Danville Leads Tight NorCal Premier
The Northern California Varsity Premier will have its playoffs, but you get the feeling how everything shakes out will be decided in the next couple of weeks.
For the Solo Falcons, two huge tests remain in Granite Bay and Jesuit. The Grizzlies and the Marauders also, of course, have the Falcons to face. But Danville is in a different situation, having already faced all three, beating Jesuit and Granite Bay by razor-thin margins, and losing to the Falcons by six.
“We feel like we’re in limbo,” said Danville program director Jon Straka. “I think we could be great, but we have not always played very well. If we could be consistent and play well for a full 70 minutes, we could be scary.”
Saturday’s 35-33 win over Jesuit could be the game that brings the Oaks together, said Staka.
Festival of Rugby in Oahu
It’s a busy week for HS teams in Hawaii as the Hawaii Ruggerfest is going on.
For some teams it’s been a while since they were on the field - Kahuku, after their trip to the mainland, had a forfeit two weeks ago and no game this past weekend. But all of that will change this week.
Kahuku is set to plat Elgin Park (BC), Mountain View Eagles, and Kalihi Raiders. There will be U16 games between those teams, as well, and Kahuku and Kalihi will field U13 boys teams.
Maui and Waikiki will also field U13 teams.
St. Francis, which has pulled off some impressive results, including a recent close win over Kalihi, will play Kalihi again.
For Kalihi, this kind of week is important as they look to find competition. Coach Malakai Maumalanga said “the boys are hungry to learn and training hard. They are young, but they’re getting there.”
2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #6
This week's Boys HS Club rugby rankings are full of changes. teams that haven't been playing have done enough to bump themselves up, and some others have done enough to bump themselves down.
We have expanded the list to 50 now, and we know there's a long list of teams who haven't played at all that could break in.
Here's the rundown.
We said all along that Royal Irish's spot as #1 was not especially secure. Well, they're #2 now. Danville moves into the #1 slot. Now, you may be a fan of Solo Falcons, and you'd then say "but Goff Rugby Report, the Falcons beat Danville earlier this season, so what's the deal?" Well the deal is this - sometimes a team gets better over the weeks. Sometimes we have tiny (and they are tiny) doubts about another team because of other results.
Gonzaga Starts Well in Spain
Gonzaga HS is 5-1 so far in their tour of Spain organized by Varsity Sporting Events & Team Travel.
The team opened up against Barcelona’s top high school club, Sant Boi, the oldest rugby club in the country. Sant Boi had played their toughest league game on Saturday, so Sunday’s run-out was a difficult test for them, and Gonzaga’s A-side ran out comfortable 61-5 winners. The B-side won also, and the Gonzaga U16s lost in a close one 36-29.
On Wednesday, the DC-area defending NIT champions took on defending Spanish national u18 champions CAU Valencia. The Gonzaga B-side won fairly comfortably, however it wasn’t that easy with the C-side (U16s), who finally beat the Valencia U16s 48-41 in a barnburner that featured eight lead changes.
So on to Wednesday’s A-side game under the lights.
2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #6
Not surprisingly, there's a little bit of a shakeup in the Boys Single-School rankings this week, as more and more teams take the field.
Jesuit slips a spot after losing a very close game to Danville. Further down there's greater movement, as Riviera Beach Maritime Academy continues to produce good results. Georgetown, East HS of Colorado (4-0 in league play already), and St. Ignatius (winners of Moeller, a team we should have ranked last week) all get a bump.
Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week
Some big games and big plays by high school rugby players around the country. Here's a look at this week's Gamebreakers.
Zach Irwin
Rocky Mountain logged a nice win over Mountain View in their opening league game in Idaho, and Zach Irwin was their defensive leader. The sophomore fullback made a string of key tackles and was the player of the game among the Rocky Mountain backs.
JT Perez
It's never easy to change position, but especially when you shift from something like lock forward to flyhalf. Perez did just that for Pelham and was instrumental in his team's 29-21 win over Fairfield with his organization of the backline and his kicking out of hand.
San Diego Mustangs Handle Canadian Visitors
After a two-game trip to Seattle, the San Diego Mustangs raced back to Southern California where they hosted Prince of Wales Secondary School in Vancouver.
The wet weather San Diego met in Seattle was similar to the conditions Prince of Wales had been dealing with at their home. The school had been forced to move a recent game because, said Head Coach Kelly Egilsson, "our pitch was ankle-deep in water. The weather has been miserable in Vancouver."
The Walesmen, who play in the British Columbia Premier League, are in Southern California for an upcoming tournament in Fullerton, Calif. The Mustangs were able to secure a field at Poway HS, and the game was on.
DC Beats Texas Tourists
DC's Georgetown Prep hosted St. Thomas High School out of Houston, Texas Tuesday on the first stop of a short eastern tour for the Texans.
Prep proved to be great hosts off the field, but made it difficult on the field, as the little Hoyas won 58-5. Prep opened the scoring minutes into the game with a try from prop Jeff Ferrigno, who added a second try at the 14-minute mark. Ferrigno landed a hat trick for the day when he scored the last try of the first half at 34 minutes. Prep wing Rob Ward added back-to-back tries late in the second half, and a mix of forwards and backs punched in four additional tries in between. Brothers Garrett and James Lyons handled the kicking duties, slotting five of nine conversions and a penalty.
Tight Games in Rugby Washington Openers
Liberty opened the Rugby Washington HS season with a 15-10 defeat of Budd Bay at Budd Bay.
For Liberty, it was a gratifying win, albeit one that came about eight months too late.
Liberty was 10-2 in Rugby Washington league and playoff competition, but those two losses - one in the regular season and one in the state final - came against Budd Bay.
“They are a big, forward-oriented team, and we seem to get dragged into playing their game,” said Liberty Coach Jeff Candler. “They are very good and somehow we can’t play the kind of game we want.”
SoCal HS Club Latest
In a tough, hard-hitting game, Santa Monica beat Los Angeles 25-12.
LA came into the game unbeaten, having defeated Empire 31-15 the week before, while Santa Monica had won the Santa Clarita tournament two weeks earlier.
Tries from Santa Monica’s HS All Americans Quinn Perry, Matt Sanders, and Benny Gonda, with John Conor Shalloe kicking 13 points with two conversions and three penalties, did the damage for the Dolphins. Santa Monica is now 3-0 in SoCal North Gold HS club play.
Belmont Shore defeated Empire to move to 2-0 - they also have beaten Back Bay.
Big Night for Lamar
Lamar came back from a 19-3 halftime deficits to beat Memorial 37-19 in Texas league play.
As has been their problem for much of the season, Lamar struggled to convert pressure into points early in the game. But in the second half, captain Fischer Wheat - normally a flanker but moved to flyhalf - fired up the team with an impassioned speech, and suddenly the tries started to come.
Wing Derek Paul scored on a long restart return, and chased a kick from Wheat, before running in his third of the half. Fullback Wylie Lastra took over the goalkicking and added a try.
Debutant center Jason Kramer and power No. 8 Sean Guzman both scored.
Rocky Mountain Wins Idaho Opener
Rocky Mountain defeated Mountain View 41-22 in the opening weekend of the Rugby Idaho season.
This game was special not just because it was the opener, but because it was played at a dedicated rugby pitch with permanent posts.
The Mountain View Mavericks came out with both guns blazing and quickly dotted down two tries to lead 10-0 in the first 12 minutes. Sticking to their pedigree, Mavericks forward pack was big, powerful and, as expected, well coached by Hamish Bell and staff. They led the way for much of the first half and dominated the scrums.
Texas Latest - St. Thomas Over Kingwood
St Thomas of Houston hosted Kingwood Friday evening in Rugby Texas play, and came away with an impressive 41-19 victory.
St. Thomas got off to a quick 5-0 lead on a bruising run by junior lock Michael Gentempo. Several minutes later senior hooker George Michael followed with a short run for a 12-0 lead. But Kingwood responded nicely, scoring three tries in the latter part of the first half to lead 19-12.
St. Thomas replied in the second half with a try from junior lock Sam Yeboah from close in. Gentempo followed with his second try, regaining the lead for St. Thomas.
Senior prop Robert Gonzales followed with a short run to make it 31-19, and then senior center Michael Blanchard broke around the edge and tiptoed down the sideline for a nifty 60-meter run to put the game away at 38-19.
Challengers Line Up in Florida
Things are getting more and more interesting in the Florida Boys HS competition, as two teams that started a little slowly are now firing nicely.
The Tampa Krewe lead the league still, after an impressive 24-6 defeat of the Okapi Wanderers. Tampa has been enjoying a fine season from center Obie Cruz, an athletic and intelligent center who has blossomed this year. Cruz is one of six players who played for the Florida Juice all-star team last month against an Argentinian touring side - center Nick Deannuntis, flanker Zack Deitz, fullback Jordan Haggard, No. 8 Cameron Miller, and lock Jared Miller are the other five.
Pelham over Fairfield in Northeast Opener
The Pelham HS team out of New York opened up their season Sunday with a 29-21 defeat of the Fairfield club team.
In a typical early-season clash - somewhat unrefined, but physical nonetheless - Pelham won thanks in part to tries from Luke Persanis, Kevin Ndou, Justin Johnson, Sam Louman, and North Westall. Scrumhalf and captain Persanis played well while JT Perez made the rare shift from lock to fyhalf with success. It was the positional kicking from Perez that helped pin Fairfield deep in their own end, especially in the second half.
Prop Alex Pasa set the tone up front, while Johnson, the team's outside center, was also effective. Both teams seemed rusty in the first half. The Fairfield Pegasi will face New Rochelle next week, while Pelham packs up for a trip to Florida where they will face Orlando and the Cape Pirates.
