St. Ignatius Wins, Off to Ireland
St. Ignatius out of Ohio finally got on the field this past weekend and defeated a challenging Archbishop Moeller school 57-5.
It was still very cold in Cleveland, but the fields were usable. Ignatius handled a big, physical Moeller team which used their forwards to pummel opposing defenses. Ignatius fullback Andrew Bladado played well and converted six of his team's nine tries in a difficult win, and also scored two tries while setting up another.
With Moeller using a kick-and-chase, Baldado had a lot of work to do defensively, and his counter-attacking got St. Igantius back on the front foot.
Lambs Defeat Jesuit
Jesuit High School of Sacramento were defeated by the English Lambs - the English Independent Schools select side touring the West Coast - 24-10 Wednesday evening in Sacramento.
The Lambs found their rhythm a little more completely after their 23-10 loss Sunday to a Northern California select side.
"They are a very good team," said Jesuit Head Coach John Shorey. "We had our moments but we also let slip some opportunities. It was a really good game for us and we learned a lot."
Jesuit played touring New Zealand team Westlake HS on Sunday. On Thursday, they will face New Plymouth, another New Zealand team of similar level. Against Westlake, Jesuit entered halftime tied 12-12 but rang the changes and saw Westlake run away in the second period. Shorey said he will run out his top available 15 to play New Plymouth.
Chuckanut U17s to Hawaii, Australia
The Chuckanut Bay HS program from northern Washington state is on its way to Australia with its U17 team for a tour.
The team will stop over in Hawaii and play the Kahuku Raiders program, which has been on fire of late.
"We can't wait to play them," said Kahuku Head Coach Seamus Fitzgerald.
"This trip has been two years in the making," said Chuckanut U17 Coach Todd Vasey. "We gave the kids a choice as to where they wanted to go, and even though Australia was more expensive than other trips, that's what they wanted to do."
The players worked hard to raise funds, with one player mucking out horse stalls to raise the money. Led by all-state flanker Patrick Condon, the Chuckanut U17s expect to compete, but know this will be a tough trip.
Gamebreakers - HS Boys This Week
In our feature Game-Breakers, we highlight some players who made an impact on the field this past week.
This is our weekly HS Boys section. If you think we need to look at someone, let us know.
|
Sam Chapman, Jarrell Photography.
St. Edward Finding Good Competition in Portugal
Ohio’s St. Edward school team is in Portugal at a youth rugby festival and has been busy in the opening days.
They lost two close games against Henley of England, 7-3, and 8-0, and also lost 8-0 to Biarritz, the tournament’s defending champions.
Then Portuguese team Beleneses shut out St. Edward 12-0, but the Ohio team bounced back to defeat Cascais 19-0.
On Monday, St. Edward played Cascais again, but it turned out to be the Cascais U23 team. The Cascais U23s won 20-19 on the final play of the game.
Next up for St. Edward is a visit to the US Embassy in Lisbon, and a game against Beleneses.
Jesuit Faces NZ Tourists
Jesuit HS of Sacraento faced the Westlake School out of Auckland, NZ Tuesday evening as part of Westlake's tour of the West Coast.
Jesuit has several tough games coming up and so the coaches resolved to ring the changes at halftime. With their front-liners on, Jesuit tied Westlake 12-12 at the break. Running on the subs, Jesuit struggled a bit more as Westlake ran in seven tries to win 47-12.
"This was a really good lesson for our players about keeping your eyes up and how the ball beats the man," said Jesuit coach John Shorey.
Westlake beat Dixon 106-0 on Sunday.
Jesuit now looks ahead to the England Independent Schools Lambs.
Olympus, Capital Battle it Out
Olympus HS from Utah faced Capital HS of Idaho Tuesday evening in a game that is part of an Olympus Pacific Northwest tour, and this game was a tight one.
Capital used an impressive pick-and-jam attack to dominate possession time and take a three-try lead late in the second half. But some mistakes by Capital and snappy play from Olympus pulled the Utah team close, and the game ended with Olympus No.8 Tyler Ringwood scoring on an eight man pick from a scrum five meters out. The kick was good and that tied the game 38-38.
The game ended in a tie according to the game referee, but there’s some confusion on the score due partly to the assistant referees not being in sync in approving conversion kicks. So some reports have Olympus winning. Nevertheless, it was a close, and exciting game.
SoCal Latest - Fallbrook, LA, SLO
Fallbrook continued their run with an impressive 40-22 defeat of the San Diego Mustangs to move to 2-0 in the SoCal Club South Gold conference.
Despite being stretched for players, Fallbrook continues to win, and have put aside both Back Bay and the Mustangs. They are now set to face the San Diego Young Aztecs, and a win there April 11 will give them a second league title this season.
There are still playoffs to go, but Fallbrook’s effort so far should be recognized.
Union Wins HOA
The Union HS team out of Oklahoma won the Heart of America tournament HS boys bracket, coming back to defeat rivals Kansas City Junior Blues in the final.
Union defeated Olathe 43-3 in their opening pool and then defeated the Shawnee Mission East Lancers 21-0.
Win Set Up Big Clash in Pa. Next Week
West Shore United hosted the Warwick Swarm Sunday at Borough Park in New Cumberland, Pa. The conditions were perfect for Rugby with temperatures around 50 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. And it was even more perfect for West Shore, as they won 81-5 over the Swarm. Wing Gage Shackelford touched down three times for West Shore, while No. 8 Gary Pariseau and flanker Kysheem Johnson scored two each. Six other West Shore players found the tryline, with Jacopo Coletti claiming one of the tries to go along with his eight conversions. West Shore walked away with their third Rugby Pennsylvania scalp in as many weeks and sits at 3-0 in the Rugby Pennsylvania Gold Division.
2015 Boys Single-School Rankings Week 9
Every now and then we have to switch the category for a team. That happened this week as we confirmed with Union out of Oklahoma that they are really a single-school team and should be looked as such.
Union, which won the Heart of America tournament and beat Multi-School club KC Junior Blues in the process, jumps in at #18. The Blues are #3 as of our last rankings in HS cub, but that doesn't mean we put Union at #3 or anything like it ... yet. They have to show some other results, and they will get the chance against the likes of East HS (Colo.) in April. Also jumping in is a team we had to confirm was single-school. The Riviera Beach Maritime Academy in Florida has been playing really well, and beating the likes of the Cape Pirates only helps them. RBMA comes in at #17.
Gonzaga Caps Successful Chile Tour
Gonzaga HS out of DC comes back to the USA after a successful tour of Chile.
The main Gonzaga varsity team played four games, losing to Catolica U18s 25-19, but betting Grange School 14-10 and also beating Alianza Francesca 32-0 and Sporting Rugby Club 24-0 in shortened games.
The Gonzaga White team defeated Stade Francais U18s 31-19 and Grange School Bs 42-7.
The Gonzaga 3rd, which were basically U16s or lower-grade players, lost 21-10 to Catolica U16s, and 27-0 to the Grange School U16s, and then beat Alianza 27-7 and Sporting Rugby Club 50-12 on the final tournament day.
In the mini-tournament against Alianza and Sporting, Jack Iscaro and Tyree Randolph were named players of the tournament.
NorCal Latest - Jesuit and More
Jesuit HS out of Sacramento has secured 1st in the Single-School league in Northern California with a 56-24 defeat of Clayton Valley and then followed that up with a forfeit win over De La Salle to move to 8-0.
Clayton Valley is 7-2, with their only losses being to Jesuit. Jesuit now will play the winner of a play-in game between Clayton Valley and Dixon for the Rugby NorCal Single-School title.
They won’t be waiting, though, as on Tuesday they play Westlake, a touring school team from New Zealand, and then on Wednesday they play the England Independent Schools Lambs select side (who lost to Northern California's select side on Sunday), and then a day later it’s New Plymouth out of New Zealand.
Startup South Greenville Makes Statement
Newly-minted South Carolina HS club South Greenville pulled off something of a shock result when they beat Phoenix Alpharetta, the top team from Georgia, 26-15 this past weekend.
South Greenville was formed when last year's state finalists, Greenville, opted to go single-school. With the then-head coach stepping down, there was also a coaching change, and Greenville assistant Phil Weston decided to form a team with the players who couldn't play for Greenville HS anymore. That became South Greenville, and the club's formation wasn't without drama, as parents and players struggled with whether to follow a coach they knew (Weston) or stay with the school they knew. In the end, some kids from Greenville HS are playing for the South Greenville club, which is now 3-0 in league play, and 4-1 overall.
Xavier Downs Union County
Xavier HS out of New York defeated defending New Jersey state champs Union County Saturday in a tough warmup for both teams.
Weather has played havoc with both teams' March schedule so they were fortunate to get this one in. Xavier won 53-15, with a player-of-the-game performance by James Tweedy, who turned a tight 12-10 halftime lead into a comfortable Xavier win with three tries in the second half, and with Charlie Platt and Matt Bergstol also solid.
"Union has great athleticism and physicality," said Xavier Coach Joe Sweeney. "They’re big, strong and fast; they were fierce in the tackle and the ruck. They’re a little raw, but they’re already a handful, and by May I think they'll do some real damage at the Nationals."
