We've got about 30 boys HS games this weekend with SoCal, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana all in action.
SCIRF
The leading teams are favored in their games, but it will be interesting to see how St. John Bosco, which has needed a little extra time to get moving, take on Cathedral Catholic. Yes, Cathedral is 5-0, having beaten Mission Bay on Wednesday night, but still Bosco might be an upset special here.
North Carolina
This league, too, seems to have matchups that are probably easy to predict. However, keep an eye on Ardrey Kell who are 1-3 but have shown plenty of offensive flashes. So they play 4-1 Laney, a relatively new team with plenty of talent. Marvin Ridge vs Myers Park is in many ways a similar type of matchup—we take a look at Marvin Ridge here>>.
Texas
The single-school league is well and truly underway and we're taking a special look at St. Pius X vs St. Thomas. Off a close win last week Lake Travis faces a strong Dallas Jesuit side and Woodlands is in action twice—their have a single-school Woodlands High School team, and they also have their Woodlands club team. For rankings purposes, we're tracking the Woodlands club team, which faces Plano, a team that won big last week.
We're also keeping an eye on Four Points, which is a club that has a ton of potential.
Southern California
The SoCal Youth Rugby leagues is probably highlighted by a non-conference clash between Carlsbad (which feeds into the Thunder club when the club season starts) and Torrey Pines (which feeds into the San Diego Mustangs).
Florida
Key Biscayne eked out a win last week and Okapi's defense showed up nice against Boca. They are both in action. Okapi takes on Cardinal Gibbons in that team's first game of the season. And a big one. Okapi made the state semis last year and they usually are able to rebuild nicely because of their outstanding youth program. Getting the two state finalists in succession in the first two weeks is a tough ask.
Louisiana
New Orleans Jesuit will be playing nine teams from out-of-state this season, including some teams that ended last season ranked highly (De La Salle, Woodlands). This weekend they open up their in-state season against the always tough Brother Martin.
By the way - want to tell us how the game went and who looked good? Especially your opposition (learn their names!) - use this very simple form: https://forms.gle/r2vQx9GK6DEcUr6y6
