Granite Bay qualified for the Boys HS National Championship club final with a hugely impressive 41-14 defeat of Utah state champion United Friday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.

Photos Steven Lagorio. Click on image to enlarge.

The Northern California team’s victory was led by some superb work by their HS All Americans, Chase Bixby at lock and Matt Rogers at scrumhalf, and they were simply faster to the breakdown than United, and very smooth with the ball in hand.

Granite Bay opened the scoring within a couple of minutes. Their No. 8, hard-charging Tyler Rouse, received the kickoff and galloped well into the United half. After a phase the Grizzlies spun it through the hands to the wing, and Anthony Wiley raced in for a try that had to have shocked United.

Granite Bay kept up the pressure, working the ball through the hands. Bixby, a tall, rangy lock with the pace to play 7s, broke through, and then linked with Wiley, who seemed free to go in for his second. But he spotted a defender nearby and prop Drew Tonda trailing, and passed to the prop for the try.

“Drew has been one of our best forwards,” said Granite Bay Head Coach Jason Divine.

Down 12-0, United responded, punishing the Grizzlies at the breakdown and forcing a series of penalties that resulted in a try off a quick tap. Moments later, more pressure from United produced more penalties, and than a lovely break set up an offload to Darian Power for a brilliant try and a 14-12 United lead. Both teams realized that the other was dangerous in the open field, and so tried to slow the other down when on defense. It worked, to a point, and the teams changed ends with United up 14-12.

But Granite Bay was the fresher team in the second half. 

“We told them to calm down and just play our pattern,” said Divine. “We sometimes need to know when to dial it down on defense and avoid getting penalties.”

Granite Bay looked to run whenever they could and were also secure in their set piece. It was the set piece, specifically the lineout, that would make the difference. A penalty against United led to Granite Bay taking a lineout five meters out. A smooth take and drive from the Grizzlies got them to the line, and Bixby peeled off the back and dove over.

Moments later, it was the same story, only on the opposite side, with Bixby taking the throw, and allowing the maul to drive and flow around him so he could bounce off the back and score.

Down 24-14 United then saw their restart not go ten meters. And from the scrum at the middle of the field, Granite Bay scored again. Rogers took the pop pass of the back and made a half-break before offloading to Sam Cusano who sped in. That made it 31-14, and while there was plenty of time to go, Granite Bay had their tails up. From another scrum near midfield, Rogers again ran off the back. His grubber kick was recovered by United, but the Granite Bay forwards were there in force, turned the ball over, and flanker Nick Marcoccia, trailing in support, scored in the corner.

Granite Bay capped it off with a penalty to make it 41-14, and while United never stopped, they just weren’t able to secure possession enough to get points. The game ended with United held up in-goal.

But more than all of that, Granite Bay unleashed the kind of balanced, open-field game that almost won them the Nothern California title. Their overall speed forced United to commit penalties, and Bixby showed why he’s an All American, as he was hugely influential on defense, sliding into the backline, in the lineouts, and scoring. Rogers was also outstanding at scrumhalf, and Granite Bay - as predicted by their NorCal rivals Danville - are into the final.

“Chase Bixby took control of that game,” said Divine, who had plenty of praise for Rogers and the rest of the squad. “We needed him to play a big game and he did.”