Southern California's Boys club season got a jolt over the weekend as the four teams expected to challenge for the championship were involved in two games.
SOC Raptors were downed by a solid Belmont Shore side 38-17. The Raptors did see Clarence Chaney and Jacob Bower score tries, while Keegan Hannon added a conversions and a penalty, and Redmond Chelsey also added a penalty.
The Raptors put Belmont Shore under pressure especially in the opening minutes, but a penalty and a long kick from Belmont put Shore up 7-0. The Raptors continued to have the lion's share of the territory through the first half, but Belmont led 14-3 at the break.
Belmont Shore Head Coach Johnny Pua said his club's tour of New Zealand and their experiences at the HS National Championships helped the players learn to believe they could—and should—play fast.
"We get a penalty or a turnover we want to go fast and catch them offside. Any opportunity we want to take advantage of it," said Pua.
The Raptors, meanwhile, exerted pressure and turned that pressure into penalties that were kickable, but into a stiff wind. They kicked only one out of four.
That success rate had the team rethinking their approach int he second half, and they started to make inroads. However, by then Belmont Shore had scored twice and were in the lead 28-3. The Raptors started to create some shape and worked a nicely-taken try for Chaney. Belmont punished a mistake to answer, and then SOC's Bower ran in from 30 meters to make it 33-17.
