East Coast HS Action: Fairfield, Morris, Fort Hunt
East Coast HS Action: Fairfield, Morris, Fort Hunt
Siena College served as neutral-site hosts for Fairfield Prep (Conn.) and Canisius (NY).
It was a big win for Fairfield as they ran out 65-0 winners. Charles Dooley, Nick Vittoria, and Wally Wuchiski all scored two tries each.
Mike Silk, Jackson Hicks, Matt Samuelson, Brice Muller, and Tanner Langis also touched down. Vittoria added three conversions for 16 points, and Emmet Derby added two.
This followed up on Fairfield winning their own invitational tournament the week before.
In New Jersey, Morris took on a combined Franking, Bridgetwaer, Central Monmouth team. Franklin is a young program with mostly U16 players, so on the U19 level they have combined with Bridgewater and Central Monmouth.
The U19 game was tight for the first 20 minutes but under the leadership of Oliver Acuna Casey Morris began to pull away. Sebastian Occhino, Oliver Griffiths, and Ivan and Ayden Gomez, along with Evan Rothery, Callan Hughes, and Tiyaan Pillay all played well as Morris won 70-17.
Bergen Catholic defeated a tough Delbarton side 17-14 over the weekend.
This was a very good result for a Bergen team that is relatively new.
Fort Hunt defeated Loudoun 40-21 in Leesburg, Va.
Fort Hunt went up early 14-0 before a nicely-taken try from Loudoun scrumhalf Tyler Fraine inched Loudoun closer.
Fort Hunt scored again but had a tough time keeping Loudoun at arm's length.
"This was the first weekend of Spring Break so we lacked a bit of focus," said Fort Hunt Head Coach Dale Roach. "But we finished well. Loudoun play organized, good rugby and they have a deep youth program that produces good players."
In the second half, Loudoun got two tries from fullback Charlie Gully, both converted by Taylor Downer, but three Fort Hunt tries in the middle of the frame did the job.
Scrumhalf Jude Beatty was once again very good for Fort Hunt running the attack. He was also the goalkicking and slotted five of six conversions.
We reported on this part earlier but in case you missed it:
Greenwich of Connecticut defeated Rye of New York 27-14. It was a tough, competitive game in which Rye wasn't helped by a red card (two yellow-card-worthy high tackles).
"This was our second Top-10 opponent in the span of six days," said Rye Head Coach Jim O'Hara. "We proved we can play with the best. But we’ll keep working and take some lessons from this."
Archer Fenton at scrumhalf was a standout for Rye.
From the Greenwich side of things, the team leaders did superbly to keep Greenwich focused and organized.
Segundo Mas, Benja Thompson, and Jake Pobjoy were outstanding in that regard for GHS, which is racking up some solid results. Certainly they are playing in a more unified way than last year.
Xavier HS of New York were edged by Virginia HS club Vienna. This was a pretty high-profile win for a Vienna side that has already beaten Raleigh Redhawks, Richmond, and Aspetuck, and lost a close one to Gonzaga.
This was as close as you could get, with Vienna running out to a 22-7 halftime lead and holding on in nailbiting fashion 29-28. This game had a 90-minute lightning delay and severe weather punctuated the game throughout.
That delay was with the score 22-21 Vienna. And it was Vienna that scored next to take a two-score 29-21 lead that was just enough—Xavier got a penalty try right at the end of the game.
This was a good result for Vienna especially considering they were missing some of their more celebrated starters, including Andrew Evan and David Kendig.
