Herriman HS Team Robbed
Herriman high school's game this past weekend was snowed out, but that was far from the worst news of the week for the team.
The program's trailer, which held equipment and kit worth about $12,000 was stolen from its parking space at Copper Mountain Middle School in Herriman, Utah.
Kingfishers Rugby: Who Are These Guys?
The Kingfishers rugby team is a relatively new one in the game and has already made a bit of a splash.
Coming out of St. Martin's Academy in Fort Scott, Kan., this boys boarding school is now in its third year of operation. After two years of struggling to get the team going, Kingfishers is starting to get a handle on it all. The young players who started as sophomores are now seniors leading the way, and this is the first year the team has had played from all four classes on the squad.
"We played a few matches each of the first two years, but as you can imagine, it was a pretty steep learning curve," said Head Coach Adam Taylor. With teams like St. Thomas Aquinas in Kansas, they have some work to do to get to that level, but a 73-0 defeat of Liberty on March 13 shows they are doing alright.
Genesis Takes High Stakes Clash With United In Utah
Prior to the pivotal matchup in Utah between rivals Genesis and United, both clubs learned about the special significance of this particular match.
“We received and email from the committee informing us that the winner of this game would be receiving an invitation to nationals in June,” said Genesis coach Eric Nelson. And while this matchup didn’t need any additional motivation, this news definitely added some.
Redhawks Win Big Over Rivals
The Raleigh Redhawks finally opened their 15s season this past Saturday, playing against rivals the Raleigh Rattlesnakes, and coming away convincing winners.
The Redhawks were scheduled to play their first 15s game about a month ago but a non-rugby-related COVID infection among two players in the team forced the Redhawks to withdraw from that event.
So ready to play in mid-February they have had to wait until now to actually get going and play their first match in a year.
St. Edward Hands Penn Opening Loss
In a much anticipated clash between perennially highly-ranked high school teams, St. Edward of Ohio defeated Penn HS of Indiana 38-12.
The game, played at Penn's home fields in Indiana, was the first of the season for Penn and the third for St. Edward, and given the long lockdown COVID has imposed on teams throughout the rugby world, that first game back has often been a tough one.
In addition, Penn is reloading a little and has a young squad.
"We were as young and dumb as we knew we would be," said Penn HS Head Coach Bart Bottorff. Penn started just one senior, and had their halfback combination out due to injury. "In the end these are all excuses. They were better today."
Withrow Comes Back For Win in Ohio
Withrow Rugby won a key early game, and a tight one, in Rugby Ohio action, beating rivals Walnut Hills 21-17.
The Cincinnati-based teams had to mount a comeback to do it, as Walnut Hills played some smart rugby with the wind at their backs to win the territorial game and lead 17-0. Withrow didn't help themselves by making a few early-season errors, but it was more about Walnut Hills using pressure, a good kicking game, and capitalizing on turnovers that accounted for their lead.
But it could have been more than 17 had new fullback Jamez Early not worked so hard to get under kicks and counter effectively. With scrumhalf George Koko keeping a steady hand, Withrow didn't wilt.
SoCal: Thunder Wins Big, SOC WIns Close One
Southern California's Boys HS Clubs got back into preseason action this past weekend, with the South OC Raptors and Thunder Rugby coming out victories, albeit in two very different ways.
It was a runaway for Thunder against La Jolla, with Thunder winning 84-13.
Eager to show their strength, Thunder came out thundering and with Alex Partolo-Aumua, Dayen Joyce, Solomon Williams, and Kingston Vivao all playing exceptionally well they put up a marker, and a warning to the rest of the region.
It was a lot closer, with the Raptors edging the San Diego Mustangs 19-16.
Troy Norman, Nate van Buskirk, and Leo Jay all scored tries for the Raptors and Asher Hannon converted two.
Charlotte Tigers Ferocious in Victory
The Charlotte Tigers kept their form going, hammering a very capable Phoenix Alpharetta team 73-7 on Sunday.
Scrumhalf Tyler Palm and lock Sederik Saxon led a dominant Tiger performance which saw the Charlotte team score 10 tries, all of which were converted. Flyhalf Porter Goodrum, who has been almost perfect from the tee this year, slotted eight conversions plus a penalty goal, and center Friday Mitchell added two.
Eight different Tigers scored tries on the day.
Okapi Wanderers Keep Rolling
The Okapi Wanderers capped their regular season run with their 5th straight victory after losing the in the opening week of the season.
The Wanderers hammered Tampa 53-14 to improve to 5-1 in the Florida league. That puts Okapi in 1st place with one more weekend of regular season rugby to go. Okapi is idle next weekend while Naples and Jacksonville (currently 2nd and 3rd) play. Both Naples (points allowed per game) and Jacksonville (head-to-head) hold the tiebreakers over Okapi.
Tempe Upends #2 Red Mountain
In an impressive showing in Arizona, #9 HS Club Tempe defeated #2 HS Club Red Mountain 27-19.
Tempe started strong and scored two minutes into the game, but Red Mountain replied to take a 7-5 lead before the game was six minuted old. Red Mountain punished Tempe for a poor restart and a series of penalties.
But Tempe regained the lead when Aki Pulu finished off a line break from Alani Maafu. That made it 10-7, but Red Mountain came back with a big run up the right sideline to make it 12-10. As the first half came to a close Tempe got a try from Tau Pauga and then one from Maafu after Red Mountain had troubler securing clean scrum ball near their line.
It was a crucial momentum shift as Tempe, instead of going into halftime down 12-10 led 20-12 at the break.
Defensive Patience Sees St. Ignatius Past La Salette
St. Ignatius defeated Notre Dame de la Salette in a crossover match between two ranked school-supported teams Saturday.
It was the third game of the season for Ignatius and the first for La Salette, which made the 6-1/2-hour drive to Cleveland early on Saturday morning. The difference in game time was clear as the La Salette team played hard and was very effective in several areas of the game, but couldn't break a patient and physical Ignatius defense. Final score 49-0.
Brother Martin Comeback Sees Then Survive Hurricanes
In a very exciting game under the lights at New Orleans City Park, Brother Martin defeated the Bayou Hurricanes 29-24.
Bayou came ready to play and very quickly showed their intent to run. Bayou's big athletic inside center Mike Jackson burst through for for a 60-meter gallop. The conversion from Cade Austin was good and Bayou took a 7-0 lead. Brother Martin fought back but penalties and knock-ons stymied their attacks. Brandon Bourg, as he has done all season, made a break and fed wing John Rink. The Brother Martin winger scored the try but missed the conversion and it was 7-5 to the Hurricanes.
HS Games This Weekend: Much Rugby at Stake
Over 40 games are on the slate this week including 11 where both teams are ranked.
Top 5 HS Matchups Weekend of March 20 |
We will see Idaho start league play, and the top two teams in Arizona take each other on.
Gamebreakers in HS Rugby This Week
This week is upon us and it's time to give a nod to last week's top boys HS rugby players.
Tyran McCoy, Phoenix Alpharetta
The Phoenix wing was a constant threat on attack and scored a really well-taken try as Phoenix defeated South Greenville.
Sam Vallejos, Brother Martin
No. 8 and captain Vallejos scored three tries as Brother Martin exploded for 48 points and a convincing defeat of Louisiana rivals St. Paul's.
HS Club Rankings Week 3
The new HS Club rankings see a huge change as we expand to 30 teams, anticipate even more coming in the few weeks, and see a few results and tip things over.
Royal Irish beating St. Edward and doing so convincingly is enough to see Royal Irish move up dramatically. SOC Raptors beating La Jolla and Okapi beating Key Biscayne bring both into the rankings. While the rankings correctly predicted Phoenix Alpharetta's and Aspetuck's wins, the results still force some movement (as idleness also allows some teams to drift downward a place or two).
In Utah, there are three things to note: 1) Genesis is still good; 2) West Valley beat United so West Valley moves into the rankings and at a high position because the win was very close and we still think United is pretty strong, and c) Snow Canyon is now a HS club not a single-school team, so they join this ranking.
