MSIRL Update
The MSIRL is a regional league that completed its inaugural season in 2017 featuring nine of the best high school boys teams Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina had to offer. This added regional level of matrix play was a huge success by all accounts – It’s no wonder then that the league has grown in 2018.
This year, an additional three teams were added, including Tennessee into the mix, and the now twelve teams in MSIRL were divided into two conferences.
In the West: East Cobb, GA; Phoenix, GA; Knoxville (combined), TN; Greenville, SC; Irmo, SC; and South Greenville, SC make up a conference.
In the East: Charlotte Catholic, NC; Union County, NC; Charlotte Tigers, NC; Chapel Hill, NC; Clayton, NC; and Wando, SC make up the other conference.
Wando Keeps Winning
Wando continued its run of strong results with a 17-5 defeat of South Greenville in South Carolina HS league action.
Against a big, physical South Greenville team that has already beaten Greenville convincingly and also logged wins over Charlotte Catholic, Irmo, and Knoxville, Wando showed off a pretty snappy defensive front.
Center Huw Meredith scored two tries for Wando, and flanker Ben Wakser added another, while Meredith and flyhalf Caleb Calandra led the team with tackles.
Wando saw center Daniel Brinson leave the game with a collarbone injury, but rallied regardless. Locks Arthur Doyle and Gage Gibson were solid and fullback Tyler Tran handled the South Greenville kicking game well, helping Wando win the territorial game.
NorCal Playoff Hopes Ride On Exciting Finish
Northern California's Premier HS division reaches a crucial period in the coming weekends.
The playoff seedings are all at stake as teams face off. While we've seen a number of interesting results - not least of which last week's Danville win over Jesuit - many of those games were between the Sacramento and Bay Area divisions, and not counting in league play.
So right now, despite all the very challenging games played, the standings look like this:
South Bay Sweeps In SoCal
The South Bay Spartans came away from this past weekend's Fullerton International Invitational with two championships, and the team's youth program added a third tournament win in one weekend..
The Spartans U12s took the championship in the 2018 SoCal Youth Rugby Northern Section End of the Season (EOS) Tournament in Norco, Calif.
That was the icing on a pretty nice cake for the entire program.
The U18 Girls team took home the cup from Fullerton, sweeping the competition.
Ignatius Impresses With Wins Over Penn, West Shore
St. Ignatius logged impressive victories over Penn HS and West Shore this weekend.
In a three-team preseason meeting in the Cleveland area, Ignatius won on Saturday and Sunday, with Penn volunteerring to play two games on the day.
On the first game of the day, St. Ignatius was paced by three tries from Nick Zolkoff, It was a tight game with a lone Zolkoff try being the scoring through the first 35 minutes or so, until Penn kicked a penalty to make it 5-3 at the break.
"It was very dissatisfying for us," said Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik. "We missed a couple of opportunities. Our penalty count was egregiously against us - and not unfairly. Our kids we committing stupid penalties. We weren't playing within ourselves."
La Salette Strong Over SLUH In Opener
The Notre Dame de La Salette Lions kicked off their season with a weekend matchup against the Baby Billikens of St. Louis University High this past weekend, coming away with two victories.
The La Salette 2nds defeated SLUH 81-0 in the opener. fullback, Ian Somdahl opened the scoring, and Nicholas Babic, Daniel Prather, and captain Benedict Pietras set the tone up front.
The 1sts then faced off. Flyhalf Egan Quain put La Salette in scoring position with a well-struck kick to touch on a penalty, and from that lineout, senior center Will Schroeder raced in. Eight minutes later, his midfield partner David Szemborski also scored.
Wild Results Continue In Northern California
Northern California's Boys Premier division is all over the place as no one has been able to break away and stay unbeaten.
This week, Danville beat Jesuit in a mud-spattered rivalry matchup.
Boys HS Games March 16-18
It's a big weekend for ranked teams facing off. Rugby Oregon gets going, too.
Florida has its playoffs begin.
Check back for scores.
De La Salle Rides Power To 6-0
Watch out for De La Salle in Northern California.
The Concord, CA team is now 6-0 in NorCal's DI, and with 75 players in Varsity and JV, should have success for some time.
Known as one of the most successful high school football programs in America, the De La Salle Spartans rugby program has benefited from that pool of athletes, but also sometimes had to work to get out of football's shadow.
Playoff Time in Florida HS
It's playoff time in Florida for Boys HS rugby.
Four teams from Region 1 and four teams from Region 2 will compete in two rounds to determine a Region winner. However, each region finalist still gets a shot at the state title.
The Region 1 seeds are:
- Tampa
- Orlando
- Cape Pirates
- Jacksonville
Tampa, Orlando, and Cape Pirates all ended up 5-1 in the Region 1 standings. With head-to-head canceling each other out, and the tiebreaker that was points allowed per conference game. Tampe won that with 8.16/game, with Orlando 2nd and Tampa 3rd. Jacksonville was 4th with a 4-2 record.
Region 2 Seeds:
Upstarts And Rivalries In SoCal HS Club
Southern California's HS Club season is now underway and already there's some separation.
The Irvine Rhinos, who were just accepted to the Boys HS Rugby National Championships, beat a very good Belmont Shore team 38-33 to back up their previous strong performance in the Pacific Cup and Storer Classic preseason tournaments.
The Rhinos actually led 33-7 at halftime, playing a physical brand of rugby that also, maybe, got them into trouble. The Rhinos were pinged with 33 penalties in the second half, along with three cards, and played with 13 players for most of the second half.
Harpeth Shows Potential At Nash Bash
The Harpeth Harlequins played this past weekend at NashBash U19 Tournament and provided a glimpse into their potential for the 2018 season.
Having graduated 19 seniors, the strength of this year’s club was somewhat unknown, as many players are stepping into leadership roles left vacant by the strong class of 2017. New faces who are embracing rugby for the first time are also visible on the ASide.
Head Coach/Director of H2 Scott Reagan said, "With only 5 starters returning from last season's team, there was no shortage of questions that needed answering. Our challenge now as a club is to not have to repeat the rugby lessons we learned over the weekend during our regular season! Very proud of how both our A's and B's played over the weekend.”
2018 Boys HS Nationals Teams Selected
The Boys HS Rugby National Championships list of teams has been confirmed.
The teams are, as always, being selected by a panel of coaches. Those coaches look at the applicants' ability to show up, pay for travel, and compete.
There are strong clubs and school teams that don't attend. Some of them don't because the timing of the season is too difficult - cold-weather leagues can run into June.
Xavier Impresses Against Doylestown
Xavier HS followed up on a decent showing against Fort Hunt (a 5-5 tie) with a 55-19 defeat of Doylestown Sunday evening.
Out of Pennsylvania, Doylestown has been struggling in the early going in part due to player availability as other sports finish up in the winter, but the result is also a sign that the New York-based Xavier is looking better than initial prognostications indicated.
Xavier's new pitch at Aviator Field is 70 meters wide, and so lends itself to a more wide up game.
