Around the Nation in HS Sevens

09.27.2024

Rugby 7s is heating up in high school this fall.

A few more leagues are slated to start soon, but here's a rundown of what we've seen so far:

Pennsylvania

Downingtown had a good day at the Next Phase Rugby 7s Shootout in Berks County. Despite being, overall, younger than most of the teams in the tournament, were impressive. They move the ball quickly, kick well, and play smart rugby.

Berks opened up their account with two shutout wins and then tied with LaSalle 19-19. After that they lost to Downingtown. Both Berks and LaSalle are coming out of the tournament feeling that they could have done a bit better.

St. Joseph’s were solid and lost just the one game, while Cumberland Valley has started well.

With the girls, it’s considered wide open. Downingtown was strong here, too, but Doylestown, also a young team, produced the skill and ball movement and have lost yet.

Two teams, Berks County and West Chester, played their first games ever in this tournament and there’s so much more to come from them.

Indiana

Mudsock was outstanding this weekend. They beat Carmel, Westside, and Bishop Dwenger while allowing just the one try. Caleb Jensvold scored three tries and added two conversions for 19 points on the day. Noah Biel, Jordan Graham, and Jayvith Kissick all scored two tries, and Kissick added three conversions.

Zionsville Boys won two games with Brennan Richmond scoring three tries. Penn HS went 2-0 and their third game was canceled due to the weather.

Among the girls, it seemed like each team had a good game and then were undercut. Carmel did go 3-0 and Giabella Romano and Aissatou Diatta led them in tries, with Diatta providing the only score in a win over Westside.

Northern California

The Dragons went 2-0-1 in the opening weekend, tying Cougars 10-10 and beating Berkeley 15-7 and Cubs 10-7.

New Jersey

It’s a three-way chase so far between Greenwich (out of Connecticut but playing in the Rugby New Jersey league), Play Rugby (out of New York City), and St. Augustine in the boys U19 competition.

Greenwich leads both the U19s and the U16 competition, and Christian Brothers is 2nd among the U16s.

Ohio

Ohio’s 7s fall is split between North and South, because in the North you’ve got the greater Cleveland area and Toledo, and in the South you’ve got Columbus and Cincinnati, so the densities are separated.

In this opening week St. Ignatius out of the North went South to face off with the likes of St. Xavier, Archbishop Moeller, and Dayton Northern Force. Ignatius played a very controlled defense and combined some powerful interior runners with some pace and elusiveness out wide, all connected with effective passing. The formula produced three victories. Their opening win over Moeller, 36-5, produced six separate try-scorers, and the scoring was spread out in their 41-0 win over Dayton, too.

Leading the way for Ignatius was their defense. Most opponents hardly saw the halfway line and in fact their opening try against St. Xavier (another 41-0 shutout) was completely created by defensive pressure.

Scrumhalf/flyhalf Mark French was outstanding as a playmaker and defender. Mark Bornhorst was a powerful presence inside. Out wide Jimmy Coughlin was elusive and used his support well.

Moeller rebounded to go 2-1, beating Olentangy and St. Xavier, and showed some improved connections.

Meanwhile, up north Highland was 3-0 in their weekend, beating Perry in a close one, and shutting out both Hudson and St. Edward. Dominic Grecol and Niklaus Olivier led the team with four tries each.

On the girls side up north, John Marshall impressed, beating Perry 20-15, Mentor 36-0, and Hudson 31-10, with Kennedy Fleshman scoring a ton of tries. But they ran up against it with Perrysburg, who beat them 34-0. Perrysburg also won close games over Medina and Highland.

Oregon

Oregon’s girls fall 7s kicked off with the Renegades and Summit, both going 3-0. Renegades won their three games but two were against JV teams, so really the result to look at would be their 35-0 shutout of Highlanders. Summit’s defeat of Valley Panthers, East County Grackles Green, and a 15-14 win over East County Blue was, arguably, more notable.

Summit plays Renegades this coming weekend.

Idaho

Eagle HS dominates the West ADA competition as they are now 6-0 with have outscored opponents 249-15.

Iowa

SE Polk and Cedar Falls lead Iowa’s league after two evenings of competition. After the first week we saw several 2-0 teams meet up. SE Polk beat previously unbeaten Norwalk 31-5, giving up their first points of the season in the process. Aubri Waterhouse was once again a key scorer for SEP.

Cedar Falls met up with previously 2-0 Central Springs and beat them 31-0. Marcie Graves scored three tries.

SE Polk then shut out Mason City 44-0, with Waterhouse scoring twice. Cedar Falls moved to 4-0 with a 28-0 shutout of Spencer.

Close behind those two are DM Roosevelt, Waverly ShellRock, Central Springs, and Norwalk, all at 3-1, but the margins for those top two suggest they may be the favorites. SE Polk and Cedar Falls are slated to face off in Round 4.