Weston Wins Big Again
In yet another exciting FYRU High School crossover match, Weston Rugby traveled up to Boca Raton to face the Buccaneers on their home turf. Just as the week before, both teams faced 90-plus temperatures in the scorching Florida sun.
West Shore Helps RugbyPa Kick Off
The RugbyPa HS season is finally moving along as several teams saw action this past weekend.
West Shore United started the season missing all-state hooker Alex Katherman due to an injury, but that didn't stop them from putting the Chambersburg Trojans to the sword in the Club Gold Division.
West Shore came into the match itching to play rugby as quite a few of their scheduled matches this season have been canceled due to the brutal winter weather. The latest cancelation was Friday night’s scheduled match that was supposed to take place against Calvert Hall in Baltimore, Md.
All Pat in Georgia HS
There were no upsets in Georgia this week with Trojans, Phoenix "A" and Mill Creek winning comfortably ensuring that the league table positions remain essentially unchanged from last week.
This week Trojans play Mill Creek and a bonus point win will vault them above Phoenix "A" in the final standings, as the Trojans have already beaten Phoenix. The playoffs still loom for the top teams. Meanwhile, Phoenix "A" will travel out of state to play S. Greenville at Furman University on Saturday. The state semifinals will be played on April 18 and the eagerly anticipated final on April 24.
Georgia Week 8 Results
Norsemen 12-36 Mill Creek
Phoenix "A" 62-0 Phoenix "B"
Trojans 82-0 Phoenix "B"
Walton 0-13 Trojans
Wild Weekend Promises Wild Season in Washington
It was a wild weekend in Rugby Washington as the two teams who had started the season 3-0 went down to defeat.
The Chuckanut Bay Steamers were shocked 44-7 by Kent, showing that the Crusaders learned the lessons of the previous week’s loss to Liberty. That moved Kent to 2-2 and Chuckanut to 3-1. But Chuckanut kept pace with Liberty as the Patriots were upset 17-14 by Budd Bay.
This shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise, said Budd Bay Coach Trevor Anderson. It was just that the Barbarians had not had any warmup games before league play started.
Union Starts Strong in Oregon
The Union Titans of Oregon began their season with a convincing 56-7 victory over a good Portland Pumas team on Saturday.
Tries were scored by Tre'Von Turner, Jake Burchett, Tyler Dionne, Tate Nelson, Caleb Browning, Austin Holloway, Chris Berry, & Brendon Curle. The Union Titans retained most of their players from their first season last year, when the average age was just under 16. In their first year the Titans went on to play for the Oregon Varsity (singe-school) Cup Championship, losing narrowly to a very experienced Prairie team. However, nine players on the Union team made the Oregon Red Hawks All Star teams last year, five of which made up the entire tight five of the Red Hawk JV team. All those players not only went on to play at the Great Northwest CHallenge, but many players also played through the summer and fall 7s season.
ND De La Salette Wins Big
Notre Dame de La Sallette put on an impressive display Saturday in a game they had hoped would be a challenging warmup to their Indiana Super League season.
La Salette, which is based in Illinois but plays in Indiana, defeated Illinois team Fenwick 96-0.
This followed on other warmup games for La Salette earlier this month, 54-0 over Fishers, and 53-5 over Hamilton Southeastern.
Herriman Wins Two in Utah
Utah's Herriman defeated West Jordan 48-3 on Wednesday night under the lights at the Herriman High Football Stadium, and then followed that up with a 48-21 defeat of Wasatch this weekend.
West Jordan were Week 1 winners over Skyline (29-19) and have a massive and physical team who fielded six players over 250 pounds. The visitors struck first for a 3-0 lead. From that point forward it was all Herriman. Sophomore scrumhalf Noah Vaea stole a ball from the back of an opposing scrum and made a zigzagging, highlight-reel run for a 50-meter try. Following another long try from prop Jaeron Masina, set up by fellow prop Kalisi Moli, Herriman would score four more tries in less than five minutes.
Greenwich Dominates at Four Leafs
Greenwich High School out of Connecticut ha started strong, winning their opening game last week and then cutting a swath through the Four Leaf tournament this weekend.
Held at Randall’s Island, NY, the Four Leafs is a huge tournament covering a variety of brackets. In the Boys HS bracket, teams played 30-minute games, and over the entire day Greenwich did not give up a single point.
This followed up on Greenwich’s opening game last week in which they shut out New Rochelle 86-0.
Big Wins for Daytona, Riviera Beach
In a tough hard-nosed clash in Northern Florida, the Daytona Beach Li’l Nuts edged the Cape Pirates 8-6 in a result that will be very good news to Orlando.
“As the season goes on the tackling gets better, we see it every year, and that was definitely true this week,” said Daytona Coach Trent Veseley. “We needed a big defensive effort today.”
Daytona has been tinkering with the flyhalf position ever since Vesely’s son, Sam, went down with an injury. They may have found their solution as scrumhalf Alec Pitts moved into the #10 jersey and did very well in organizing the defense.
Meanwhile, in the set piece, John Mauro had a big impact. Daytona were without their big lock Kendrick Williams, who was visiting colleges, and Williams has been the Nuts’ main lineout weapon. In his stead Mauro stepped up and helped solidify that aspect of play.
Fallbrook Downs Back Bay
In a game between two of the stronger teams in Southern California, Fallbrook overhauled Back Bay 27-13 to move to 1-0 in their conference, and set themselves up for a potential double championship.
Fallbrook won the Varsity Red division in the single-school half of the season, and now, with the same group of players, are in the club season. Beating Back Bay is a big step toward winning their South Gold conference, as they now face the San Diego Mustangs and San Diego Old Aztecs later on.
Back Bay ran out to a 13-10 lead which they held at halftime, and controlled the game for the first 25 minutes. It could have been a bigger lead, though, were it not for Falbrook's tenacious covr defense. Coach Mike Majewski said Fallbrook has been working on getting back onside when the opposition breaks through, and they did that well on Saturday.
Granite Bay Wins Big One
The battle for top spot in Northern California's boys HS club Sacramento conference is basically down to two teams now as Granite Bay defeated Sierra Foothills 27-5 Friday night at Granite Bay's field.
Led by the scoring touch of speedy fullback Sam Cusano, with Tyler Rouse and Garrett Walker also touching down, the Grizzlies moved to 5-0, keeping pace with undefeated Jesuit for the conference title. The two teams will face off April 10 for what should be 1st place.
Back Bay, Young Aztecs On the Rise
In 2014 two Southern California clubs finished high in the National Invitational Championship, with the San Diego Mustangs taking 4th and Santa Monica taking 2nd.
This year, two Southern California teams from the same two regions are looking like they might be ready to enjoy a good season … but they’re two different teams.
Santa Monica looked shaky at the Fullerton Tournament and has lost to Back Bay and Los Angeles. Meanwhile the San Diego Mustangs forfeited a game to Back Bay.
Around the Country in HS Rugby
Here’s a look at some of the HS Boys action around the country:
Southern California
The club season heats up with Fallbrook facing Back Bay in a massive league game. The Young Aztecs look like they might be gearing up for a title, and play the Mustangs. Los Angeles, having upended Santa Monica and Belmont Shore, gets the week off.
Aircraft Charter Solutions PoW - Inoke Moala
Penn won the Lindenwood tournament then turned around to defeat St. Igantius.
For the program as a whole, that is all part of a very nice start for a team that has national championship aspirations.
Penn is a strong team with good players throughout, but this week we single out one.
“I was saying the other day, that the good news is we return seven of our starting forward pack next year,” said Penn Head Coach Bart Bottorff. “The bad news is, the one we graduate is Inoke Moala.”
The power-running No. 8 is one of the top tight end prospects in Indiana, and slated to play football at Indiana State. Many in the game expect him to return to the other oval ball game at some point. He is an outstanding open-field runner and a bruising tackler, and the guy who gets Penn going forward.
Mud Turtles on the Move
The season is about to begin in cold regions and the Union Mud Turtles out of New Jersey can hardly wait.
Coming off a 38-19 scrimmage loss to Doylestown, the Mud Turtles have a tough Christian Brothers Academy team this weekend followed by #4 Xavier.
But Union isn’t backing down.
“We’ve had flag rugby for about eight years now and we’re starting to see those kids coming into the U19 program,” said Coach Joe Dabulas. “And you can really see the difference in how they approach the game.”
Union has an excellent shot at a state title and will be looking to two three-year starters to help. Khalili Burns is one of those - a tough, hard-running No. 8. - and flyhalf Michael Dabulas, who suited up for the Atlantis touring side at the LVI in Las Vegas - are two leaders on the team.
