Young Chuckanut 3-0
Despite starting the season 3-0, the Chuckanut Bay rugby club in northern Washington state still has some work to do.
The U19 program that produced three Eagle props (Shawn Pittman, Nick Wallace, and Titi Lamositele) is working hard to develop some talented young players, but the operative word is “young.”
“We’ve started well but we’ve got three guys on our starting team who qualify for the U17 team,” said Coach Steve Sullivan. “We have some talented kids and we’re still seeing them learn the game.”
Helping keep the younger players on track is flyhalf Jonny Reid, a select side pivot who is a smart kicker and playmaker. But Reid didn’t even play March 14 when Chuckanut beat Eastside 24-7 to improve to 3-0.
Fallbrook Trophy Case Crowded
Fallbrook has claimed three trophies so far this season, taking their rivalry shield from Torrey Pines (twice), the SoCal Varsity Red championship, and, this past Sunday, the Fullerton International Tournament.
There’s still rugby to be played, of course, but the Fallbrook boys have performed admirably so far.
“Their rugby IQ is so high and their retention is so good that they can adjust pretty well to any opponent,” said Coach Mike Majewski, who watched his squad beat the very strong an Diego Young Aztecs 15-10 in overtime on Sunday. “Playing in that tournament, we knew nutrition was going to be huge. This is our forth year playing here and we’ve learned a lot about getting to that 5th game.”
Pelham Rugby Team to go Varsity
The Pelham boys U18 rugby team in West Chester County, NY is now a varsity program.
The decision was made Monday night, March 16, in a meeting of the Pelham, NY school district Board and was the culmination of a long (eight years) development of the program and a short (two months) process within the school district.
The Pelham team was started as a grade school-age program and has grown as the first kids to play in it have grown older. The team had looked into becoming an official club sport at Pelham HS, but the requirements - a teach must be present at all practices, for example - were too much for the team to make it feasible. But during the discussion on club status, various administrative officials started asking about varsity status, instead.
Jesuit Wins Key Game - NorCal Latest
Jesuit of Sacramento improved to 5-0 in their defeat of one of their chief rivals in Northern California, Dixon.
Dixon dropped to 4-3.
Jesuit Head Coach John Shorey called Dixon “a thorn in our side,” and thus he was pleased to pull out that thorn to the tune of 34-14. It was a rough weekend for Jesuit, as they dealt with a team-wide illness and absences due to the SAT being held this weekend.
“It was tough game,” added Shorey. “It’s a rival game and Dixon plays their best rugby against us.”
Also a challenge for both teams was unseasonably warm weather - into the 80s.
“We have had an early hot spring in NorCal and I am not sure we are ready for the heat yet,” he said.
No. 8 Luke Bagley had a strong game for Jesuit, while center Luke Thayer played well in defense.
2015 Boys Single-School Rankings Week 7
The latest Boys single-school rankings sees a small shift up top as Gonzaga, having beaten the #2 club team, Royal Irish, edge up past Penn, who did just fine in beating a tough St. Ignatius team. Fallbrook, so impressive in winning the Fullerton Tournament, moves up two places, while Jesuit of Dallas, having won their Jesuit Showdown while beating Colorado Springs and Regis Jesuit, get a big boost to #13. However, there are several teams, especially those in the Midwest, waiting to chase them down.
St. Paul's established themselves as the top team in the Deep South, and we dropped two from that region. Shaw, close losers to St. Paul's, remain. New this week are Massachusetts power Bishop Hendricken, and East HS out of Utah (not to be confused with East out of Colorado or East out of Minnesota), as they are 2-0.
Orlando Kicked to Big Win - Florida Latest
Orlando has replaced Kahuku HS in the Boys National Invitational Championship after Kahuku opted to play in a west coast invitational instead, and the move is, in the end, jut reward for an improving Orlando team that earned some measure of revenge this past weekend over Daytona.
Daytona beat Orlando badly in the early weeks of the Florida high school rugby season, and Saturday Orlando got revenge with a 23-22 victory.
Daytona scored more tries than Orlando, but Justin Smith was on-target as a goal kicker, and that was a big part of the difference.
Smith slotted two out of three penalty attempts in the opening half to put Orlando up 6-3. Daytona exploded in the second half, scoring three tries and converting two to lead 22-6, but Orlando rebounded.
2015 Boys HS Club Rankings Week 7
Last week's rankings were bad - we made several errors in identifying teams and players and as a result the entire effort was substandard. We've done a better job this week.
That said, the upshot of this season so far is that single-school teams have had the upper hand against club teams so far. Top HS club teams, such as Royal Irish, Sierra Foothills, United, Red Mountain, Santa Monica, KC Jr. Blues, Colorado Springs ... all of these teams have been felled by single-school teams. Admittedly, some of the single-school winners have been very highly ranked, but not all, and you'd think the clubs would win one of these.
Utah Latest - Kau Toa, Olympus, Herriman
Defending Utah state champs Kau Toa bested Skyline Rugby Club Saturday, showcasing a nice combinations of speed and power.
This was a big win for Kau Toa due to the history between the two teams. Last year Kau Toa's only regular season loss came at the hands of Skyline during the Utah Open Tournament, a week before the playoffs.
In only the second week of the 2015 season the still-young Kau To a program was looking for a little payback, and got started in the 10th minute when Jacob Jenkins beat two of Skyline’s speedy defenders to score the first of his two tries for the day.
"Kau Toa's ability to spread the field was one of the key factors for their victory,” said Skyline Head Coach Andrew Wilcox.
Surprise Win in Georgia
The Lassiter Trojans remain undefeated in Georgia HS rugby after upsetting top team Alpharetta Phoenix's A squad this weekend in a very physical encounter.
Phoenix, understrength and perhaps fatigued after their Ruggerfest Tournament win last weekend, struggled to answer Lassiter's strong pack and talented halfbacks Freddy Purdy and Shea O'Hanlon.
Lassiter scored first after a series of phases set up Mo Abdullah. Phoenix replied with an unconverted score from center Chris Bagby, but this was as close as they would come. The Trojans controlled possession through a strong lineout and powerful counter-rucking giving the Phoenix backs little opportunity to show their speed. Trojans led throughout and put the game away with a storming run from JP Gouin. Final score 19-12.
St. Paul's Downs Shaw in Deep South
St. Paul’s remains the top team in the Deep South HS league after beating one of the stronger programs in the region, Archbishop Shaw, 17-10 Saturday.
The victory means St. Paul’s is now 5-0 with three games left in the regular season.
Derek Drago paced St. Paul’s with two tries, while Sam Gartman added one and Jacob McDonald kicked his team’s lone conversion.
The St. Paul’s defense has been superb, allowing just five points in the team’s first four games, but Shaw was able to double that amount, dominating phase play and wearing down the St. Paul’s D.
"Tim Falcon, the coach for Shaw, always has a hard hitting scrum,” said St. Paul’s captain Christian Jarrett. “They executed their game plan, but they couldn’t handle our backs."
Jesuit Dallas Wins Showdown Tournament
Jesuit of Dallas defeated Colorado Springs 22-0 to win the Jesuit Showdown in Texas, capping off a nice 3-0 weekend.
Regis Jesuit defeated St. Therese Lisieux 31-5 for third.
Katy lost their opener, but won two in a row, including their 37-14 win over Jesuit of New Orleans for 5th. Strake Jesuit beat St. Maximilian Kolbe 19-10 for 7th.
“Our defense was coming up really well together, and our tackling was good,” said assistant captain Chris Madonna. “They ran their big forwards out wide and that was something we needed to adjust to. But everyone just went in low and brought them down.”
Captain and flyhalf Joey Nuchereno agreed that team defense was the key to winning the tournament.
“Everyone tackled one through 15,” he said.
Penn Downs St. Ignatius
No. 2-ranked single-school team Penn HS defeated Ohio power st. Ignatius 28-17 in a pre-season warmup for two very strong squads.
Clash of Champions Lives Up to Billing
The early-season meeting of the two defending NIT champions lived up to expectations as 2014 single-school champs Gonzaga edged 2014 multi-school club champs Royal Irish 27-25 on the final play of the game.
Gonzaga wing Reggie Corbin, who will be playing football for the University of Illinois next year, scored three tries on the day, including the game-winner. Scrumhalf Dan Callahan slotted the conversion to win the game.
It was a hugely physical encounter with Gonzaga’s massive front row, led by Dante Lopresti, battling a smaller but industrious Royal Irish team. The Royal Irish, playing their first game of the season, drew first blood with a penalty, but then Gonzaga reeled off three straight tries, one with a well-executed lineout and maul, and two with good interplay setting up Corbin. That put the DC-area team up 17-3.
Jesuit Showdown in Dallas Latest
The first day of action in the Jesuit Showdown is in the books with the hosts, Jesuit of Dallas, in the final to face Colorado Springs.
Jesuit-Dallas defeated Canadian side St. Maximilian Kolbe in the opening game 50-7. Regis Jesuit out of Colorado edged Texas team Katy 14-8, while Colorado Springs beat Jesuit of New Orleans 19-7, and Ontario’s St. Therese Lisieux edged Strake Jesuit out of Houston 7-0.
That set up Saturday’s semifinals. Colorado Springs defeated St. Therese 50-0 to make the final, while Regis Jesuit and Jesuit-Dallas had a knock-down, drag-out fight for the other spot. Dallas led 12-5 late when Regis scored and converted to tie the game at 12-12. On to overtime, where Dallas kicked a penalty to win in sudden death 15-12.
Xavier Wins Opener
Xavier HS out of New York City opened their 2015 season with an impressive 67-5 defeat of #21 St. Joseph’s Prep out of Philadelphia, Pa.
Xavier, ranked #4 by Goff Rugby Report, had been outside only three times before this game, usually practicing in the school cafeteria, and with a small number of returning starters expected a game full of mistakes. The coaches were pleasantly surprised.
“We were very happy with the first run out with this team,” said Xavier Coach Joe Sweeney. “The biggest reason for that is that we have great coaches on our lower levels and the kids come up with great skills and preparation by the time they're juniors.”
The Xavier scrum was strong and because of that St. Joseph’s handling errors cost them.
