Krewe Wins Meeting of Undefeateds in Florida
The Tampa Krewe sit all alone atop the Florida Youth Rugby Boys DI HS league after edging the previously-unbeaten Jupiter Sharks 17-14 on Saturday.
The game was an exciting one, with two evenly-matched teams, and it all came down to a late penalty attempt for the Krewe.
Both the Sharks and Krewe entered the game at 4-0, and played like it. Krewe Head Coach Chris DeAnnuntis was quick to point out that Jupiter's regular goalkicker was out injured, but that didn't stop the Sharks from converting both of their tries.
The Krewe scored first for a 7-0 lead, and right from the restart the Sharks replied, with captain Kyle Edington going over, and Shane Merrell converting.
Clash of Champions - Gonzaga Meets Royal Irish
It’s another meeting of champions Saturday as, for the second year in a row, defending single-school NIT winner Gonzaga faces defending HS club NIT winner Royal Irish in an early game.
It may be a shade too early for both - we’ll see - as Gonzaga has just had a couple of scrimmages, and Royal Irish has not played at all.
Gonzaga did play a scrimmage this past weekend against West End, and won the first two periods 38-21. They were burned twice by speedy D’Montae Noble. But it’s still early days, and several Gonzaga starters are still finishing up the season in other sports.
Westlake Holds Off Lake Travis in Texas
The upper echelon of Rugby Texas just got a whole lot more intriguing after Thursday night’s meeting between Westlake and Lake Travis.
This game was a rematch of the 2015 Rugby Texas final, and produced as much drama as you’d expect. Lake Travis had a try called back for a forward pass, knocked on another likely try at the goal line, and were held up at full time, as Westlake held on 12-7.
“It was a nailbiter!” said Westlake Head Coach Jason Spodick.
Lake Travis controlled much of the game in the first half and scored to lead 7-0.
Highlanders on a High in North Carolina
The Chapel Hill Highlands shut out the Charlotte Tigers last week and lead the NCYRA club league with a 2-0 record.
For the players and Coach Robert Joseph, it’s about time.
After being a regular at the state championship game, and at HS nationals, the Highlanders had a lot of work to do to rebuild. They have been good, but are now feeling like they are closer to where they were about ten years ago.
St. Edward to North Carolina to Open Season
Top Ohio Boys HS program St. Edward is taking a trip to North Carolina to play three teams there.
Charlotte Catholic, Union County, and the Charlotte Tigers will play host to St. Ed’s. Of those, Catholic has started the strongest, going 3-0 in single-school league play. That Catholic team is actually not their full varsity side. CC has scheduled a bunch of top opponents, including St. Edward, Wando, South Doyle, and South Greenville to augment their list of opponents, and that’s where the Charlotte Catholic 1sts will be playing.
Snow Canyon Hosts Tourney of Big-Name HS Teams
Friday and Saturday Snow Canyon HS hosts five other highly-regarded HS teams in a tournament in St. George, Utah.
The defending Utah single-school champion, Snow Canyon already defeated defending Arizona champion Red Mountain 50-19 in late January and will look to get a repeat performance
Also in town for the tournament will be defending Hawaii champion Kahuku, which just recently survived a very difficult game with St. Francis, but looks to be the favorite to win in Hawaii again. Kahuku is led by non-stop tackler Ted Kanese, with halfback combo Kawika Macy and Ocean Tuia playing well together.
Utah-based teams United (defending HS club champion) and Olympus join ORCAs from California to round out the group.
Rugby Washington Kicks Off With Tournament
Jeanne Hansen Community Park in Snoqualmie Ridge, Wash. will be the venue for a two-day preseason festival for Rugby Washington HS teams dubbed the Cascade Clash.
Boys teams from DI, DII, JV, and 7th/8th grade will compete in a two-game festival to get the season started.
This season the DI has expanded to seven teams as Rainier Plateau has moved up. Once again it’s expected to be a hugely competitive league - last season Budd Bay finished the result season 5-5 but ended up winning the playoffs.
Budd Bay us in a pool with Eastside and Seattle.
Liberty,which lost only two games last season, will join Chuckanut and Rainier in the other DI pool. Kent is in DI but won't play in the Cascade Clash.
Perfect Defense Leads South Carolina
Wando's place as #1 in South Carolina isn't so much of a surprise to observers, but few would have expected the Mount Pleasant school team to have shut out all four of their league opponents.
In any competition, that takes some doing. Wando Head Coach Tod Shepherd joked that it was luck, but he also knows it's partly by design.
"We've been very fortunate this year - we've had two goalline stands where the opposition seemed destined to score, but our forwards made their tackles," said Shepherd. "But my philosophy is that it's difficult to score a try from 80 meters, so we play a simple territory game."
Panthers Atop North Carolina
With a 39-24 defeat of Berry Academy, the Providence Panthers moved to 3-0 in North Carolina’s still-young single-school competition.
With Charlotte Catholic running what amounts to their 2nd team in the competition (and also starting 3-0 regardless), the competition will tighten up in the Tar Heel State, and the Panthers have started the strongest, outscoring opponents 112-24 in their opening three games.
They’ve done this despite low numbers - coach Alec Acosta said they have dressed only 17 players per game.
they have nine first-year players, but, said Acosta, they are athletic and eager to learn, and are helped by the more experienced players.
Acosta, however, warns against any Panther bandwagon.
Boys HS Standings Updated
Below are the Boys DI standings for leagues currently in action.
We may have missed a score or two. We know that's true in NorCal DII and South Carolina DII. But we are posting nonetheless to give you an idea of where teams are. Contact us here if you think we missed something.
EIRA Player of the Week - John Hickman
One of the interesting things about HS rugby in Southern California is how it is split into three seasons - you’ve got your single-school season that runs December through February, your club season after that, and then, like everyone else has, the select-side season.
For coaches of club and single-school teams alike, the frustration is that many players opt to play only the school season, and don’t graduate up to club. Since the school season is short - six games plus playoffs - players don’t get a lot of game time.
But every now and then, you see something happen within this system that makes you think it’s working.
Arizona HS League Tightens Up
Rugby Arizona is in full swing and the competition has become very competitive.
Tempe and East Valley merged, competing as Tempe, and that has strengthened the schedule as 14 teams compete; every single team has won at least one game, and after Blackbirds lost to Tempe this past weekend, only Red Mountain is undefeated.
Desert Vista claimed a tough 32-31 win over Old Pueblo in Arizona and inched closer to the top four. Desert Vista is improving every week, said Coach Roger Tushingham, and with several players returning from injury, the team’s forwards are starting to come together.
Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week
In an exciting and, in Southern California at least, championship weekend, here are some of the players made a special contribution to their teams.
Justin Oles
Granite Bay may have lost their clash with Jesuit, but in a hugely physical game that ended 19-17, Grizzly forward Justin was huge. He was physically dominant in contact and earned his third team player of the game award in as many games.
Jonah Tavai
The Mira Costa No. 8 and sometime center is the heart and soul of the team that won the SoCal Varsity White division. Tavai scored two tries in the final.
Justin Lego
Kicking goals for Danville in a massive win, Lego used his leg to put over 13 of 14 conversion kicks, many from a difficult angle.
Okapi Not Wandering Anymore
The Okapi Wanderers defeated West Pines 16-6 to move to 2-1 in Florida’s Boys DI HS league in the only league game held this past weekend.
It was yet another solid result for the Wanderers in their first full season in varsity-level HS rugby. Okapi played a JV schedule last year as the program has concentrated on growing from the younger ages on up.
Westlake, St Thomas Post Wins in Texas
Westlake is now 2-0 in Rugby Texas after beating Strake Jesuit 37-15 Saturday.
Other winners in Texas include Katy, which defeated St. Pius X 38-13, Lake Travis, which beat Plano 83-3, and St. Thomas, which defeated Strake Jesuit 37-5. Kingwood shut out Lamar 22-0, while Rock Rugby looked impressive in a 78-15 defeat of Four Points.
It was a windy day for Westlake and the Chaps began the game playing right into the breeze. With a deep kick to start, Jesuit's plan was to pin Westlake deep in their territory. This worked nicely and set Jesuit up for a penalty kick and a 3-0 lead. Westlake responded quickly and Jay Reilly Kight scored under the posts. Ryan Rees converted to make it 7-3 Westlake.
Westlake continued to put pressure on, but a loose pass fell to Jesuit hands, and a try for Jesuit-Dallas and a lead of 8-7.
