It's about as close as you could imagine in the Southern California North Gold division.

Back Bay is 3-0, but beat South Bay by the slim margin of 24-22 on March 18, and then got by Santa Monica 10-9 this past weekend.

"We can't win by any less," said Back Bay Head Coach Jeff Bonnett. "If games get any closer we're not winning anymore!"

The results are actually a fair reflection of the competitive balance in that HS club league. Santa Monica and Back Bay have a long-standing rivalry, but South Bay is still in good position to come out of that region and make a splash. South Bay is mostly what was the Los Alamitos single-school team that won the Varsity White division in the winter. 

"Los Alamitos was really tough," said Bonnett, whose team won thanks to slotting one additional conversion. "And pretty much that entire team is young enough to compete in the U16 league, so they're going to be good for a while."

Against Santa Monica, Back Bay had all they could handle. John Connor Shalloe slotted a penalty to take a 3-0 Santa Monica lead. Back Bay lock Gregorio Ferrin equalized, and then Shalloe hit a rare drop goal that bounced off the crossbar and went over. Shalloe added another penalty for a 9-3 Santa Monica lead.

It wasn't until late in the game that Back Bay finally broke through, working the phases and getting the penalties to move within five meters, and then another penalty was quick-tapped by lock Devin Lawnhorne. So that made it 9-8 Santa Monica, with the conversion to come, and that's where things got even weirder. Ferrin missed the conversion, but the Santa Monica players were shouting to distract him. The referee, as most referees will do in such a case, ordered a rekick, and the kick went over to win the game for Back Bay, 10-9.

"If you have to put it into perspective, it's like battling your brother because these kids all know each other," said Bonnett. "It was a tough game, but a good, clean game."

Santa Monica, and for that matter South Boy, are certainly not out of playoff contention. While Back Bay, now 3-0, is in control in the North Gold, and Santa Monica is now 2-1, there's plenty of opportunities to get a wild card spot in the playoffs.

Also this past weekend in Southern California, the San Diego Mustangs beat the Coastal Dragons (-) to move to 3-0 in the South Gold. In the Tri-Counties, Orca and San Luis Obispo are now at 6-1 (several of those games have been forfeits).