Life Women Train With Mira Costa Boys
The Mira Costa Boys HS team will probably be cheering for Life this weekend in the D1A men's college final, given that alumnus Justin Johnson is the Running Eagles' starting flanker, but they will also be cheering for Life in the women's final four.
Women's College Final Fours LIVE on FloRugby
The Life women trained with the Mira Costa boys this week in preparation for the semis Friday. The two teams worked through some drills and played touch rugby.
"The ladies from Life were wonderful guests as they played and then visited with the Costa Ruggers," said Mira Costa head coach Duke Dulgarian, who will also see Mira Costa grad Alexis Fonua join the Life women's program next season. “It’s our desire to become their ‘Life’line.”
Tennessee Starts HS, MS Playoffs
The Tennessee Rugby Association will conduct the state rugby championships over this coming weekend and the next, running semis on May 5 and finals on May 12.
Midwest HS Tournament For Real, And Seeding It Is Tough
The Midwest Boys HS Championships kicks off this weekend and it's a new-look tournament.
Previous years have seen the tournament split into HS Club and Single-School brackets. However, that has not been the best option, especially as Royal Irish has won fairly easily on the club side.
This year, then, the two brackets have merged at the very top, leaving an eight-team bracket that includes four teams set to go to the Boys HS Rugby National Championships.
But, the seeding is difficult, and in this article we thought it would be worth breaking down how you seed such a tournament.
Here goes:
Full Report: Xavier Over Greenwich
The Xavier-Greenwich rivalry is everything you want in a high school rivalry. It's between the two top programs in the Northeast..The annual game goes back to the late 1980s. Xavier is the perennial favorite, but Greenwich is good enough to pull off the upset about 1/3 of the time (most recently in an overtime win on penalty kick shootout at the 2017 Nationals). The rivalry produces intense, high pressure, physical matches, but the teams have great respect for each other. Many players know each other well and play sevens together in teh fall. The coaches on both teams are old friends and the two squads are each other biggest supporters at Nationals.
(David Treussard photos)
Herriman Wins But Kahuku Goes 3-1 On Tour
Herriman HS Hawaiian champion Kahuku HS this past week in the opener for Kahuku's tour of Utah.
Jesuit, Danville Win In NorCal Semis
It's been a wild Northern California Boys HS Premier season, and it's now down to two teams, as Danville and Jesuit won semifinals over the weekend.
After both teams showed some vulnerability through the regular season, healthy and ready for the championships, they showed up big-time. Jesuit beat SFGG 45-28 in a game where the Marauders led 28-0 at halftime. And a week after beating Granite Bay 46-12, Danville thumped Lamorinda - a team that beat the Oaks just a couple of weeks ago - 50-3.
Jesuit Over Granite Bay
Jesuit playing three touring sides during Spring Break and that experience seemed to build the team's confidence. Against SFGG the Marauders marauded.
Down To Four In Texas
Rugby Texas is down to a final four after this weekend's quarterfinals.
St. Pius X pulled off a relative upset, overcoming two red cards and a yellow (they were down to 12 players at one point) to be Allen 41-38 in overtime. David-John Selby kicked the game-winning penalty in overtime.
Dallas Harlequins Colts defeated Cy Fair 36-14 led by a massive game from loose forward Jordan Wander, and with backs Nic Smith and Herbert Evans working the attack.
Woodlands beat Eagle Mountain 31-10, while Westlake upset Katy 33-19 to move on.
Surprises in North Carolina
North Carolina produced a couple of surprises in its playoffs this weekend.
The Charlotte Tigers won over Charlotte Catholic Friday, which wasn't a surprise, however Saturday produced some victories for lower-seeded teams. The #1-seeded single-school team, Ardrey Kell, lost 21-15 to #4 North Meck. Both sides scored three tries, but North Meck's goalkicking was more accurate and that proved to be the difference.
On Friday, the #3-seed South Meck upset #2 Hough Huskies 36-31. Few would have picked a North Meck v South Meck final, but that's what we've got.
In the HS club bracket, the Tigers will take on another surprise team, the Raleigh Redharks. Raleigh was the #3 seed but beat #2 Chapel Hill 35-24.
Tigers, South Greenville Win MSIRL Semis
South Greenville and the Charlotte Tigers will face off next week in the final of the Mid-South Independent Rugby League after both won tight, dramatic semifinals Saturday.
South Greenville defeated Wando 20-15 in sudden-death overtime.
The teams battled to a 15-15 tie at full time. Time was available for a short overtime, and South Greenville fullback Chris Aurich found enough space to score the game-winner. Center Doyle Hedgepeth and wing Charles Gupton also scored tries. South Greenville Head Coach Phil Weston credited the work of his pack, and scrumhalf Sid Shoop marshaled the attack nicely.
St Ignatius Beats Royal Irish
St. Ignatius of Cleveland defeated top-ranked HS club team Royal Irish 27-13 Saturday in a classic crossover match.
Ignatius, which defeated Gonzaga earlier this year - a team Royal Irish also beat - has now defeated the #2 single-school team (Gonzaga at the time), and the #1 HS cub.
Royal Irish ran out to 13-0 with David Hannon having a strong game at flyhalf. But St. Ignatius replied with five unanswered tries.
"We had the wind in the second half so we had to play ball in hand most of the first half," said St. Ignatius Head Coach Dan Arbeznik. "We had five different guys score tries."
Xavier Over Greenwich
In a tight annual rivalry clash Friday night, Xavier held off Greenwich 19-12.
The game was close all the way, although Xavier did managed to get a two-score lead 19-7 before Greenwich scored later in the second half.
More details to come, but too many good photos not to show you now:
Charlotte Tigers On To NC Final
The Charlotte Tigers won Friday night's North Carolina HS club semifinal with a 26-12 defeat of Charlotte Catholic.
Flanker Eduan van Herdeen was named the player of the game as he scored a try and was active in stealing ball in the breakdown. No. 8 David Grant scored a try and was tough to bring down, while wing Donovan Law scored a try that capped off a long series in which the entire team had a hand.
Center Ethyn Baker also scored, powering through several tacklers to do so. Fullback Jack Williams converted three of the four tries. Charlotte is now on to the final where the Tigers will play the winner of Chapel Hill and Raleigh.
Boys HS Games April 27-30
We're trying something different in the scores page.
We've got the FloRugby rankings listed for each team in action (SS for Single-School and C for Club). In addition, we're sorting by state, not date.
Games to watch out for: Kahuku's tour of Utah, which has already started. SLUH at St. Thomas Aquinas in Kansas. Greenwich v Xavuer in a crossover, and Royal Irish vs. St. Ignatius. We have playoffs in Oklahoma, Northern California, Southern California, Texas, and North Carolina
Oklahoma is a final between Bixby and Union, two massive rivals. We also have the Mid-South Independent Rugby League semis. Phoenix hosts Charlotte Tigers and Wando hosts South Greenville. The final will be played next week.
Brophy Prep Takes Arizona D2 Title In 1st Season
Brophy Prep won the Arizona D2 state title last week, beating Scottsdale 49-19 to take the title, and it was the culmination of a very quick run to prominence for the new program.
Under Head Coach Steve Ciarfalia, Brophy Prep started rugby in January. Brophy Prep is a Jesuit Catholic school, and it made sense to Ciarfalia to follow the trend of Jesuit schools embracing rugby.
“We’ve only been playing 15s for four months,” said Ciarfalia. “It’s been a really good experience.”
Over the past few years, kids who attend Brophy have been interested in rugby but had to go play at nearby clubs.
“We didn’t have that school identity that the players were looking for,” said Ciarfalia. “We had the interest but not the structure.”
Union County Wins Big One In NJ
Union County RFC traveled to the Jersey Shore Sharks in what was expected to be a closely contested match. Neither team disappointed.
Both teams began with ferocious defense. Jersey Shore 8 man Evan Burton ran hard a number of times along with Center Sam Watts. The Mudturtles, missing 5 starters, had to rely on depth and bring up a number of young players in order to contain the hard running Sharks. Late in the first half, winger Cole Zuckerman was unleashed on the outside to pick up the first try of the match. Union 5 - Jersey Shore 0.
