It was a good weekend for Jesuit, Granite Bay and SFGG this weekend in Northern California.
After two very close losses, Jesuit of Sacramento put a more complete performance against the Marin Highlanders.
Fully healthy and having taken on some lessons from one-try losses to Granite Bay and Danville, ran out to a 28-0 halftime lead over Marin and held on 31-0. Head Coach Andrew Acosta praised his team's composure.
Senior lock Wade Johnston opened the scoring thanks to a maul. Hooker Josh Baleiweilagi scored ten minutes later and that was followed by tries from wing Cannon Davey (capping off a nice counterattack from fullback Maverick Nagel) and senior flyhalf Jack Patock (back from injury) on a weaving run. Davey was a perfect four-for-four with the conversions.
Jesuit seemed in control in the second half but they did struggled to finish, being held-up once, stepping onto the touchline just before scoring another time, and getting confused by the multiple lines on the field and touching down at the wrong place. Davey added a penalty, and that was it.
"We got bit by the injury bug the past two weekends, but we were able to keep everyone on the field," said Acosta. "It was a very composed performance for the Marauders. We used our kicking game and played rugby in the right parts of the field."
Meanwhile, Danville and Granite Bay played a tough, back-and-forth match that remained close all day. The Oaks were a bit bigger and their size allowed them to control some things up front. Granite Bay played tough but key mistakes made it tough on them; still GB held on 31-24. (We apologize for an earlier version of this story which had Danville winning, which is completely our fault for misunderstanding some communications.)
