Exiles Clean up at Surfside
The Maryland Exiles won the American HS 7s Championships Elite Boys Division Sunday, defeating Greenwich HS 29-7 in the semis and the New Jersey Blaze in the final, 24-0.
The Blaze had squeaked by Atlantis 14-12 to make the championship game.
For the Exiles, which, interestingly played under the Atlantis Roman numerals in the Las Vegas Invitational, and also won the HSRC club division in Chester, Pa., this was the culmination of an excellent 7s year.
“What we wanted to work on most was defense,” said Coach Paul Sheehy. “We knew we’d get our points, so what we wanted to do was shut teams out. It worked out well for us. We had 100% but-in from the players.”
Exiles, Atlantis Lead at Surfside
It's been a competitive day at the American HS Sevens Championships at the Surfside 7s in Stone harbor, NJ.
In the Boys Elite, the Maryland Exiles Black, Atlantis, and the New Jersey Blaze all went 3-0, but it wasn't easy.
EIRA U16s Rematch - Live
The Eagle Impact Rugby Academy U16 team will play the BC U16s Saturday at 2pm PT at Capilano Rugby Club in Vancouver, BC.
This is a rematch of Wednesday's game, which ended in a 34-0 win for the EIRA team.
The game will be live streamed here: http://www.bcrugby.com/live/
Here is the EIRA lineup.
PNW HS Teams in 7s This Weekend
It's the second week of 7s action among Boys HS teams in the Pacific Northwest.
In Oregon, the Beaverton Aloha (3-0) are 3-0 after wading untouched through last week's opposition. Lincoln defeated the newly-minted single-school state champs in 15s, Union, in a 15-12 result that promises a nice, ongoing summer rivalry. But Lincoln were upended 24-17 by Beaverton. It seems fair to say those three can expect to be close all summer.
Blaze, Atlantis Lead AHS7s Field
The American High School Sevens Championships kicks off early Saturday morning at the Surfside 7s in Stone Harbor, NJ.
The Boys competition includes three separate brackets - Elite, Open, and U15, and the competition will be fierce in all.
"We got moved up to the Elite Bracket and it's going to be tough," said Doylestown Coach Mike McCandless. "We know we've got a chance because we've got a good mix of players, but I'm looking at some of the other teams there and it's going to be hard."
Among those teams is Atlantis, which has finished off a selection camp and will be expected to bring the sort of combination of speed and slick handling that saw them win in Las Vegas in February.
South Red Takes 7th in NACRA
The USA Rugby South U19 Red team defeated Bermuda 17-0 Friday in Orlando to secure 7th in the North American Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) U19 Championships.
Cal State Games 7s in SoCal
It's the California State Games 7s in San Marcos, Calif. this weekend, with six brackets in action.
There are coed U10 and U12 games, along with Boys U14, U16, and U18. There is also a Girls U18 bracket. This is the California State Games, but is also the culmination of the Serevi Summer Series, during which teams have played and earned points.
Back Bay leads the series at the moment, having won last week, and finished 4th in the first tournament. The Back bay team's performance is all the more notable considering that their long list of HS All Americans are not playing - they've been with the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy team. This has allowed some other players, youngsters and accomplished seniors alike, to shine, which they have done.
EIRA U16s Shut Out BC
The Eagle Impact Rugby Academy U16 team defeated British Columbia’s U16 team in emphatic fashion Wednesday night, coming away with a 34-0 shutout at the Capilano Rugby Club in Vancouver, BC.
Under the coaching of Brendan Keane, Scott Bracken, and John Banarhall, the EIRA squad was brilliant defensively, and after a tight first half, blew the game open in the second period.
“Defense was something we talked about a lot and we got the sense that the players were really taking on the message,” said Keane, who added that the squad bonded quickly in the few days they’ve been together, and added, “there are now egos with this group.”
EIRA U16s Set for BC
The Eagle Impact Rugby Academy U16 team has been named to play the British Columbia provincial U16s the evening of July 15.
Under Head Coach Brendan Keane, with assistants Scott Bracken and John Banarhall, the EIRA team has been training at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver for the last few days.
Tonight is the first of two games between the teams, with the rematch being Saturday afternoon. Both games are at the Capilano Rugby Club.
HS Boys End of Season Awards
The 2014-15 Boys High School season is, of course, done with a National Championship Invitational, another invitational on top of that, and almost 50 state and regional champions.
So how about some awards and end-of-season notes?
Glad you asked.
2014-15 MVP: Steven Branham
Was the Fallbrook No.8 and HS All American hooker the best player in the USA? Well, we don’t know. Honestly, it’s really difficult. So what we did was look at a number of factors - impact in games, how well the team did with and without that play, performance at key moments, and performance at higher levels.
Danville Wins Dixon 7s Again
The Danville Oaks boys team won the third Dixon 7s this past weekend in a wild one.
The final was somewhat anticlimactic, as Danville hammered a tired Granite Bay team 42-0. But the final was all sorts of drama, as the game ended in a tie with Jesuit. Actually, it took some discussion to establish that it was a tie. It was a little lesson in making sure all the conversions are observed going over the bar.
After a conversation between the ref and the two teams it was finally established that the game ended in a tie and went to a drop-goal shootout. Danville won that shootout 2-0.
Danville’s toughest game probably that semifinal against Jesuit, but it could also have been their opener against Dixon, where Danville won on the final play of the game.
“It was kind of a roller coast day,” said Danville Coach John Straka.
Mudturtles Win Surfside Warmup
The Union Mudturtles out of New Jersey won the Hell’s Gate 7s tournament, defeating Greenwich in the final.
The Mudturles defeated Fairfield Prep out of Connecticut to make the final, while Greenwich won comfortably in two games and had to really work hard to beat Play Rugby 29-26. Their semi was a rout of Winged Foot.
In the final, Union ran out to a 15-0 lead, only to see Greenwich storm back with three tries to take the lead.
In the final minute, Brendan Cunningham chipped ahead and was taken out in the chase for the ball. A penalty try was awarded, and with the conversion Union won 22-17.
Mike Dabilas, Kevin Trotter, and Royal Jones all had strong days for the Mudturtles. Trotter and Dabulas are headed to Penn State.
For Greenwich, Jack Freiheit scored 11 tries, and Soh Nakayama scored five with 14 conversions.
Big Step for EIRA, But OT Loss Hurts
The good news for the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy team is that what was essentially the same group as the HS All Americans in Las Vegas, played better at the Victoria 7s; the bad news is, they lost the final anyway, losing 31-26 in overtime against British Columbia.
“The boys played really well,” said Coach Salty Thompson. “I am really proud of their effort. We didn’t play well in the semifinal against the Upright Rugby Rogues. It was a scrap, very combative at the breakdown. We were a bit rushed and gave away some points, but found a way to win. In the final, they played really well.”
BC Edges EIRA in V7s Final
The BC Elite Youth 7s Gold team edged the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy 7s team 31-26 to win the Victoria International 7s.
EIRA led early in the game, fell behind 26-14, but tied the game up late to make it 26-26 at the end of the second ten-minute half.
However, BC scored in OT to win.
BC Gold finished the tournament 5-0. In that run, they allowed 19 points by the first four opponents, and 26 points by EIRA.
EIRA, meanwhile, ended the tournament 4-1, scoring 130 points and allowing 74, more than half of those points in the semis and final.
BC Blue took 3rd, and the Utah Lions took the Plate.
