Jupiter v Orlando Highlights Florida Weekend
The Florida Youth Rugby Boys HS season gets back on track with a full slate of games this weekend.
Four of the teams in the Boys DI league are 2-0, but not all will emerge from the weekend perfect.
While Riviera Beach Maritime Academy (2-0) plays winless Naples, and 2-0 Tampa plays 0-2 Daytona, the other two 2-0 teams face off.
Orlando was expected to start strong, and they did, allowing just one try in two games. But the Jupiter Sharks have been a bit more of a surprise.
Coach Chris Oosthuizen is happy with two tough wins over Cape Pirates and Daytona.
“We’re getting the job done,” said Oosthuizen, who also coaches the Florida select side. “We’ve got a bunch of really motivated athletes.”
2016 Boys HS Club Rankings #2
It's Week 2 of the Boys HS Club rankings and we've got a few little movements, plus we add five more teams.
Pleasanton almost upended Granite Bay - yes a non-conference game, but they move into the Top 30 and we've got our eye on them. Jupiter, Kalihi, Rock, and Woodlands also move in.
2016 Boys Single-School Rankings #2
Here is Goff Rugby Report's second installment of the Boys Single-School rankings for 2016.
There are several movements, including adding five more teams to the list. That will continue to happen as the season progresses. Other developments of note: Snow Canyon defeated Red Mountain, and moves up significantly as a result. Mira Costa moves up also, while Kahuku drops on the basis of a 10-5 win over Kalihi that we would have expected to be more convincing.
St. Thomas is the highest joiner, after starting really well over Brother Martin. La Costa Canyon also moves up after winning their key game against Cathedral (a result the rankings had right, by the way).
Texas Kicks Off
Rugby Texas's Boys HS league started this weekend, although several teams will wait until next week.
Cy-Fair started off their official league campaign with a 45-7 defeat of Memorial.
Head Coach Kenneth Hepburn has a high percentage of players returning from last year, and in fact a core of players who have been with the program since its inception.
“They have matured and developed,” said Hepburn. “They are learning the game and guys are looking to play in college, so we’re playing better as a result.”
Players have learned a lot from Hepburn, but also from camps put on by Eagle Impact Rugby Academy and ATAVUS. Cy-Fair has a passel of strong runners and they challenged the Memorial defense, even as they had to play without captain and HS All American camp attendee Keoni Francis, who is injured but expected back later this season.
Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week
From Texas to California to Georgia to South Carolina, here are some of the Boys HS players who made an impact this past weekend:
Campbell Robinson
Robinson joined the Phoenix club in Georgia after it merged with Roswell, and he has been a dramatic addition, making open-field tackles all over the place, and logging 15 turnovers taken in two games this weekend. The flanker was named player of the game against the Titans - his third such award in this young season - and is also a terror with the ball in hand.
Josh Pane
The captain for St. Thomas of Houston, Texas scored four tries in a blowout win over Brother Martin in Louisiana.
Space in HS 7s Tourney in Bermuda
The Ariel Re Bermuda 7s Boys HS bracket is still open to teams.
Two teams representing Bermuda, plus Greenwich HS out of Connecticut and West Chester our of Pensylvania, are playing in a 7s tornament in Bermuda March 18-19. But there is room for a couple more.
The tournament is sponsors by Bermuda Rugby, Bermuda Tourism, and insurance company Ariel Re. And the sponsorship includes significant support for travel. An entry fee of $100 covers meals and lodging for players, coaches, and trainers, transportation to and from the airport, to and from the stadium, and tournament fees.
Teams have to arrange their own flights, but after that pretty much everything is covered! We did a little research and found flights out of New York City for as little as $300.
DII NorCal Boys Latest
Northern California’s extensive Boys DII league is offend running.
Winners this past weekend include Bellarmine Prep 40-14 over PITS, Napa 24-7 over Santa Rosa, Buchanan 21-19 over Clovis, and Bishop O’Dowd 59-5 over South Valley.
But many would do well to watch out for Elsie Allen, which didn’t play a league game and instead logged a non-conference game against DI North Bay.
Elsie Allen came out 29-14 winners, with tighthead prop Joshua Kuavesi scoring four tries. Flyhalf Dylan McCallum added a try and No. 8 Davis Armenta kicked two conversions.
That result sets up a nice early-season clash this coming weekend with Elsie Allen facing Bishop O’Dowd.
Pleasanton Pushes Granite Bay
In a preseason clash between two teams from different divisions, Granite Bay held off the Pleasanton Cavaliers 17-14 this past weekend.
Granite Bay is GRR #4 HS club and finished 2nd in Northern California's club division in 2015 (the region has since realigned). So losing by three for Pleasanton was not a bad result at all.
Granite Bay ran out to a 12-0 lead in the first half, but Pleasanton scored twice either side of halftime to take a 14-12 lead. Granite Bay won it with a Sam Cusano try late. Anthony Wiley also got in on the scoring for Granite Bay, which punished a couple of Pleasanton turnovers. On defense Jake Van Order was a powerhouse for GB.
South Carolina Opens Season
Wando made an impressive start to the South Carolina Boys HS season with a 59-0 dismissal of Aiken this past weekend.
The brother combination of Jon and Josh Cummins combined for six tries. Cummins the younger, that would be Josh, made his first A-team start and was named player of the game. Flyhalf Kane Waterbury contributed two tries of his own and fullback Chris Baltimore scored one.
South Greenville notched two wins, one for the A-side 20-0 over highly-regarded Chapin, and one for the B team, 41-7 over Wando Bs. (B teams play in the A-team league.) Bishop England also started nicely, shutting out James Island 41-0, with Branden Baltimore getting player of the game honors (that's right, two guys named Baltimore on two different teams).
Rugby Georgia Opens Season
Rugby Georgia opened its regular season this past Friday with a restructured format including both JV and Varsity boys teams; three middle school teams were also in action.
JV Division
In its league debut, AYR lost to an experienced East Cobb Barbarians club. The Barbarians opened the match with two quick scores, however AYR slowed them down, scoring three consecutive tries to build a 21-10 lead going into the half. East Cobb regrouped and physically dominated the second half en route to a 46-25 victory. ARY Coach Stewart Haddock was pleased with the effort and knows the team will improve, but must “get into the gym” to be physically competitive. Taylor Croyts of the Barbarians was named player of the game.
EIRA Player of the Week - Patrick Madden
Sometimes the article just writes itself.
Patrick Madden, flyhalf for the University City Honey Badgers, scored all 20 of this team’s points in the game to decide who wins the Southern California Varsity White San Diego conference. UC beat Rancho Bernardo 20-12, with Madden scoring two tries, converting both, and adding two penalty goals.
But Head Coach Jason Lee said that while the points are nice, there’s more to Madden than that.
“His best quality is his sincere love of the game and his effort level,” said Lee. “ He worked the hardest when it comes to training and he also works the hardest off the pitch when it comes to promoting the team. He is a natural leader, it’s his leadership that has guided our team to the success we’ve had so far.”
KOT a Big Success
The Sacramento Valley Rugby Foundation's 32nd Annual Kick Off Tournament (KOT) was yet another successful start to the high school rugby season.
In addition to the improved fields at Cordova High, lots of prior planning, including the recruitment of volunteers, teams and referees, helped put on 86 matches on Saturday, and 60 matches Sunday. All matches began and ended on time, a miracle in modern rugby tournaments.
Point Loma Wins SoCal Blue
Even without a playoff, the Southern California Varsity Blue division came down to the final game, with 4-0 Point Loma HS taking on 4-1 Valhalla.
And in a classic close game, Point Loma emerged victorious 36-27 to cap off an undefeated conference season. There is no playoff series in the Blue Division, so it's all down to who wins the league standings, and that's Point Loma.
Point Loma, which fields players from Point Loma HS and High Tech High, has in the past been mostly HTH and less Point Loma. But this year, thanks in part to the recruiting of Coach Sean Collins’s son Satchel, this is mostly a Point Loma squad.
SoCal Varsity White Playoff Teams Set
The playoff teams in Southern California’s Varsity White division are confirmed after this past weekend’s results.
View Park Prep shut out Dana Hills 44-0 to secure the third playoff spot in the Los Angeles Conference. Mira Costa had already wrapped up #1, and St. John Bosco received a forfeit win over Wilson to take 2nd.
View Park flyhalf Malik Montez-Hendon scored three tries in the game.
“We are just starting to find a bit of form,” said View Park Coach David Hughes. “Hopefully it carries over to next week.”
In the Inland Conference, it was already settled, as Dead Rabbits had clinched 1st even before they lost to Citrus Valley Jan 23. Citrus Valley’s win in that game secured the 2nd playoff spot.
This past weekend, Roosevelt beat Desert Sands to finish 3-3 in the team’s first season in Varsity White.
St. Thomas Lays Down a Marker
St. Thomas HS of Houston took a trip to Louisiana to play Brother Martin, and came back with a massive victory.
St. Thomas is returning 13 starters from last year, and their cohesiveness showed as they put Brother Martin to the sword 98-0. Senior captain Josh Pane scored four tries and junior openside flanker Griffin Maat scored four, including runs of 40 and 70 meters.
Pane also thundered through for some big runs, pushing tacklers away as he did so.
The Eagles have a solid forward pack and directed by junior flyhalf Riley Bishop, the backs looked smart together.
Maat was named player of the game.
