The HS Club Division of the 2022 Boys HS National Championships enjoyed one of its best and most dramatic days in history with four tense quarterfinals that were all decided by less than a try.
San Diego Mustangs vs United
This game was a massively physical clash that see-sawed back and forth. San Diego took and early lead but United surged back.
The game went down to the wire and San Diego scored late and held on to win 26-22.
SOC Raptors vs Granite Bay
This meeting of the #1-seed Granite Bay and the #8-seed SOC was much, much closer than expected.
Granite Bay fell behind early and just couldn't quite break through on the Raptors. The SoCal #8 seed, for their part, were very quick over the ball and forced turnovers of holding-on penalties. The Raptors scrumhalf William Lhommedieu was quick and got his side in scoring position and Asbjorn Ross at second row was a powerhouse.
It was Ross's try late in the game that put his side ahead.
But Granite Bay came back, hitting a key penalty goal from flyhalf Haydn Williams. The Grizzlies had a lineout deep in SOC territory that could have set up a game-sealing try. But the ball didn't go to hand and the Raptors got a penalty, and kicked deep, and got another penalty.
With time running out the Raptors got a penalty in front of the posts. Now, many on the sidelines at this point thought the score was 18-17 for Granite Bay. It wasn't; it was 20-17. This was crucial because the Raptor players opted to tap and go rather than kick for points.
It didn't work, as a knock-on relieved the pressure for Granite Bay and, ultimately, they survived 20-17.
For Granite Bay hooker Jayden Flores was very good and prop Bryan Pogne and sparkplug scrumhalf Avion Ganse-Lira scored tries. Cole Sanderson added two conversions and two penalties.
Head Coach Chris Miller told his players that they had made it through the first day without injuries and were in the semis. They hadn't performed well, but they had survived. Sometimes, that's enough.
