It's season-opening weekend for the CIF teams in Southern California.
Some teams have played some warmup scrimmages, but the season needs to get going before Christmas to make sure everyone gets enough games. Thursday night Cathedral Catholic hosts the Australian Raptors U16s, which is back on tour in SoCal (they played LA RFC earlier in the week). Friday Saint Augustine plays Patrick Henry, and Saturday Mira Costa takes on Fallbrook.
Cathedral will be splitting its squad to play Mission Bay and Mission Vista (Cathedral is in the Platinum Division and those other two are in the Gold Division).
"The whole idea is to get as many games as possible," said former USA 7s and 15s player Matt Hawkins, who is coaching the Cathedral Catholic team this year but is, in fact, this weekend in New Zealand watching his son play for the USA U18s.
The latest information coming out of the CIF is that programs are growing. There has been a significant growth in roster sizes for the girls teams (the Maher-Sedrick-Bronze effect) and the boys teams are also reporting solid numbers. The CIF Platinum boys league will include the Saints, the Dons, La Costa Canyon, Fallbrook, Mira Costa, and Los Alamitos, and there's not an easy win among any of them.
