Exiles Victorious In Tight Maryland Playoffs
It’s been tight all season in the Rugby Maryland HS club league, with the Maryland Exiles, West Carroll, and Howard County all in a virtual tie atop the standings.
This weekend’s playoffs decided a state winner—Maryland Exiles—but didn’t change the perception that these teams are all pretty strong.
Going into the final weekend of the season it looked like all three would finish up 5-1. Howard County, however were upset, dropping them to 3-2, with Baltimore Poly coming in at 3-2 as well. Still, with every team having lost a game, it was clear this would be pretty tight.
West Carroll, however, paid down a marker with a 34-0 defeat of Howard County. The Exiles, meanwhile struggled to beat Baltimore Poly 17-5.
Miles McCormick Named School Athlete Of The Year
Cathedral Catholic High School senior, Miles McCormick, currently the only high school rugby player vying for a spot on the USA U20 team, was named the Cathedral Catholic Male Athlete of the Year and Winter Season MVP during the annual Cathedral Athletic Awards Ceremony on May 13.
McCormick is the 5th Cathedral Catholic rugby player in the last six years to be named Winter MVP, but he is the first to receive Athlete of the Year honors. He joins past Winter MVPs Aaron Mitchell (SD Legion), Owen Duvall (Cal), Ryan James (USA U20s), and Adam Wilson (Arizona/Montana).
Fort Hunt, West End To Meet In Virginia Final
The Rugby Virginia boys HS season is down to two teams, as Fort Hunt and West End will face off after both won their preliminary playoff games this past weekend.
West End took care of a combined Newport News / Norfolk side 34-7, and Western Loudoun/great Falls 47-5.
It was a similar story for Fort Hunt. The Warriors defeated a Legion/Richmond combined team 24-14, and then handled Vienna 50-0.
The two will face off on Sunday for the state title.
West End has been playing some solid rugby, performing well at the Gonzaga Classic, but will have a tall order in Fort Hunt.
HS Nationals Teams Fight For State Titles
Now that we know what the seedings are for the Boys HS Nationals, ;et's see if those teams can hold up those seedings.
The Boys HSRNC competition will be held at the RAC in Salt Lake City, Utah, and will consist of three games for each team over three days, May 16-18.
The entire tournament will be LIVE on FloRugby (Click here for more—subscription required)
HS Clubs
The #2-seed Back Bay plays the #8 seed San Diego Mustangs in the SoCal HS Club final, and won 33-21.
Single-Schools
The #4 seed Gonzaga HS defeated Georgetown Prep 19-0 to win the MAVRC conference title.
HS Games May 7-15-Playoff Time!
It's playoff time!
the Southern California club season, Tennessee, MAVRC, Utah, South Carolina, and Idaho decide playoff champions. Meanwhile, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, and Pennsylvania get their playoffs going (or progressing).
A fantastic weekend of HS rugby leading into the national championships next week.
Check back for scores.
Woodlands Celebrate 13-1-1 Season, Winning Texas
The Woodlands defeated St. Pius X 29-19 April 28 to take the Rugby Texas Division I state title in Austin, Texas, bouncing back from a very difficult semifinal game the day before.
The Woodlands reached the final after narrowly defeating the Katy Barbarians the previous day by the score of 14-13; a game in which The Woodlands spent the last 25 minutes defending a slim lead while playing a player down due to a red card.
(Photos by Richard Clarke)
Georgetown Prep To MAVRC Final
After falling to Gonzaga a week earlier in a close match, 26-11, Georgetown Prep faced Our Lady of Good Counsel in the MAVRC conference semis for the fourth year in a row.
These two teams have played it close over the last few years, and usually it has been one play that decided how the game will flow.
"This has been a tight game every time lately," said senior fyhalf and captain Matthew Zaudtke. "My sophomore year we lost in overtime when I had to kick off a practice cone after the old coach forgot the tee. Last year we were going into seal the game at home and Good Counsel intercepted a pass and went 90 meters the other way to win it. This year we were determined not to let something happen, play our game through the backs and make them chase."
Boys HS Nationals Seeds, Round1 Matchups
The seeds and Round 1 matchups for the 2019 Boys HS Rugby National Championships have been selected.
The 24-team tournament with three brackets—Single-School, HS Club, and Tier II—will be shown live on FloRugby May 16, 17, and 18.
Here are the first-round matchups:
Clubs
#1. Granite Bay Grizzlies vs #8 San Diego Mustangs
#4 Royal Irish vs. #5 Danville Oaks
#3 Lamorinda vs #6 Charlotte Tigers
#2 Back Bay Sharks vs #7 KC Jr. Blues
Single-Schools
#1 Jesuit HS vs #8 Kahuku
#4 Gonzaga vs #5 Xavier
#2 Penn HS vs #7 East HS
#3 Herriman vs #6 Greenwich HS
Boys HS Games May 3-5
Check back for scores. Big weekend in playoffs for the Midwest and in North Carolina.
HS Nationals Teams—What's Up?
Here's another update on how teams in the 2019 Boys HS Rugby National Championships are faring; notice how many are touring out-of-state and/or are in major playoffs.
The Boys HSRNC competition will be held at the RAC in Salt Lake City, Utah, and will consist of three games for each team over three days, May 16-18.
The entire tournament will be LIVE on FloRugby (Click here for more—subscription required)
Here's what the've been up to:
Top-Ranked HS Teams At Midwest Championships
The Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, Ind. will serve as the venue for this weekend’s Midwest Boys HS Championships.
Eight teams will compete in the Super Bracket, while ten teams participate in the Open Bracket.
The Super Bracket includes the #1-ranked single-school team in Penn, and the #1-ranked HS Club in Royal Irish. Four other teams are ranked by GoffRugbyReport/FloRugby.
Here’s the lineup of games. The format is a quarterfinal-semifinal-final bracket of shortened games. Teams that lose will funnel into a placement bracket.
Quarterfinal Matchups (with FloRugby ranking)
10AM Brownsburg vs St. Edward (SS13)
11AM Penn (SS1) vs Pulaski (C34)
Charlotte Tigers Take Top Seed In NC Playoffs With Win Over Raleigh
The Charlotte Tigers defeated the Raleigh Redhawks 41-35 Saturday to secure the top seed in the North Carolina Youth Rugby Boys HS Club playoffs.
The Tigers benefited from some solid work from twins Drius and Donovan Law, who had just been off with the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy team in the Tropical 7s.
"They came back all fired up," said Tigers Head Coach Erik Saxon. Darius, playing center on Saturday, intercepted a Redhawks pass and galloped 60 meters to secure the victory.
For Raleigh, it wasn't the end of the season, as the Redhawks now will take on a very tough Clayton team this coming weekend in the state semis. The Tigers were slated to play Chapel Hill, but the Highlanders, hit by injury, will not be able to field a full team. They forfeit, although the two teams will play a non-league match.
Bixby, Broken Arrow, Champs In Oklahoma
Last weekend, Bixby High School, after reaching the Rugby Oklahoma boys HS finals for six straight years, ended its streak of being runner-up by defeating Jenks in a thriller.
Jenks was led by flyhalf Cooper Gibson and center Jacob Shelly, while their opposite numbers for Bixby, Drake Poth and Brody Sartin, were also excellent. Flanker Pedro Riversa had a massive impact for Bixby, as well.
Bixby stormed back with 14 minutes left to take a 17-14 lead, with Sartin scoring a key try late in the game. Poth's goalkikcing was huge, too, as he converted both Bixby tries and added a penalty.
Bixby held on
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Aspetuck Still Undefeated In Connecticut
Aspetuck defeated in-state rival Simsbury 33-7 in D1 Rugby Connecticut action.
Aspetuck ran out some relatively young players in this game and still led 19-0 at halftime. The highlight of the half was sophomore prop Joe Coscia busting a 40-meter breakaway try. In the second half, Aspetuck started quickly, led by a strong back row of Derek White, Joe Gjinaj, and Ray Wiener. Simsbury did get a try, taking advantage of an Aspetuck yellow card to kick deep and chase for a nicely-taken try.
Aspetuck is now 5-0 in league action and looks to Greenwich this weekend.
Eastside Finishes 7-0 In Rugby Washington
The Eastside Lions wrapped up the regular season in Washington State 7-0 after beating Liberty 46-19 this past weekend.
Eastside went 7-0, scoring 351 points (just over 50 per game) and gave up just 53 (about 7 1/2 points per game) and now look ahead to the Boys HS Rugby National Championships in a little over two weeks.
Scrumhalf/flyhalf Karl Keane, who is going to be attending Saint Mary's, was the player of the game. His persormance was augmented by center Tiai Vavao and Styles Tu'u. Tu'u moved up from the JV squad to fill in at hooker and led a group of young players who filled in for injured regulars. David Hershberger came on at scrumhalf while Keane moved to flyhalf, and Colin Farrell made an impact at openside flanker.
