a 27-5 victory over debutant program Valor Christian.
The game was a first for the league, which launched this past weekend. It was the only game of the weekend as the Regis vs Palmer game had to be canceled. This was also the first-ever rugby game for Valor Christian in any league. The highly-regarded private school with a number of state sporting championships to its name turned many heads when it decided to start a rugby program in the new CIRA.
Monarch got a strong game from the interior backs, namely flyhalf Logan Lair and centers Andrew Thexton and Josh Ponder. They managed the flow and rhythm of the game well. Hooker Karten Hanson was very good also.
Boys 2021 School HS Rankings Week 10
It remains a mixed up and somewhat confused school-support team rankings, as some teams are just starting, some are stuck playing in leagues without playing out-of-state, making it very difficult to just where they stand against everyone else.
Pennsylvania Latest: Semifinalists Set
Gregory the Great, Doylestown, West Allegheny, and St. Joseph's Prep all recorded important victories in Week 4 of the Rugby Pennsylvania's Boys HS league to secure a spot in the state semifinals.
While West Shore didn't make the semis, they also recorded an important victory that potentially boosted their ranking.
GGA over Berks
Berks County had plenty of chances and tested the Gregory the Great squad, working the ball wide and trying to get around the edge.
But GGA handled the threats well, putting in a solid defensive effort as a team.
"The forward pack did a lot of work to prevent them from scoring when they were in our half," said Head Coach Garret van Beek.
Bixby Rides Defensive Effort to Oklahoma State Win
Two shutouts brought an Oklahoma state championship to Bixby as the highly-ranked single-school team beat Edmond 34-0 in the semifinals last week, and F5 51-0 in the final this past Saturday.
Senior Matt Doyle was a massive part of that effort, scoring four tries in the final. Recently accepted to West Point where he will play rugby, Doyle has been a standout at No. 8 for Bixby all season.
Senior fullback Drake Poth was crucial to Bixby's fortunes with his team on the front foot returning F5 kicks with interest with his counterattacking runs.
But it wasn't just the seniors who led the way. Freshman scrumhalf JD Martin kept the pace moving at the base of the breakdown, while sophomore lock Nick Roberts controlled the lineouts all game.
Brother Martin Pulls Away To Win Louisiana
Brother Martin and St. Paul's played a competitive and entertaining Louisiana Boys HS final to cap off a great day of rugby in New Orleans.
The game was held after Major League Rugby's NOLA Gold came from behind to beat the Toronto Arrows 22-14.
The high school game was no less intriguing.
Brother Martin opened the scoring when senior captain Sam Vallejos offloaded to senior prop Jacob Schmidt as he surged through a gap to score. John Rink converted and Brother Martin led 7-0. St Paul's answered when John Rink's kick from inside his 22 rolled all the way down the field and past the dead-ball line. That meant a scrum back where Rink had launched the kick.
Champions Crowned in South Central US
Three major state championships, two official and one unofficial, we concluded this weekend.
In the unofficial game, Dallas Jesuit played Strake Jesuit for what was billed as a de facto single-school championships in Texas. Strake came into the game having won all of their games save a tie and a three-point loss, both to West Houston. Dallas Jesuit came into the game having won all of their games.
Strake scored early but Jesuit's Jack Judson equalized. Tries from Aidan Piotrowski and Sy Mendenhall made it 19-7 at halftime. Mendenhall scored a second try and then, with the score 26-14, the game was halted for an hour due to lightning.
Cathedral Catholic Opens SCIRF With Win
In a much-anticipated opening weekend for the Southern California Interscholastic Rugby Federation 2021 season, the Cathedral Catholic Dons posted a hard-earned 52-0 victory over a tenacious Steele Canyon Cougars.
Although the Dons were able to run in eight unanswered tries, it was their impressive defense that kept the Cougars out of the try zone numerous times. The Dons strong point throughout the game was their ability to consistently break the gain line for large gains.
Player of the Match Marcus Terzoli put his stamp on his first varsity game for Cathedral with two tries and six conversions for 22 points. Luk Otinero, attacking from No. 8, dotted down twice while sophomore Gavin Metzler and freshmen Larkin Kenney and Rocco Balisteri all earned their CC varsity letters.
Who Impressed at Midwest Tournament
It was a huge day of rugby at the Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, Ind., as teams from all over the Midwest played in the Midwest Championship Tournament.
The tournament is usually a bracket playoff format played over two days. This time around, with some teams not playing any games yet, it was more of a challenge match format — everyone got two 44-minute games and played on just the one day.
For some, the victory was getting on the field. To see West Ottawa finally play some tackle rugby was good for everyone, even if West Ottawa struggled to piece it all together. There was some drama with St. Ignatius beating Royal Irish, and some teams with rankings aspirations showing they can, actually, play well against tough competition.
Ignatius Edges Royal Irish at Midwest Tourney
In what was probably the climactic game of the Midwest tournament in Elkhart, Ind. Saturday, St. Ignatius held off Royal Irish 14-12 in a physical, sometimes contentious, and thoroughly entertaining game.
The shortened game was the second for both teams, with Royal Irish having beaten a tenacious St. Edward 24-5, and St. Ignatius having shut out HSE 24-0. Going into the second game, Ignatius welcomed back loose forward Marty Lenehan, who had missed the previous meeting (won by Royal Irish 36-12) because of a red card suspension.
But Ignatius was also without all of their seniors, as this was Prom Night.
Over 120 Boys HS Games this Weekend
We've got playoffs and championships going on as well as the start of several leagues at the same time.
Over 120 games are on the slate, and that isn't even counting the Iowa 7s games.
We've seen the opening of New Jersey, with Morris beating rival Union 51-7, which is a pretty impressive score, led by hooker Norman Rubinsky, flyhalf Jack O'Connor, center Nick Doumbe, prop Jake Brennan, fullback Isaac Gamboa, scrumhalf Thomas McDevitt, and flanker Tyler Inserra. They take on Bridgewater this weekend.
Clash of League-Leaders in Iowa
The top teams from 1A and 2A in Iowa Youth Rugby's boys HS 7s league will meet Friday night as the league enters a climactic phase.
Waterloo-Columbus sits 7-0 in Varsity Class 1A, with Bondurant-Farrar close behind at 6-1-1. In Class 2A, Fort Dodge leads at 7-1-1.
"We have two really tough matches," said Tom Mcclimon, Fort Dodge Head Coach. "Waterloo and Bondurant are both at the top of the 1A standings. Both are extremely well-coached and talented teams. Hopefully we are up to the test. As a team we have really started to come together as a unit. I feel like we have 13 guys that I can put in there and they would all know what they are doing and play hard."
Fort Dodge is a young program, only in its third year (and last year hardly counts). Only one player had any rugby experience before joining Fort Dodge.
More HS Leagues Kicking Off This Weekend
Along with Rugby NY, several other high school rugby competitions are gearing up this weekend.
After a bit of a soft launch, Minnesota sees four games scheduled for Friday (although one game appears to be a forfeit). Albert Lea, Becker, and Eagan have all started well in an eight-team league, although Southside is probably going to struggle to field a full side.
As we reported earlier, Rugby NY is starting in the Met NY area this weekend>>
