March is here and we do have more and more leagues kicking off.
The weather can be a bit dodgy at this time with snow certainly still possible in the Midwest and Northeast. But the games are on the slate.
St. Ignatius out of Cleveland could well have come out of last weekend as the #1-ranked team, but they stay at #2 for now. Ignatius won their opener against
Right from the start it looked very good for Pendleton as they got a very early turnover near the 5-meter line. St Ignatius's rush defense held up strong keeping Pendleton away from the tryline, and even as Pendleton got yet another penalty in their favor and tapped, Ignatius caused a knock-on with their defensive pressure.
The ensuing scrum started a very long drive down the field for St Ignatius as they did a nice job putting a hard runner through gaps in Pendleton's defense. Ignatius's first score came from a pick-and-go from scrumhalf Mark French. After a bit of Pendleton attack in Ignatius's half, they were able to get a penalty opted for posts to make it 5-3. French set up the next try with a wide pass to Tommy Passerallo, who unleashed an outstanding run capping it off with a try—he ended with three on the day. Off the restart Ignatius moved the ball to the far side where Rafe Gabrovsek out-sprinted the defense and made the score 15-3.
Pendleton's attack started to come together with a wide pass from their fly half to their wing for a large gain. This led to another penalty goal to make it 15-6—all points from kicks for Pendleton, no points from kicks for Ignatius. Again from the restart Ignatius was able to capitalize; they forced a turnover and flyhalf Henry McGowan swinging the ball to fullback Chris Haney. He was in for the fourth Ignatius try.
Pendleton made some outstanding tackles in a goalline fight and was able to hold the score to 20-6 at halftime. The second half didn't start so hot for either team but after some mistakes from both teams, Passerallo had the ball in his hands again and raced in to make it 25-6. Ignatius was able to capitalize off of Pendleton's mistakes and Passerello scored another try with an impressive dive. With the clock running down and Pendleton unable to get anything going, French scored his second.
Both teams play the same opponent this week as New Trier out of Illinois looks to replicate the intensity of Nationals with two tough games in two days—Pendleton on Saturday and Ignatius on Sunday.
Charlotte Cardinals comes out of a very successful Carolina Ruggerfest where they went 3-0, fielding three teams in the opening weekend of North Carolina's league season. The Cardinals 1st team, however, will Cardinals Red, will not play league rugby but will play a rather imposing schedule. The club has about 240 kids playing and training. At the top level Head Coach Jason Zehmke said the Ruggerfest performances showed him what he has.
"I've seen the DNA of this team and now we hae to mold it so we can have a run at defending our title," he said. "We've got some really tough opposition coming up."
California
The All-California final will be between St. Francis and Torrey Pines. These are two fairly dissimilar teams. Pines would perhaps be a bit more structured, and they rely on their kicking game—it produced most of the tries they scored in the SoCal final.
In response, St. Francis plays fast and moves the ball. Kingston Kenaaina has been a star for the Lancers but he's not the only one. The team got the notice of the San Jose Mercury News this week and the crux of that article was that football has fueled the rugby success. This is somewhat true, but could also be true the other way. This final will be really intriguing and we think, when you start talking rankings, that since St. Francis beat De La Salle and Torrey Pines tied with Cathedral Catholic, for now, the winner of this game could well get to the top of GRR's Top 50.
Also in SoCal is the SCIRF final with la Costa Canyon vs Cathedral Catholic.
If you want to talk more rankings there are several all-ranked games this week.
St. Edward at Xavier of New York
Gonzaga vs Vienna and Fort Hunt
St. Ignatius vs New Trier
Pendleton vs New Trier
Danville vs Marin
Torrey Pines vs St. Francis
West Valley vs Cavemen
La Costa Canyon vs Cathedral Catholic
—Some reporting Preston Bucsanyi
