NorCal DII HS Latest
The Cougar Rugby Club clinched the SacValley D2 Championship after defeating River City 55-15 this past Saturday.
The club went 4-0, joins Bullard (Central), Berkeley (Redwood), and De La Salle (Bay) as teams that have finished 4-0 and have clinched a conference title.
Bullard has been playing well under new coach Paul Carter. Isaia Kruse has been excellent at scrumhalf and he links nicely with Mike Kruse, his brother, as flyhalf. This is a physical and skilled team, but they’re working hard on rugby skills, too.
Jesuit Beats Solo
Jesuit High School Rugby finished league play in the Northern California Premier League with a 60-26 victory over the Solo Falcons, dropping the Falcons to 4-2 and pushing Jesuit to 5-1 and, for now, in 1st in the Northern California Varsity Premier.
Georgetown Prep Sweeps Florida Trip
After defeating Riviera Beach Maritime Academy, Georgetown Prep completed a successful spring break swing through Florida with victories over St. Thomas Aquinas and Cardinal Gibbons.
The original plan called for a final game against a Catholic Schools Select squad, but some scheduling issues prevented the assembly of an all-star squad. Instead Prep used the matches as a development opportunity.
"It was an excellent opportunity to mix players of different levels into our match squad and put them in a very competitive situation, where they would be under pressure from good opponents while learning from some of the veterans in the lineup," said Prep Coach Pete Walton, who added that he was pleased with the performance of both newer and veteran players over the course of the tour.
Texas Latest
Lake Travis defeated Rock Rugby 24-14 Thursday night in the Rugby Texas Boys HS league.
The game was of note because both teams have lost close ones to league-leaders Westlake, and only the top two from the North/Central make the Cup semis.
With Westlake in the driver's seat, this game was essentially for 2nd place. With the victory, Lake Travis improves to 3-1, while Rock drops to 3-2. It's not confirmed that Lake Travis gets the four-try bonus, but it appears so, meaning LT will have 16 points in the standings, and Rock 15. Lake Travis has three more games to play in league play, Rock Rugby two more.
2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #7
There's plenty of movement this week in the Goff Rugby Report Boys HS Club rankings, and while #1 and #2 stay unchanged, the rest of the Top 10 is shaken up.
Perhaps the biggest move is the San Diego Mustangs jump to #5, although Peninsula Green moving up from #11 to #7 is worth a look, too. Basically, we had reason to drop Solo down, and we took a second look at Pen Green's win over Solo, and that why we make the move. Santa Monica moves up also thanks to a win at the Fullerton Tournament. Raleigh gets a jolt after a loss to the Charlotte Tigers. Two Washington teams join the top 50 - Rainier and Chuckanut - while one (Eastside) drops out, for now.
EIRA Player of the Week - Andrew Smith
Our Player of the Week this week is Andrew Smith.
In a week where Granite Bay launched itself into the national conversation with an emphatic defeat of the Solo Falcons, Smith was perhaps the best of several great performances.
“He was clutch in every phase of the game,” said Head Coach Jason Divine.
His ability to make big players and then help other players make even bigger plays is who he’s the pick. Smith broke through the Solo defense on Saturday and raced for 50 meters before setting up Sam Cusano for a try. He also did pretty much the same thing, but instead kept it and scored himself.
Unionville Wins Big Early Game in Pa
Unionville launched themselves into the Goff Rugby Report single-school rankings after defeating two-time defending state champion Cumberland Valley.
Cumberland Valley went up 13-12, scoring a try with about eight minutes left in the match. Unionville answered back with their own try with two minutes left to make it 17-13, and that's how the game ended.
Wando Leads with Defense
Wando remains undefeated in South Carolina after beating one of their chief rivals, Chapin, 47-0, and then defeated a Canadian touring team 21-17.
The 21-17 scoreline was notable because Wando actually gave up some points - albeit once they'd run in the subs. It was 21-0 at halftime. In fact, the only points Wando has allowed have been in non-league games. In league play, Wando is 5-0 and has outscored opponents 188-0.
Against Chapin, Jon Cummins and Chris Baltimore both scored two tries, while Thomas Glasson, Chris Tuchbarber, and Joe Schmidt each scored one. But it's been a real team effort, especially on defense (naturally).
Pelham Makes it 2-0 in Florida
Pelham HS out of New York finished up their trip to Florida with a 38-10 defeat of the Cape Pirates.
Pelham, having already put RBMA to the sword, mixed up the team's lineup somewhat, and ran out to a 33-3 halftime lead, before the subs were run on.
The Pelham forwards led the charge, with the back row of Matt Biskup, North Westall, and Kevin Ndou an effective unit. The Pelham kicking game was also clicking nicely, with Luke Persanis popping some well-placed box kicks to relieve pressure. Centers Sam Louman and Jutin Johnson kept Pelham going forward with some strong running.
Westlake Leads in Texas, But Who Chases?
The Rugby Texas North/Central Conference may well come down to this week as Lake Travis and Rocky Rugby meet up Thursday to basically decide who will finish 2nd.
Westlake has already beaten both of these teams, albeit by razor-thin scores of 12-7 and 15-12.
Westlake Head Coach Jason Spodick said both Lake Travis and Rock are excellent. Rock’s backline is impressive, while the Lake Travis forwards are scary. As Rocky center Jose Lugo goes, so Rock goes. He is a beat of an outside center and breaks through move defensive lines.
Lake Travis has enjoyed a good combination of physical and smart rugby, with their own midfield of Aidan Estrada and Patrick Medina playing pretty well.
It will be an intriguing game in part because the teams are relatively different.
Whatever the outcome, Westlake seems settled in 1st place.
Capital Logs Key Win in Idaho
A week after Rocky Mountain defeated defending Idaho state champions Mountain View, Rocky Mountain found themselves upended by perennial state contenders Capital HS.
For Coach Matt Jacobsen, it was a gratifying start to a season he hopes to finish off with a championship.
“We were a little nervous going into this game because we saw how well Rocky Mountain played against Mountain View,” said Jacobsen. “But we’ve got a good side. We’ve got a solid group of forwards and they tackle well and took the ball up and created enough space for us to spread eventually.”
Eventually is right as it was only 7-0 at halftime. But in the second half, Capital scored four tries to win 29-5.
2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #7
An avid reader joked with us this week saying the clash of top-ranked teams in Ohio - St. Ignatius, Xavier, and Penn - didn't help us at all in a tough task, as the three teams all went 1-1; we kind of have to agree.
It's very possible that any of those teams could push for consideration for the top spot, and in a rugby sense the weekend of games was hugely beneficial for the players involved. But from a rankings perspective, this series was a headache. In the end, we made some decisions based on rest (St. Ignatius had a day of rest between games, and neither Penn nor Xavier did), and points difference (Xavier +8, Penn -2, Ignatius -6) promoted us to move Penn down, move St. Ignatius and Xavier up, and re-arrange them in order Xavier-Penn-St. Ignatius.
NC Glory Down to 3?
As the North Carolina HS Boys Club season hits the home stretch, everything is on the line for the Chapel Hill Highlanders, Union County Lions, and CJRA Charlotte Tigers.
Each of these three teams applied for a spot in this year's National Invitational Tournament, and the invitation is based on which team finishes the highest in the league. Traditionally, these three programs along with the Raleigh Rattlesnakes have been the strongest in North Carolina (Raleigh did not apply to the NIT this year.)
Barbarians Lie in Wait in Deep South
With a 50-14 defeat of Niceville, the NOLA Barbarians now sit at 5-1 and in 2nd place in the Deep South.
(We have updated our article on Jesuit of New Orleans, which is 4-1 and has a good shot at 2nd, but the Barbarians are 2nd at present.)
But there's a lot of rugby still to be played in the Deep South. The league-leading Bayous Hurricanes have gone 7-0 and have two games left; they are probably going to finish in 1st going into the playoffs. But some teams have barely made it past halfway. Jesuit of New Orleans is 4-1, but has four games left, including three in the space of nine days (it would have been four, but one, against Shaw, is down as a forfeit).
St. Thomas Downs Delbarton
St. Thomas traveled to Morristown, NJ last Thursday as part of the Texas-based team's Spring Break tour, and faced off with defending state champion Delbarton Prep.
It was expected to be a tough game, but Delbarton has graduated some players and struggled to keep up with a more game-tested St. Thomas team.
The match was scoreless the first 20 minutes when the Eagles broke rough for a 5-0 lead. Senior center wing Michael Blanchard and junior Griffin Maat - newly converted from flanker to center - scored tries to open up a 22-0 halftime advantage. Senior captain and No. 8 Joshua Pane led with effective running and on-field leadership as St. Thomas scored twice more to win 36-0.
