We're going to talk in more depth about the finals of the Boys HS Championships, but here's a very quick look at the three finals.
Tier II
Shifty Aiden Chavez and power-running Lance Nauer were outstanding in a Tier II that produced many great performances throughout the tournament. Those two for Kansas City Blues helped propel their team to the final and they were ably backed up by their teammates.
St. Joseph's Prep competed in excellent fashion despite being a late addition to the event and therefore not having been planning for how to travel or compete.
The SOC Raptors pushed aside disappointment at not making the final to produce a thrilling 3rd place game. The Charlotte Tigers produced a huge performance to take 5th.
But the team of the day was the San Mateo Wolverines, which unleashed some astonishing open-field running, elusiveness, and offloads out of nowhere to hold off KC 20-15 (four tries, no conversions). Lock Lyndon Bailey was monstrous for the Wolverines.
HS Club
The final between Charlotte Cardinals and The Woodlands was as well played as any HS game you'd like to see. The Woodlands lost their flyhalf, Ilen Menon, to injury very early in the match and that hurt them. They lost their fullback, Tate Standridge soon thereafter. Charlotte ran out to a 10-0 lead and held that to halftime. But a second-half surge saw The Woodlands take a 13-10 lead thanks to a Mason Wilson try and the goalkicking off scrumhalf Neel Menon.
But some brilliant play from flyhalf Zach Colson and hard running from the likes of hooker Colby Marr and No. 8 Nate Rawls set up a try that made it 17-13. With time almost up The Woodlands was knocking on the door, but an interception by center Jacob Schumacher set up a length-of-the-field try, finished off by scrumhalf Will Kuebler, and Charlotte won it 24-13.
This was a game with power, with key decision-making, and some superb kicking skills.
Since the HS Nationals split into more than one bracket (which happened in 2008), there has never been a HS Club champion from the East Coast ... until now.
Single-School
A day after producing an almost perfect first half, Gonzaga basically did it again. After giving up three points early, the Eagles put together some brutal runs from lock Kimani Laumoli and center Steele Dombo and they required three or more players to tackle them. That left space out wide and tries from Joseph Hurley, Dombo, Brody Johnson, and Dombo again, made it 28-3 at halftime.
Flyhalf Kieran Downs was luminous and produced an excellent 50-22 to set up Hurley's try.
Down and out, seemingly, Ignatius exploded in the second half with some hard work from the forwards to make the gainline, and two tries from wing Jimmy Collins to make it slightly closer. And when Teagan Frain made a tackle that jarred a ball loose, and flyhalf Auggie Sowinski picked up the ball and took off for 80 meters, they were in with a shot. That run from Sowinski made it 28-20.
Gonzaga had to be looking over their shoulders, but they responded—Downs sliced into a gap and then fed Johnson for his second try (Johnson scored two in last year's final as well). Matthew Grau capped off a hard-charging effort while center Leo Ferrence scored for Ignatius to make it 42-25. It was a stirring partial comeback for an Ignatius team that never gave up, but Gonzaga's ability to keep the ball, their kicking game, their ability to create space with big men and exploit it with faster men, and their own level of tenacity saw them through.
Scrumhalf Mark French and lock Gavin Vollmer were excellent for Ignatius.
This was quite possible one of the best, if not the best, team Gonzaga has put out. In 2009 the DC school made the semifinals, finishing 4th. Since then they have made 16 straight semifinals, and in that span made the final 10 times, including the last three years. In those 10 finals they are 6-4. In their shorter HS Nationals history, St. Ignatius has made the semifinals every single time, four years in a row, and made three finals, winning one.
