St. Augustine and Cathedral Catholic in Southern California held the inaugural SD Invitational, hosting St. Joseph's Prep from Philadelphia and Regis Jesuit from Denver.

St. Augustine vs St. Joseph's

This game was a very physical match with both packs trying to control the center of the pitch. The Saints had a more possession and territory, but weren’t able to solve the St. Joseph defense. The Hawks were resilient on defense and truck back with strong runs up the middle and attacking the wide channels. The deadlock was finally broken when fullback Lucca Rohrer took a quick tap on a penalty to barge through the Hawk’s defense. Rohrer also converted the kick. St Joseph responded by taking advantage of a Saints goalline dropout that was picked up by the Hawks wing Eamon Coffey. Franky Lilley converted the kick. Th at made it a 7-7 deadlock at halftime.

The second half saw more heavy hitting from the forwards. The Saints held the territorial advantage but wasn’t able to convert. St Joseph executed a maul to get on the doorstep of the Saints, and Sean McNulty took a ball from the flyhalf and ran through a host of Saints defenders to score under the posts. Lilley landed his second conversion to run the score to 14-7 for St. Joe's.

The Saints got a penalty inside the Hawks 22 and were able to execute a couple phases off a lineout, eventually scoring off a big run from freshman Geno McKenna. The Saints followed that up by blocking a clearing kick from St. Joseph. they got a penalty and then a nifty run by wing Evan Kondan got the ball inside the five meter line and Isaac Morrill barged over to give the Saints a 21-14 lead with Rohrer conversion.

The teams went back a forth,and it was St. Augustine that was able to break through—this time on a crash ball off a lineout from wing Chase Basson. He didn't quite get to paydirt by St. Joe's was penalized and after a quick tap Rohrer sent it wide to flyhalf Sam Johns, who survived a huge collision on the goalline to score.

St. Augustine 28 St. Joseph 12.

Cathedral vs Regis Jesuit

Cathedral and Regis had never played each other so this was a new experience for both.

The Dons got a penalty inside the Regis 22 and they ran a switch play sending Dylan Fortune through for the try and a 7-0 lead with the conversion.  As expected, the Raiders came roaring back and after sustained offensive pressure were able to score off a pick-and-go by Raiders No. 8 Logan Hilliard. Scrumhalf Zach Wells converted to tie the game 7-7.

With 10 minutes to go in the first half the Dons were penalized and yellow carded. Despite being a man down the Dons were able retain possession deep in Raider territory allowing them to score twice prior to halftime, one from a pickup from scrumhalf Spence Huntley, and one from a slicing run by flyhalf Lewis Case. Huntley converted both and the first half ended 21-7 for Cathedral.

With a slight wind at their back the Dons opted apply pressure on the Raiders by utilizing a kicking game focused on pinning the Raiders in their half. With that they were able to apply offensive pressure on a staunch Raider defense resulting in a pick-and-go try by flanker Tony Lopez. Case then sliced through for another, and after that Max Bayless charged down the sidelines. Huntley converted two of those three tries to make it 40-7.

Cathedral flanker Ryan Bugg led the Dons with some bruising runs; he was able to break the gain line all afternoon.

The San Diego Invitational

The San Diego Invitational was a huge success. Two local high teams played top high school teams from far afield, teams they don't see often. All four teams welcomed the camaraderie of the game as well as the competition.

The hope is to have this invitational every year, bringing teams in cold-weather locales to San Diego to play someone new.