Around the Nation in HS Rugby | Goff Rugby Report

01.29.2023HS Boys

Here's a quick look at what has been happening around Boys HS rugby through the USA.

Of course our scores page article said five states were in action when really it was seven ... some stealth launching from Arizona and Georgia threw us off, but here goes regardless:

Florida

We have a closer look at Okapi's big win over Cardinal Gibbons and a standings update here>>. But also checking in with Boca Raton after they won over Key Biscayne.

Head Coach Garth Duff-Gray pointed to his team's lack of warmup scrimmages as one reason for last week's loss to Okapi. Certainly Gibbons could probably point to that, too.

The victory over Key Biscayne, said Duff-Gray, was "just a progression of cycles, knocking the rust off, and dialing in our execution."

Key Biscayne had enjoyed a bit more time together and it made for a tight first half.

"They played tough and were disruptive," said Duff-Gray. "We settled into our game methodology and improved our execution," and won 19-8.

Georgia

It's a new day and a new dawn potentially in Georgia with five boys HS teams, including two new ones, and more new teams expected soon. One such team is War Eagle Rugby, which was borne out of Atlanta Youth Rugby's Buckhead youth team. Several of the Buckhead Youth players moved on to attend Marist HS in Atlanta and pushed to get rugby at the school. The school supported a student club, and interestingly the school policy is to keep student clubs open to other kids in the community.

That worked out perfectly for this new club, called War Eagle because that's Marist's mascot. Saturday War Eagle played Roswell and won 26-7. This was the first rugby game ever for several players, with newcomer loose forward Michael Hardie making an immediate impact and backs Dylan Forbes-Roberts (flyhalf) and Charlie Alexander (outside center) running a fairly effective attack.

More to come from War Eagle, said Head Coach Christian Cam, who has developed a partnership with Rugby ATL and seen several of that MLR club come to help out at training.

North Carolina

Marvin Ridge finished the regular school-season undefeated with a 31-12 defeat of a tough Myers Park team. Housh won also and took 1st in the league thanks to a better points difference. South Mecklenburg, idle for this week, sits 3rd and Laney HS is fourth and they will face off in two weeks in the semis.

Against Myers Park, Marvin Ridge had the run of territory and possession for much of the first half but strong Myers Park defense held them out until captain Finlay Mitchell broke through to score under the posts with his younger brother, Cameron, slotting the conversion.

The scrum and lineout were both keenly contested areas of a physical contest with Myers Park's large pack and disciplined defensive structure holding firm. Myers Park equalized after turning over Marvin ball in their own half and Ed Durham raced 70 yards to score in the corner despite a valiant last-ditch tackle by Marvin fullback Aiden McLaughlin.

Connor Hicks added a tough conversion to tie the game 7-7 after 23 minutes.

Again Marvin continued to apply pressure and just before the stroke of halftime, Troy Blackmer, brand new to rugby only three months ago, sidestepped and cut a line with a strong carry to dot down under the posts. Cameron Mitchell converted.

The second half saw Marvin introduce a variety of kicks and early on they put Myers Park under pressure. A hoped-for try was not awarded and a few minutes later Myers Park's Holden Hahn took advantage of confusion in the Marvin maul defense to race down the blindside unopposed.

The Marvin forwards responded well with a series of strong carries from Rawls, Starr, Yancey and Jones. Finlay Mitchell then scored twice in the space of three minutes, one from a quick-tap penalty and the other after a good pickup off his bootlaces to go in under the posts. Cameron Mitchell converted both to cap it off 31-12.

Louisiana

It was a good start for a New Orleans Jesuit team that has planned a really robust schedule of top-ranked sides from around the country. This opening weekend was against in-state rivals Brother Martin and Jesuit won 70-7. Flanker Rowan Bourdais scored two tries and was impressive around the field, while the halfback combination of Matt Cashio and Andrew Newell directed the attack nicely.

Cashio, who spent the past summer training with Clermont in France, scored two as well.

Texas Single-School

We have a detailed wrap on games in the Single-School league, with three teams going to 2-0 in an impressive-looking competition.

Dallas Jesuit, Strake, St. Thomas to 2-0 in Texas

Texas HS Club

West Houston beat Brazoria 88-0 in the opening weekend for both.

West Houston took control early and spent much of the game in the Brazoria half. Strong runs from center Hunter Finlay saw territory gains resulting in early tries from prop Seth Smith and scrumhalf Joe Curran. An interception try from flyhalf Ben Saunders saw the points begin to build as did West Houston’s momentum.

Brazoria battled well on defense but struggled with the power of West Houston's pack and the Lions' depth.

The second half continued with solid defense work from winger Rowan Bishop and storming runs from second row newcomers Enifome Okirika and Erben Birkhoff. Brazoria remained courageous and never stopped making big defensive tackles right till the end.

"West Houston have set their sights on some big wins this season and yesterdays performance certainly put things on track," said West Houston club boardmember Nigel Saunders.

Arizona

Tempe, #4 at the 2022 National High School Championships HS Club bracket, opened up their season in impressive fashion 69-22 over Red Mountain. It was a typical rivalry match with plenty of earth-shaking tackles and emotion.

Tyreeq Styles Obichere opened the scoring with two quick tries, and two more from Tanner DeMassa helped stake Tempe to a 29-0 lead before Red Mountain was able to score. However, Red Mountain did mount a comeback and made it 39-22 thanks in part to a couple of Tempe yellow cards. After that, however, better Tempe continuity allowed Vili Pulu and Blake Lidell to help put the game away. Talli Maafu scored 18 points off four conversions and two tries.

Southern California

Long Beach Poly shook off last week's loss to San Clemente and defeated Coronado 52-14. Meanwhile San Clemente took on Orange Lutheran and won 40-17.

The game was closer than the score implies; at halftime it was only 5-0. But the second half opened up after San Clemente made some adjustments in the middle of the field and captain Blake Allen began to take control of the game. Orange Lutheran were big, well-coached, and performed well, especially for a first-year program.

But they struggled to blast through the San Clemente defense as SC's defensive commitment and accuracy was solid.

"We have a tight group this year and that translates well on the field," said San Clemente Coach Stuart Proctor.

As time went on San Clemente's experience, and some impressive kick-chase, won the game for them.

San Juan Hills HS hosted two teams—La Jolla and John Muir HS—in a series of three 40-minute games. San Juan won both, beating La Jolla 19-12 and John Muir 15-0.

Against La Jolla San Juan took a while to get their attack going, but they defended well. It was defensive pressure that helped produce tries. Wing Alex Lara kicked for pressure nicely and he helped set up two tries from captain and No. 8 Joseph Vavrina and center Tristan Gutman. Lara also took on goalkicking duties and slotted two tough ones.

Newcomer lock Charles Ebuzeme had his coming out game, made huge tackles, and carried hard. Brady Campbell made his varsity debut and showed well.

Against John Muir San Juan battled through with tries from flanker Daniel Mceahern and Vavrina. San Juan added a nicely-taken try in the second half capped off by Lara in the corner.

Hooker Grant Culberson did the hard work in the trenches, and made some huge defensive stops.

SCIRF

The SCIRF varsity league in Southern California, not affiliated with SoCal Youth Rugby, saw Cathedral Catholic and St. Augustine move to 6-0 and 5-0, respectively, while Fallbrook won again to go to 5-1.

Fallbrook beat La Costa Canyon 40-0. It was a solid defensive effort for Fallbrook after last week's loss to Cathedral. Manny Reyes led the effort on defense while center Alan Leon caused LCC all kinds of trouble with ball in hand and scored two tries.

"We have to be better looking for space on the attack and defending space when on the defensive side," said Head Coach Sierra Arteaga.

St. John Bosco won a Thursday night game over Warren but couldn't make it a weekend sweep as they lost to Cathedral 26-12.

This was the first time that Cathedral and St. John Bosco had played since 2019.

Cathedral and Bosco may not have met since 2019; the names of the players may have changed but the physicality of past CC-Bosco games was alive and well Saturday morning in Bellflower. Both teams went at it for 70 minutes with each team trying to play their own style of rugby, Bosco would utilize their size throughout the game while Cathedral used their speed and kicking to their advantage.

Tries from center Rocco Balistreri and Spencer Huntley, with Huntley converting both, staked Cathedral to a first-half lead of 14-0. CC wing Grant Gancarz opened the second half scoring with an unconverted try but Bosco did very well to claw back to within a score at 19-12 with less than five minutes to play.

Bosco had mounted their comeback by pinning Cathedral in their 22, but CC turned the tables after the restart and finally Jon Solomon broke through to ice it 26-12.

"Again another great team effort across the board especially in light of four starters out due to injury," said Cathedral Catholic Coach Glenn Irvine. Special accolades to no. 8 Luke Westfall for his numerous line breaking runs and big tackles throughout the game."

St. Augustine and Cathedral play each other this coming Friday in San Diego.