Around the country in Boys HS Rugby.

 

Crossovers

Xavier (SS#5) plays Greenwich (SS#7), so that’s a big game. We preview it here.

 

Tennessee

It’s playoff time as the individual conferences start to find out who makes it to the state playoffs. Weather has played havoc with the season, but there’s hope things will be a bit nicer now.

Of the three conferences, West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and SMAC, it’s West Tenn. that looks to be the most competitive, with Christian Brothers (SS#49), Germantown, and PCA all thinking conference title.

Christian Brothers, led by hard-running center Khilan Wright, and with No. 8 Patrick Pietrangelo and Camerson Sanders leading the way on defense, they’ve been hard to score on. Richard White is another standout back, and if they get going in their game flow, said Coach Justin Whitmer, they can be tough to beat.

See more on the Tennessee playoffs here.

 

Georgia

Friday night is state final night ... this just in, Phoenix 27 Lassiter Trojans 19. 

 

Missouri and Kansas

The Kansas City Jr. Blues, St. Thomas Aquinas, and KC Cougars are still the top teams in the KC area. 

In the eastern part of Missouri, St. Louis University High won big over DesMet and are sitting in good shape.

 

North Carolina

We're all waiting for next week's North Meck v Hough game, as that kind of decides things in the Meck-A Conference. Same deal in the South West where Charlotte Catholic (SS#31) is 6-0, but plays the two teams chasing them in the next two weeks.

Among the clubs, Raleigh (MS#27) is 5-0 and should be OK against Chapel Hill. Union County (MS#29) is 5-0 and plays 5-1 Charlotte (MS#30). So we'll know something after that. 

 

Florida

It’s the final between Weston (MS#8) takes on Orlando (MS#13) in a massive clash. We preview it here.

 

South Carolina

It’s all about tonight. See here.

 

Virginia

West End v Fort Hunt? #39 v #40 HS clubs? That’s all we need to say. 

 

New York

Kenmore v Orchard Park in the Buffalo area and New Rochelle v Pelham (SS#43) are big games.

 

Pennsylvania

Don’t you love it when this happens? Doylestown (MS#23) is 4-0 and plays 4-0 Kutztown (why are they not ranked?). Downingtown plays Doylestown’s IIs, and should stay unbeaten. Kiski is 2-0 and should say that way. West Shore (MS#14) has one of their potential rivals, Carlisle.

Cumberland Valley (SS#23), 3-0, takes on 2-1 Unionville, while West Allegheny (4-0) should stay unbeaten. The big game in Single-School Blue is Moon Area v Burrell for the place right behind the 2nd-year West Allegheny team.

Coached by one of the school’s football coaches, West Allegheny’s strength is in its back row, with Sean Orsini, Matt Holmes, and Alec Londino playing very solid rugby so far.

 

Ohio

St. Xavier is 2-0 and Pickerington is 2-1 in the DI Southern Conference. St. Xavier needs to win to keep pace with Moeller, 3-0.

 

Indiana

This is a massive game in the Indiana Super League as the #2 single-school team, Penn, visits the #2 club, Royal Irish, in Indianapolis. Royal Irish lost an early-season game to single-school #1, Gonzaga. Let’s see if they can do one better against a very snappy Penn team.

Notre Dame De La Salette (SS#11) plays Brownsburg (SS#35) in the other Super League game. 

In DI, Bishop Dwenger, tops in the North, looks to keep winning against HSE, tops in the South.

 

Utah

All playoff implications with major ranked teams involved. See here.

 

Colorado

It’s playoff time. with all eight DI teams in the quarterfinals. 

East (SS#20) v Cherry Creek

Regis Jesuit (see here) v Chaparral

Colorado Springs (MS#36) v Littleton

Aurora (MS#49) v PAC (MS#48)

 

The DII also has playoffs

Fort Collins (5-1) v Central (4-3)

Grand Junction (4-0-2) v Aspen (5-1-1)

Northside (4-1-1) v Highlands Ranch (6-1)

Monarch (3-30 v Titans (6-0-1)

 

These teams are playing in part for promotion to DI next year.

 

Minnesota

It’s already all confused this season, with usual favorites Edina losing close games to Hopkins and Minnetonka. Duluth (aka Northshore) beat Minnetonka, but lost to Hopkins. Still, led by No. 8 Connor Rudd, newcomer Nelson Chanthavong, and scrumhalf Austin Imig, Northshore has emerged as a contender.

Northshore faces St. Cloud, and Hopkins faces North Suburban. But this is all preliminary. In-conference play hasn’t started yet.

 

Oklahoma

The big game was this past weekend, when Union (SS#13) defeated Bixby (SS#37) 38-14. 

Playing with flyhalf Seth Mischler out injured, Union hung in there and started with four tries from Lorenzo Thomas  and one each from fullback Amani Griffith and lock Austin Barnes. Tyler Ingram, kicking in place of Mischler, was 4-6 on conversions, while Jake Whitehouse Casey Saied scored for Bixby. 

That pretty much assures that Union’s red team will be top in the league. Bixby should be second.

 

Idaho

Mountain View (SS#47) faces Capital HS (SS#50) in a game that basically will decide who will be top seed going into the playoffs.

Also, Rocky Mountain faces Eagle in a game where the winner should make the playoffs.

 

Washington

Eastside plays Seattle, with the loser almost certainly eliminated from the four-team playoffs. Liberty (MS#6) faces the only team to beat them, Budd Bay, in a huge game for the underdog Barbarians. Liberty has clinched 1st. So that leaves Kent (MS#46) v. Chuckanut. A win by Kent guarantees a playoff spot - probably #2 - and likely eliminates Chuckanut.

Budd Bay could still lose to Liberty and be in playoff contention, tied with the winner of Eastside and Seattle.

 

Oregon

Newberg takes on Oregon City hoping to stay unbeaten. Union (SS#44) should remain atop the league, though, as they face 2-4 Canby.

Among the club teams, Beaverton (MS#28) and Eastside (MS#12) shouldn’t have too much trouble staying on top.

 

Northern California

It’s championship time. North Sacramento plays Bishop O’Dowd (SS#48) for the Varsity Silver title. But the big one is Danville (MS#1) v Granite Bay (MS#3) for the club Varsity Gold championship. Danville looks healthy and powerful up front. Granite Bay has height and some superb field vision from their halfbacks.

Danville has a superb and deep back three, which they will need because Granite Bay knows how to use the kick. This is an awesome clash of styles and ability. 

 

Southern California

We’re in to the semifinals now. Single-school #4 Fallbrook plays MS#7 Back Bay in one semi, while MS#16 Los Angeles hosts MS#17 Santa Monica. GRR has those teams ranked very close, and they should be. LA draws heavily from St. John Bosco, which won the single-school Varsity White championships. Fallbrook is the ams team that won the single-school Varsity Red title. 

By the way, isn’t Steven Branham, who has basically been Fallbrook’s game MVP almost every week while holding together a small squad through two season, as good a league MVP as anyone? Impressive year for the No. 8 (and HS All American hooker). 

 

In the Green semis, it’s Coastal Dragons v Orca and Empire v Hawaiian Gardens.

 

Texas

It's playoff time, with undefeated Westlake (SS#10) hoping to get by Kingwood, while Lake Travis (SS#19) takes on Woodlands. More here.