WJU Signee Standout at Deaf School
Wheeling Jesuit University has signed the first rugby player from a deaf school, as Model School for the Deaf standout Marcus Pointer will join WJU in the fall.
Pointer is an athletic, mobile front-rower who was spotted at the Washington, DC school when current WJU assistant Tal Bayer was coaching at DC-area Perry Street Prep.
“I’ve always had a deep interest in rugby, and I wanted to play it through my college years also,” said Pointer, who is hard of hearing, and not totally deaf. “Tal Bayer had a huge impact on me going [to WU]. He saw me play my sophomore year.”
Pointer got his first taste of rugby playing touch against the Perry Street/Hyde team while in 8th grade. He was attending the Kendall Demonstration School located on the Gallaudet University Campus.
Brazilian Exchange Bolsters Danville 7s
The 2nd weekend of the Dixon Youth Summer 7s series is in the books and it was a good Sunday for Danville, as they came away with bracket victories for both the Boys Varsity Gold and Girls Varsity Gold.
Utah Lions Win Denver 7s
The Utah Lions took the Boys HS Division at the Denver 7s this past weekend.
Utah fielded two teams - Blue and White - and won for the second straight year.
Between them, the two Lions teams lost only once, with the Blue team taking 1st and the White team losing to the Rocky Mountain Rebels in the semis, and coming in 3rd.
The Rebels of Littleton, Colo. did well to rebound from a loss to Utah Lions White in pool play to win the semis 21-19, punishing Utah errors.
Meanwhile, Utah Lions Blue were rarely tested and defeated Denver-area team East HS 24-12 in the semis.
Celtic Elite Caps Strong All-Star Spring
The Celtic Elite Boys teams, which features mostly players from St. Edward and St. Ignatius in Ohio, plus some more regional talent, cruised through the Midwest RCT to win the Boys Varsity bracket.
EIRA U16s to Play BC
The Eagle Impact Rugby Academy is fielding a U16 team that will travel to British Columbia to play the BC U16s.
The team will initially assemble in Seattle, Wash. on July 12, and then bus to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, where they will stay and train before playing BC U16s twice.
| For more on Eagle Impact Rugby Academy click here. |
The EIRA team is a new chapter in the story of the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy, which was started by USA Rugby’s High School All American Head Coach, Salty Thompson, to develop the skills of elite young players, and those that wanted to improve to the elite level.
Greenwich HS Wins Tri-State 7s
Greenwich HS Rugby won the Tri-State 7s Rugby Tournament in Danbury, Conn., Saturday, going 6-0.
Greenwich beat the New York Rugby Club 52-0, Aspetuck (Conn.) 45-12, Central Connecticut 70-0, and Play Rugby, NY 26-5 in pool play. That put them in the semifinals, where they beat the New Jersey-based Union Mudturtles 26-7. Play Rugby finished second in the pool and won their semi to make the final. In the final Greenwich was against victorious, 36-12.
Jack Freiheit of Greenwich scored twelve tries on the day while Soh Nakayama added nine tries and kicked ten conversions for 65 points. Mitch Nethercott scored four tries while Bryce Stanback added three, Thomas Williams two, and Kevin Kumar one try. Parker Kelly and Windsor Doyle, also from GHS, didn't get on the scoresheet but played well in support.
Celtic Elite Keeps Winning
The Celtic Elite boys rugby team from Ohio won the Midwest RCT in Rockford, Illl., defeating Missouri 38-14 in the semis and Illinois North 33-15 in the final.
With the Celtic having played in the Midwest Rugby Challenge, the Mid-Atlantic RCT, and the Midwest RCT, they have played ten games, winning nine. Their only loss was to eventual Mid-Atlantic winners Virginia 22-19.
Oregon Boys Win GNC
Paced by two tries from wing Rian Lee (Lakeridge), the Oregon Red Hawks boys select side won the Great Northwest Challenge, defeating the Washington Wolverines in the final Sunday in West Linn, Ore.
Played on the wide open fields of the Hiidden Creek Polo Club, the GNC finished off the Varsity Boys bracket with a 3rd-4th game between Hawaii’s Kalihi Raiders and Montana, and then the final between Oregon and Washington. Kalihi exacted revenge over a Montana team that beat them on Saturday to take 3rd. Then in the final, Oregon scored early and then weathered a long period of Wolverine attack. Superior defense held the line for the Red Hawks and Washington could only come away with a penalty goal.
Celtic Solid in MW RCT
The Celtic Rugby Ohio-based select side boys team went 2-0 in emphatic fashion Saturday at the Midwest Regional Cup in Rockford, Ill.
The Celtic team is made up mostly of players from the top two programs in Ohio - St. Ignatius and St. Edward. However, a couple of players from Brusnwick, notably Kareem Odeh and Antonio Angelino, are also part of the team. Celtic played in the Midwest tournament in Elkhart, Ind., and then in the Mid-Atlantic RCT in Pittsburgh. All, said Coach Tom Cleary, targeting this tournament as the culmination of their all-star season.
“The kids know each other and were playing a very nice, balanced game,” said Cleary. “We ran the ball hard, showed some good passing. Against South Illinois we opened it up a little.
All-Star Scores - Boys
Scores from the Boys brackets at the two all-star tournaments this weekend.
Great Northwest Challenge Scores
7th-Grade 8th-Grade Boys
ATAVUS BLUE 24 Idaho Grizzlies 7
Eastside Breakers 32 West Metro Barbarians 5
ATAVUS Red 22 BG Rebels 12
Idaho Grizzlies 17 Battle Ground Rebels 12
ATAVUS Red 22 Battle Ground Rebels 12
West Metro Barbarians 12 ATAVUS Blue 58
JV BOYS
WA Wolverines 20 OR Red Hawks 31
OR Red Hawks 31 vs WA Wolverines 27
VARSITY BOYS
WA Wolverines 6 Kalihi Raiders 5
Montana All Stars 0 vs OR Red Hawks 57
Midwest Regional Cup Scores:
JV
Illinois South 5 Illinois North 34
Missouri 34 Illinois South 7
Missouri 12 Illinois North 21
Middle School
Illinois North 33 Illinois East 12
Gretna Wins Nebraska
The Gretna Rugby Club won the Nebraska state HS championship at the end of May, beating West Omaha 17-12 in the final thanks to a late try.
This was a rematch of of the 2014 final, which was won by West Omaha. Gretna defeated Siouxland 20-12 in the semis.
West Omaha Coach Dale Curington said the game, and in fact the entire season, was very competitive in Nebraska.
"We have fewer teams, but the level of play is getting higher," said Curington.
National HS 7s at Surfside in July
The American High School Sevens Championships will return to the Surfside 7s July 18 and 19 with a solid group of teams already registered.
New this year is the Boys Elite Division with additional high school boys teams, high school freshman boys teams, grade school boys and high school girls teams. They will all battle it out for the title of American High School Sevens Champion.
The AHS7s will be contested over two days at the beach in Stone Harbor, Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest, NJ on July 18-19, 2015.
Teams registered so far:
Grade School Boys
1: Media RFC U13
2: Coventry RFC
Freshman Boys
1: MD Exiles Gold
2: MD Exiles Black
3: NJ Blaze
4: Media RFC U15
5: Doylestown U15 Boys
6: Coventry RFC
Contrast of Styles in Great NW Challenge
The Great Northwest Challenge will finish up the regional all-star season with a small but strong contingent of teams.
Rugby Oregon hosts the event and runs out a strong Boys Varsity team coached by current USA player Troy Hall. Top-finishing teams such as Union (Brendan Curle, Kyle Vermeulen, Chris Berry), Beaverton (Lepa Sione, Joseph McRae), Newberg (Stefan Grumazamescu), and Eastside (Siano Kalamafoni) all have representatives on the squad. Snappy halfback Kalamafoni will have a lot of work to do, but Oregon's bette noire in select-side play has often been power up front, so they will need that.
Nebraska Experience Heads Midwest RCT
The Nebraska Boys all-star team finished a very creditable 2-2 at the Rocky Mountain Challenge, and like a lot of quickly-assembled select sides, they feel that they would like another shot at playing to show how far they’ve come.
They will get their wish. Unlike most select sides this season, Nebraska is going to two separate tournaments. After a solid showing in Colorado in which they lost to Texas and Heart of America, and edged Idaho before beating Lousiana on kicks after they tied 5-5.
“We are a very young team and still developing,” said Coach David Synnott. “It’s been a lot of work to get the players up to the all-state level. We’ve got a lot of coaches working to get the level up on Nebraska, and the players are working at it, too.”
Morton HS Rugby Celebrated with Parade
The Illinois state HS boys champions Morton HS were celebrated with a parade this past week.
