HS Boys

Fans Vote Bronson Teles Player of Month

When Goff Rugby Report profiles Bronson Teles back in September, the reason was that he was not only a talented player, but a leader, and a smart young man - and it seemed you agree.

In our first Fans Poll of the Player of the Month, fans voted the Katy Barbarians flanker/lock for the honor. So Bronson Teles is our Fan’s Player of the Month for February. 

 HS All American Head Coach Salty Thompson is a big fan, too, and said Teles has a bright future. One of the few high school players to be on the USA U20 squad that faced Canada in February, Teles has announced that he will be playing his rugby at Arizona this coming fall.

Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week

It was an intriguing week in Boys HS rugby, and plenty of players emerged as Gamebreakers over the weekend.

Here's the list:

Christian Dyer

The Jesuit outside center was brilliant on the day in a big win over Lamorinda.

Tyreese Bell

The West Valley Misfits back out of Arizona scored four tries against Phoenix in a 34-29 win.

David Hannon

The Royal Irish flyhalf scored all of his team's points in a 15-13 loss to Gonzaga.

Mark Lewis

The Gonzaga fullback handled the Royal Irish kicking game and ensured they didn't leak a try in a 15-13 victory.

Ryan Rees

Scrumhalf Ryan Rees was hugely influential for the Chaps, scoring two tries, and kicking a conversion in a 12-7 win over rivals Lake Travis.

Aquinas Savors Showdown Win, Looks to Lindenwood Tourney

The second of two intense preseason tournaments in the middle of the country will kick off this weekend with the Lindenwood Invitational, one week after the Oklahoma Showdown.

The Showdown welcomed teams from Oklahoma and surrounding states, and the Lindenwood tournament has perhaps a wider reach, but two of the top teams from the Kansas City area will be in both - St. Thomas Aquinas and the Kansas City Jr. Blues.

Those two met up in the final of Oklahoma Showdown, with Aquinas logging a 24-5 victory. Aquinas, in fact, comes into Lindenwood on a roll, having also dismissed top Oklahoma teams Jenks (19-0), Union (39-5), and Bixby (30-0) in convincing fashion.

2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #4

It's a weird thing when the #1-ranked team loses and stays #1. In this case, with this week's HS Club Rankings, Royal Irish lost by 2 points to the #1 Single-School team, so, really, there's nothing in it and they stay at the top.

In fact, you might look at the top group of clubs and see some losses to single-school teams and concluded that the single-school teams are stronger. That is sort of true and sort of not-true. The single-school teams at the top of the heap tend to start better, because they are able to gather their resources a little better. But ... as you go down the list, you'll find that the difference between, say, the #10 HS Club and the #30 HS Club is much smaller than the difference between the #10 Single-School team and the #30 Single-School.

2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #4

With two weeks of results gone we have a lot of data to work through.

And because of that, we've got some changes in the Boys Single-School rankings. Kahuku's strong showing in the Snow Canyon Invitational bumps them up, as does St. Edward going 3-0 in North Carolina. Lake Travis may have lost to Westlake, but it was super-close, and so LT moves up. St. Thomas Aquinas (the one in Kansas, not the one in Florida), won the Oklahoma Showdown, and moves up heavily because of that.

New in the top 40 is Jesuit of Dallas, after beating St. Thomas, and Providence out of North Carolina. But there is a ton of rugby still to be played, with a big-time tournament in Lindenwood this weekend part of it.

Jesuit, Kahuku, Impress, then Meet

This past weekend Jesuit HS of Sacramento defeated Lamorinda 62-0 in league play, while Kahuku HS of Hawaii played in the Snow Canyon Invitational, going 2-1 against United, Red Mountain, and Snow Canyon.

On Monday, the defending Hawaiian champion Raiders met the Marauders in Sacramento to cap their mainland trip.

First the earlier games:

Kahuku defeated United 19-12, and Snow Canyon 31-15. These two teams were just digging themselves out of the snow, but are still the defending champions of Utah, in club (United) and single-school (Snow Canyon), respectively. Kahuku ran out a slightly different lineup against Red Mountain, the defending Arizona state champion, and lost 17-10.

Kahuku Coach Seamus Fitzgerald said the event was "one amazing tournament. We'll make this an annual pilgrimage - great hosts, great facilities, great officiating."

St. Edward 5-0 on NC Trip

St. Edward out of Ohio has to feel pretty good after a 5-0 trip to North Carolina over the weekend.

Hosted nicely by the teams in Charlotte, St. Ed’s defeated Charlotte Catholic 66-15, and their 2nd side beat Catholic’s 2nds 33-0. On Sunday, St. Edward shut out the Charlotte Tigers 12-0, with their Bs taking the Tiger 2nds 21-12.

And finally, also on Sunday, St. Edward defeated Union County 34-5.

“They all played hard and played as a team,” said an very pleased St. Edward Coach Tom Cleary. “We saw some great offloads and passing, and a lot of phases strung together by the forwards. the backs committed defenders and opened up space.”

Cleary said he was also pleased that his squad encountered no serious injuries.

“Charlotte played hard from the beginning to the end and were gracious hosts.”

Misfits Jump to top in Arizona

The West Valley Misfits are indeed aptly named, as they have surprised many by moving into 1st place in Arizona’s HS league.

Now, admittedly, it should be a shot time there, as Red Mountain, the favorite to win the state title, is undefeated and just didn’t play a league game this weekend. But, still, at 5-1 after a 34-29 defeat of Phoenix, West Valley is enjoying a nice season.

“We have gotten a pretty good start,” said Coach Stacy Huntington. “We know we’ve got Red Mountain ahead of us, and they’re always really good, but we’ve got a good veteran team, and we know also we can do better.”

Deep South Latest - Playoff Implications

It’s all still on for the Deep South playoff chase, and there’s a new competitor in town after West Jefferson won two over the weekend.

West Jeff edged Niceville and then turned right around and put over 50 on Mississippi to move from 0-3 to 2-3 in the space of two days.

There’s still work to do, but things are looking up for West Jeff. Also looking up is Jesuit of New Orleans, despite a loss to Bayou. Jesuit is now 2-1 and the 31-19 score against the Hurricanes was highly competitive. The Hurricanes look in excellent position to finish the regular season undefeated. But close results over Jesuit and St. Paul’s make those two teams competitors for the regional championship. 

Jesuit of Dallas Downs St. Thomas

Dallas Jesuit made the long trip down I-45 to Houston to play a friendly in the Bishops Cup against St. Thomas, and in a very physical clash, it was the Dallas team that came out on top, 21-17.

St. Thomas was missing four starters, but battled hard nonetheless, while Jesuit was resilient, patient, and disciplined in their approach.

Junior openside flanker Griffin Maat opened the scoring early on, running in from seven meters out. St. Thomas captain and No. 8 Josh Pane then stipped the ball from a Jesuit runner, and set off 50 meters for another St. Thomas try. Flyhalf Riley Bishop added the extras for a 12-0 lead. 

But Dallas worked thier way back, getting two penalty goals from scrumhalf Dane Bender to make it 12-6 at halftime.

Danville Edges Granite Bay - NorCal Prem. Latest

The Danville Oaks and Granite Bay Grizzlies faced off Saturday in a meeting of the top two HS club teams in Northern California last season.

Granite Bay was coming off a tight loss to Jesuit, while Danville had already lost to the Solo Falcons, so both teams had something to prove.

It was a close game all the way, played at a furious tempo.

Danville scores two early tries, with Carlos Gomez racing down the sidelines for one and Keanu Andrade, back to full strength after injury, scoring also.

Deep South - Hurricanes Catch Another Win

The Bayou Hurricanes 5-0 in the Deep South HS league with a 31-19 defeat of visiting Jesuit of New Orleans.

In doing so, the Hurricanes defeated yet another unbeaten opponent, and are quickly filing down the list of teams that might challenge them.

The game was played at the Raceland Recreational Center in Raceland, La., and the home team drew first blood with a try from outside center Zavier Triplett, converted by wing Tyler Menafee. The visitors quickly struck back with a try of their own to make it 7-5. Triplett scored again for Bayou, starting a scoring spree that included a try from fullback Brandon Sanders and two conversions plus a penalty goal from Menafee for a 24-5 lead. 

The Hurricanes continued the storm in the second half with No. 8 Andres Auruz going over, with Menafee once again making the kick.

Boys HS Games This Weekend

Here are the games this weekend in Boys HS rugby. 

Check back for scores. Among the games of note, Danville plays Granite Bay in a rematch of the 2015 NorCal HS Club final (won by Danville 34-31). Gonzaga plays Royal Irish in a wild preseason game for both, and St. Edward takes a trip to North Carolina.

Who knows what's going to happen in SoCal's HS Club season, but Back Bay v Belmont Shore seems like a good game. 

Gonzaga Wins Clash of Champions

In a meeting of the two defending Boys NIT champions, 2015 single-school winner Gonzaga HS defeated 2015 HS club winner Royal Irish 15-13 at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia Saturday.

Both teams are working on bringing their young backlines up to speed, and with this being the first run-out for the Royal Irish and the first non-scrimmage game for Gonzaga, it was no surprise that there were plenty of errors.

Royal Irish got a superb game from flyhalf David Hannon, younger brother of last year’s starting #10, Brian. Hannon slotted two early penalty goals to put his side up 6-0. Meanwhile, Gonzaga flyhalf Patrick Sheehy took a while to get his eye in with his kicking, missing two before he slotted a kick to halve the lead going into halftime.