HS Boys

Gonzaga Wins Tight Single-School Final

Gonzaga is the first single-school team to win three straight national championships, holding off Jesuit of Sacramento Saturday in a single-school final that could not have been closer.

The game was the final game played at the Rugby Athletic Center, which saw virtually all of its grass rubbed away after torrential rains and 17 previous games on the main field. 

The conditions almost guaranteed a low-scoring game, and indeed it was. Jesuit entered the game determined to play a more wide open game, but also, as they had the day before, decided to put Christian Dyer, usually an outside center, in at flyhalf to get him more touches and to take advantage of his kicking.

It all seemed to go as Jesuit planned, as they were strong in contact, played for territory, and earned two kickable penalties that Luke Thayer put over the bar.

Video Interview - West End

Goff Rugby Report Editor Alex Goff checked in with Jacob Estes, the West End scrumhalf, after the team made the Tier II final of the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.

West End had a rough middle of the season, but now healthy and together, put in two impressive wins over St. Thomas Aquinas and Charlotte Catholic. Here's the video interview. If you don't see the video, please refresh the page.

Video Interview - Pelham HS

Goff Rugby Report's Alex Goff speaks with Luke Persanis and North Westall of Pelham HS about their first National Championships appearance.

Pelham opened up their tournament with a 24-14 win over South Doyle in Tier II, and then followed that up with a 22-12 win over Brownsburg on Friday to set up a Tier II final against West End on Saturday.

Here's the video interview. If you don't see the embedded video, please refresh the page.

Single-School Bracket HS Nationals Day 2

In a contentious, mud-splattered, afternoon of rugby, two old foes Jesuit and Gonzaga will meet up int the final of the single-school bracket of the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.

The heavy rain that hit Charlotte all day certainly had its effect on the games, especially the single-school games that finished off the day. Balls didn’t bounce so much as go splat, and it was just flat difficult to run fast.

Jesuit ran out to an impressive 20-0 lead at halftime against Penn. They did it by working the kicking game and playing smart for the conditions. But in the second half, Penn slowly started to come back. Jesuit began to get pinged for penalties, and Penn started to get on the front food - pounding it inside with the forwards and challenging the Jesuit defenders to embrace the physicality.

HS Nationals Club Bracket Day 2

Granite Bay and Royal Irish will meet for the second straight year in the final of the Boys HS Rugby National Championships club bracket after both won semifinals Friday.

The games were won under very different circumstances, with the Royal Irish v United game on a knife edge the entire time, while Granite Bay controlled their semi against the KC Junior Blues until the final ten minutes and won fairly comfortably.

Boys HS Nationals Tier II Day 2

Day Two at the Boys HS Rugby National Championships is done for Tier II with West End and Pelham facing off in Saturday’s final.

Pelham produced a somewhat surprisingly convincing performance in beating Brownsburg 22-12. It was wet and muddy at the Rugby Athletic Center, but that didn’t prevent Pelham from trying to play wide. They struggled to put all the pieces together early, while Brownsburg tried to exert their dominance in tight.

Pelham opened the scoring with a penalty, but the big play came with a nice passing movement to wing Sam Louman, who controlled the ball, burst down the sideline, and slid in for the opening try.

Utah Select Side to Play in Rosslyn Park 7s

The Utah Cannibals, Utah Youth Rugby’s High Performance Program, have been accepted to play in the world’s largest and most prestigious youth 7s event in the world, the HSBC’s Rosslyn Park Sevens, in London, UK, next March.

The last US select side to compete in the HSBC Rosslyn Park 7s was the HS All Americans in 2013.

The Utah Cannibals were established in 2010 as a pathway to showcase Utah’s top up and coming rugby players. Since 2010 the UYR-Cannibals have placed 14 players in the HSAA program and many more have transitioned to Collegiate Rugby as well as Collegiate Football.

Boys HS Nationals Day One

The first day of the Boys HS Rugby National Championships is in the books. Here’s the rundown.

Tier II

A relatively wet and chilly day, for North Carolina in May, opened up for the players at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC. And the first games were in Tier II.

Brownsburg and Union County (NC) clashed in a game that went very very tight in the early going. But slogging it out in the forwards, Brownsburg started to pull away and won it 34-19.

Pelham took on South Doyle in a meeting of teams with much to prove. Pelham started very well, ran out to a 14-0 halftime lead and a 19-0 lead early in the second half, but South Doyle made a game of it late as Pelham rang the changes. Pelham held on 24-14.

Minnesota Latest - Eagan New Winner on Block

Up in the frozen north the top teams out of Minnesota are starting to show their hand.

Leading the way may well be Edina, which has started 5-0, including this past weekend’s 39-7 win over Duluth. Edina has scored 299 points and given up 19. Faribault is also 5-0, although two of those wins - 10-7 over Eden Prairie and 8-0 over Western Warriors - have been close.

At 4-0 is Eagan, which defeated Hopkins 58-0 last weekend. This is a program that started as a group of middle school kids four years ago and is now winning games on the high school level. 

The team is coached by Director of Rugby Eric Curtin, Chalie Baleirara of Metropolis, and former HS All American and recently-capped Eagle Moto Filikitonga. Folikitonga is coaching while he is coming back from the injury he suffered playing against Canada.

EIRA Player of the Week - Cognac Oliver

In getting to the final of the Rugby Oregon Boys Club competition, Northside needed something special, and they got it.

The Panthers blew through their Black Conference season, going undefeated, and faced off with the defending state champion Beaverton Barbarians in the semis. It was a tough, defensive game, something the Panthers aren't used to. But somehow they held on, and got two big, big tries from wing Cognac Oliver.

That's all they needed, as the Panthers won the semifinal 12-5 and are now set to meet Polk County in the final. 

Boys HS Nationals - Our Picks

The Goff Rugby Report rankings are generally pretty accurate, but sometimes they don’t hold true on major matchups.

Why? Often that’s because a team that had a couple of setbacks early in the season and those losses are still on the team’s record, but now, with injured players back or the team simply improving, they might be a better opponent.

Sometimes it’s because teams match up differently - so Team A might be Team B, and Team B might beat Team C, but it could be that Team C has the formula to beat Team A. We’ve seen it happen.

Boys HS Nationals Program

The Boys High School Rugby National Championships kicks off on the afternoon of Thursday, May 19.

Check back here for for the schedules and scores. Below is the event program. Check that out for team profiles and previews and some history.  

Friendship at Heart of Gonzaga Quartet

With the Boys HS Rugby National Championships coming this week, we take a look at four longtime players with two-time national single-school champions Gonzaga.

This is the journey of a special group of Gonzaga men. Seniors:  Joey Freeman, Patrick Sheehy, Bailey Ogilvie, and Patrick Hesse have been playing tackle rugby together since the seventh grade (Hesse joined in his sophomore year). Although the men have an extensive rugby touch background, they have over 21 years of combined tackle experience. They are also all second-generation players whose fathers all played at a high level. Not only are they starting at the top level Gonzaga team, but also the infamous Maryland Exiles Sevens team.