Easter Weekend Crossovers in California

04.06.2026HS Boys

Xavier vs Lamorinda on Xavier's 2026 tour.

Author: Alex Goff

Easter Weekend brought some crossover matches for HS clubs in California, as Southern Californians and Northern Californians crossed the divide to test themselves.

The Carmichael Hawks enjoyed a Spring Break Tour last week capped off by a much-anticipated contest with the San Diego Mustangs at Santa Fe Christian School.

The Mustangs struck first, scoring off a penalty-lineout-maul. The teams battled to a bit of a standstill for most of the rest of the first half, but as the break approached, the Mustangs were able to score nicely through the backs and lead 12-0.

The half was punctuated by solid defense from the Mustangs as the Hawks threw what they could at their hosts. but couldn’t break through.

And when the Hawks were penalized again Mustangs center Dylan Trower, who was outstanding on the day, tapped quickly and set the platform for a try that made it 17-0.

Carmichael responded after the break with a well-taken try from Rupeni Rukuvau, but the Mustangs responded, and did well to keep Carmichael at arm’s length before pulling away to win 36-14.

For Carmichael, it was a good performance on the road against a national title contender, and they did their best against the relentless pressure of the hosts, the heat, and limited subs.

The San Mateo Wolverines looked quite snappy in a 45-38 win over Belmont Shore. The Wolverines are starting to pick up the pace in their games and this was a good showing against a team of historic quality.

Also in California

In the one league game in SoCal’s premier club competition, Thunder Rugby beat the SOC Raptors 31-22.

This was a back-and-forth game between two teams who have accomplished much as the national level. Jesse Torres was outstanding at fullback for the Raptors and was prominent on the scoreboard, scoring a try and adding seven points with his boot.

For Thunder, flanker Luke Hensley, wing Kymani Nua, and Deacon Maeva at scrumhalf were all impressive.

With 10 minutes to go the score was 24-17 for Thunder. The Raptors were able to put a string of phases together and Torres finished off in the corner to nudge it closer with an unconverted try. Thunder took the advantage off another subpar SOC exit and scored to take the score to 29-22 with a minute to play. The Raptors strung together several phases and just could not get over the goalline.

This was a high-quality game. Thunder improved to 2-1, while the Raptors, coming off a comparatively strong performance against tempe 29-24.

More Tourists

Xavier HS of New York took a trip with the help of Irish Rugby Tours to California and faced off with Lamorinda on their trip tp NY. This ended up being a 38-36 win for the hosts. The usual suspects led the way as OC Lehner at Np, 8 and flyhalf Tommy Parrott were named players of the game for Lamo.