Kahuku Champions Of Hawaii Once More
The Kahuku Red Raiders are once again Hawaii state champions.
Kahuku played through a three-game weekend to take the title, shutting out Hilo 48-0 in the quarterfinals, Kona Bulls 48-0 in the semis, and then Big Isand United 29-3 in the final.
Sophomore wing Kingston Jones (pictured at left) was named the Backs MVP of the championship, while prop and senior captain Trycen Mau was named the forwards MVP.
Flyhalf Zealand Matagi, a sophomore, was outstanding as well, as was lock forward Tuia Tupuola. Kahuku had just come off playing in eh Tropical 7s in Florida, so traveling almost 10,000 miles over last week might have taken its toll on the team.
Boys HS Games April 24-28
Xavier is touring Utah, Texas, Georgia, and Southern California are having playoffs, and that's just the beginning.
Check back for score updates.
Mid-Atlantic Youth Festival A Clash Of Quality Teams
A high-level invitational comes to Virginia with the Mid-Atlantic Youth Rugby Festival.
Five teams will play in two challenge matches each, one each on Saturday one each on Sunday. Of those five teams, three are ranked, and the other two could be soon: FloRugby/GoffRugbyReport Top 50 among HS Clubs. It's possible West Shore might be after this weekend.
All games will be full, 70-minute games.
Here's the schedule (with rankings in parentheses):
Saturday
Maryland Exiles vs. Fort Hunt (15)
West Shore United vs. West End (18)
Maryland Exiles vs. Richmond Strikers (49)
Sunday
Richmond Strikers(49) vs. West Shore United
East Rebounds, Looks to Utah Playoffs
The East HS Leopards are looking ahead to the Utah Youth Rugby playoffs and are in relatively good shape.
East had a ton of trouble with Highland a week and a half ago, falling behind 20-12 and eking out a 27-27 tie.
But the team rebounded this past weekend, beating Las Vegas Rugby Academy 41-5.
This coming weekend, East takes on top-5 team Xavier HS, which is on a spring break tour of the Beehive State.
Then comes the playoffs. East gets a rematch with Highland, while Herriman takes on Olympus. Herriman plays Xavier on Friday.
Watch Out For West Valley Warriors
The West Valley Warriors continue to win rugby games in Utah and defeated a strong United team 46-21 over the weekend.
Inside center Heamasi Lutui has been a tough player to contain and No. 8 Sousa Moeai has combined nicely with flanker Ethan Manu to control the forwards.
After that result, West Valley now leads the Blue/White Conference (Tier 1), with a 3-0 record. United is 2nd with a 2-1 record. Overall, including non-league games, the Warriors sit 5-1, with their closest win a 24-17 defeat of Snow Canyon. They did lose to Herriman 27-14, but everyone has lost to Herriman.
Penn HS Beats Royal Irish
Penn HS defeated top-ranked HS club Royal Irish 22-19 Saturday in a Rugby Indiana Boys Super League match.
Played in heavy wind, the game hinged somewhat on how the wind was used. Royal Irish won the toss and opted to play with the wind in the second half. By that time they were behind 15-5.
Penn flyhalf Cian Messner opened up the scoring with a penalty goal in the 4th minute. Royal Irish replied with a try, but at 20 minutes Penn pressure eventually produced a try by Alex Kennach, and then Trenton Horvath scored to make it 13-5. Messner converted for a 15-5 lead that held until halftime.
Royal Irish scored two tries early in the second half, and erased that deficit in short order. Down 19-15, Penn mounted an attack that capped off with flanker Kalet Ponce de Leon going over. Twelve minutes remained but Penn held on 22-19.
Boys HS Games April 17-22
The Easter Weekend means some teams will take the weekend off, but there are some games to watch here.
Check back for scores.
Jesuit New Orleans Wins 2019 Louisiana State Title
This past weekend, the Jesuit of New Orleans Blue Jay rugby team faced their longtime nemesis, the Bayou Hurricanes, in the Louisiana rugby state championship.
The match was played at the NOLA Gold stadium, immediately after the professional match between the NOLA Gold and the Utah Warriors. The Jays won the match, 19-7, and with it, their third-consecutive state championship.
Jesuit Beats Herriman
Jesuit of Sacramento defeated top Utah team Herriman in a highly-regarded crossover game.
It was a game played in wet conditions, and while Herriman was missing five starters due to injury, the Utah school hung close though much of the game.
Jesuit scored their final try at the end of the game.
"Jesuit is a team you can't make execution mistakes again because they'll punish them," said Herriman Head Coach Jeff Wilson. "We had just too many handling errors. They are very good."
Jesuit Head Coach John Shorey said this game, coming as it did two days after Jesuit played Lamorinda, was a good test for playing in quick succession at the National Championships.
Neuqua Keeps Rolling With Win Over La Salette
Neuqua continues to post impressive results in Rugby Illinois and this weekend was no different, as the Naperville, IL school defeated Notre Dame de La Salette 43-10 in league play.
The game was close throughout the first half, but in the second, Neuqua began to pull away. In the opening 20 minutes the game was somewhat back-and-forth. Neuqua wing Carl Reina capped off a nicely-worked movement to score early, but then the game settled down as both defenses held firm. Finally, La Salette scored to tie the game 5-5, and then with Neuqua down a player due to a yellow card, took a 10-7 lead with about five minutes left in the first half.
(Neuqua try-scorers at left, top to bottom: JJ Robertson, Rudy DeDeaux, Brandt Stare. Lori Chevalier photos.)
Penn Over Fishers In Dramatic Fashion
In a clash of two top-10 HS teams, Penn HS edged Fishers 28-25 in Rugby Indiana league play over the weekend.
The game was slated to be played at Fishers, but weather made that field unplayable, and so Fishers Rugby requested the game be moved to Penn's fields in Elkhart, Ind. That accommodation made, the game was on and both teams brought the physicality.
"We knew this was a big game," said Penn Head Coach Bart Bottorff. "And it turned out to be exactly that, Fishers were very good last year and this year they're better. They are big and physical."
Fishers exploited an early Penn mistake to secure the ball inside the opposing 22, run through a few phases, and score in the early minutes. Penn responded by gaining possession after the restart and tying the game 7-7. It was that sort of contest.
Jesuit Wins Big Game In Northern California
Jesuit defeated Lamorinda 59-29 Saturday to clinch 1st in Rugby NorCal's Premier 1 conference.
In this very, very competitive league, Jesuit is undefeated, with 0-2-1 SFGG left on the schedule. This win clinched 1st for Jesuit. SFGG lost to Danville 24-22 in yet another tight game. Danville, the defending national HS Club team, hadn't won a game until this weekend. Every game Danville has been involved with has been within a try—the Oaks have three bonus-point losses.
Lamorinda took a hard-hitting defense to the game against Jesuit, but Jesuit's speed of ball movement was too much. The Marauders worked the attack with variety, using the forwards and the backs. Flyhalf Jack Marchant ran the attack nively, while No. 8 Laitui Latu was a monster, laying out Lamo ballcarriers, and making territory with his own carries.
Jacksonville Takes Florida HS Title
The Jacksonville Wolverines are Florida state champions after beating Cardinal Gibbons 24-19 in the state final Saturday.
Jacksonville became the first team in the Florida HS league to go undefeated through the entire season. Travel and the competitive balance of the league makes it very difficult to run a clean sheet, but the Wolverines, who benefited from a visit from USA 7s star Perry Baker this year, were consistently good on the road as well as at home.
(Jacquie Schooling photos)
In the final, the Wolverines played well defensively, even when hit with two yellow cards. The overall team speed of the Jacksonville team helped them keep pace with Gibbons even when down two players.
2019 Gonzaga Classic Kicks Off This Weekend
Gonzaga HS hosts the annual Gonzaga Classic this weekend and once again the event has a long list of ranked teams involved.
Gonzaga is currently ranked #2 in the nation by FloRugby, and that would be its Purple squad, while the Black squad is pretty strong, too. Ranked single-school teams such as Greenwich (#9) and Good Counsel (#33) join ranked HS clubs such as Aspetuck (#17), Raleigh (#19), West End (#15), and Legion (#46).
The teams play two shortened pool games on Saturday and two more shortened games on Sunday for placement.
