Around the Nation in HS Rugby
Around the Nation in HS Rugby
While we have touched on a few leagues and contests around the nation, there’s more to cove.
So here goes:
Texas
St. Thomas of Houston logged their first win of the season with a 51-5 defeat of HCYA. No. 8 Matthew Brolan was forced to step in about 15 minutes into the match and exploded. He played the rest of the game, capping it off with a 65-meter run for his second try of the day.
AH Green was very good at flyhalf and scored two tries.
Faith Family Academy showed well in a win over Great Hearts. Senior Center Isaac Whittle scored three long-range tries for FFA.
The Woodlands … well we haven’t seen much from them, unfortunately. The club is potentially so far ahead of everyone else in the region that no one, especially early in the season, feels good about playing them. They beat their own 2nd side to open the season, but last week’s game was canceled and the next league game seems to be off, too. It’s definitely unfortunate. Woodlands looks to be playing a non-league day o’ rugby with Strake Jesuit and that’s a good thing.
So … The Woodlands … any takers?
NorCal Single-School Latest: DLS Over Jesuit and More
Florida
Key Biscayne is 3-0 now now after a 43-19 win over Tampa. Last week’s win over Okapi White was a head-turner.
Okapi White is now 2-1 and Jacksonville has quietly started 2-0. Jacksonville and Okapi White play next week.
Cross-Border Action
Gregory the Great defeated Fort Hunt 37-7.
“They were very good and we had a bad day,” said Fort Hunt Head Coach Dale Roach. “They were very good in the breakdown and had excellent tactical kicking that kept us bottled up all day.”
GGA had beaten Vienna earlier this month 7-3, and Head Coach Garret van Beek said his team had a tough time getting into their offensive flow.
“We didn't do the little things well, and that prevented us from putting the points on the board,” Van Beek told GRR. “We tightened things up for the Fort Hunt match, and put on a stronger team performance. Fort Hunt was physical and relentless and made us work for everything.”
Also, Marin took the trip north to the Eastside Lions in Washington and that was an entertaining match. Full report here>>
Pendleton visited St. Xavier: Pendleton Opens Account With Win at St. Xavier
Georgia
AYR Golden Eagle beat the Roswell Rebels 27-14 on a damp day in Atlanta.
Strong forward play led the way for AYR, with hooker Gio Duke earning player-of-the-game honors. He worked hard all day and scored two tries.
Northern California
The club season is in action for a few teams that don’t have players in single-school teams. It’s a way of getting some of the league games in early.
This week the Danville Oaks beat Mother Lode 40-5. The Oaks got tries from Nieshan Okour and Kayvon Foreman with a Chris Leibbrandt conversion for a 12-0 lead at halftime. Foreman’s try was a nifty long-range run highlights by a dummy around the cover defense to finish it off.
Tommy Ashton scored two in quick succession, one from an eightman pick and one finishing off a well-taken team sequence, to start the second half. Leibbrandt converted both. Patrick Sullivan powered over and Ryan Vaupen scored the final one, with Leibbrandt ending the day 5-for-6 from the tee. Mother Lode added a try at the end from a scrum center where they executed nicely.
A solid showing from Danville who look ahead to a busy March.
Louisiana
Things were fairly predictable this week with Brother Martin beat East Jefferson 65-14 and New Orleans Jesuit beating St. Paul 30-0.
Brother Martin is slated to visit Tennessee for a quick tour. Jesuit NOLA will visit Austin, Texas for the Louisiana-Texas Varsity Cup. This past weekend’s fixture with St. Pius X resulted in a forfeit win for Jesuit.
Arizona
We are now officially into the league schedule for Arizona.
Desert Legion won 63-10 over Red Mountain in what Head Coach Chris Gray called a fairly complete performance. As we’ve mentioned before, the competitive balance in Arizona has changed markedly this year and that’s a good thing, with Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Red Mountain, Brophy Prep, and Desert Legion all in with a chance to win on any weekend.
Tempe beat touring Kearns out of Utah, while in the other league game, Phoenix beat Scottsdale 38-31. The lead changed multiple times in this match and it took a try in the final minute for Phoenix to break a 31-31 tie and win it.
Alex Markley scored two really nice tries for Scottsdale on the day but Phoenix pulled it out Flyhalf Max Cauley was outstanding, scoring a try and four conversions. Center Robby Perry was good on attack and on defense. He was strong in contact but also had a good sidestep. His third try of the game was the game-winner.
Head Coach Rob Speers praised his forwards, led by flanker and captain Carter McKay, who is a tireless worker. Jaxon Guerrero at No. 8 and hooker Quintin Russo also had high work rates. Both scored.
Next up in league action is Phoenix vs Tempe on Saturday.
Southern California
The school season in SoCal Youth Rugby is split between exclusively single-school and then teams that might have players from other schools in their lineup. They are called Multi-School teams. They are not really school teams and not really clubs, and as such you won’t find their names in the GRR rankings.
However, there’s plenty of ability there … and competitive balance.
Take a look at the scores from this week:
Servite 22 San Marcos 19
Oceanside 48 Villa Park 24
Rancho Cucamonga 22 Coronado 19
John Muir 41 La Jolla 24
Murrieta 12 San Clemente 0
Those are all competitive-to-close games. Oceanside is looking good at 5-0 and Murrieta is now 4-1. The playoffs for this league wraps up February 28.
