Herriman opened up its Utah Youth Rugby league season with two victories last week.

In a rematch of last year's state final, Herriman visited Highland on Friday night.  Both teams were less than full strength coming in, with Highland out three starters due to suspensions for fighting, and Herriman out, with starters with Taysan Hammer in London at the Rosslyn Park 7s with the Utah Cannibals, and two other starters out with injuries, so that evened things up.

Herriman started three brothers, seniors Maea and Isi Leakehe, and sophomore Ngana Leakehe, and all would have an impact on the game, along with huge performances from Gavin Flint and Tyson Herrera.  They would strike early with a quick tap from Isi to Maea, who made a huge break and then offloaded to Kyle Farmer, who powered over for the score.  Isi would also set up the next score with another quick tap, this time to streaking hooker Carson Connors.  Each team would garner a yellow card for fairly mild high tackles, and Herriman would extend the lead to 21-0 with Herrera touching down after a nifty step and a strong shoulder in to a would be tackler.  Maea was good on all three conversions.

Highland would get on the board with 10 minutes left in the half using booming kicks deep in to touch off of Herriman penalites and a yellow to Herriman for hands in the ruck, using their massive pack to pound away in close and hit paydirt.  They would threaten again, getting as close as 1 meter, but Herriman made a tough goal line stand and cleared the ball.  The half seemed to go an extra 10 minutes of injury time, which was odd considering neither team had an injury in the first half.  That extra time would prove costly with a second yellow card for Maea Leakehe just before half, putting Herriman a man down for the remainder of the game.

The second half was exciting, rugby at its best.  Ngana Leakehe would catch Highland without a post defender at the ruck and break through for a 30 meter try, converted by Flint.  But the Mustangs foolishly chose to attempt to run the ball out of their own end twice instead of kicking to clear, and Highland would come storming back, using power running with the big boys, dummy passes to gain inside gaps, and exploiting their one man advantage to score two tries off of those failed clearing attempts and making it a one score game at 28-21 with 15 minutes left.    

Some new blood seemed to calm what had been an impatient and turnover-prone Herriman team, as several subs provided fresh legs and a lift in execution.  Hard running by Herrera set them up inside the 22, and Isi Leakehe popped a kick over the top of a hard charging Highland defense which was touched down by reserve wing Tanner Foulger for a score.  Flint nailed the sideline conversion (with a drop kick, no less) to extend the lead back to two scores at 35-21.  Highland would make a few last ditch efforts to open the game back up, but reserve center Alec Perschon ran down a promising Highland sideline break, and the Mustangs continued to show their newfound patience by keeping possession and running down the clock for the victory.  

Highland, although disappointed in the result, showed massive improvement from a disappointing loss against Olympus the previous week where they were the stronger team for most of the game, while Herriman turned right back around to play another match the next day, hosting Las Vegas Rugby Academy.  A much more crisp Mustang side was too much for the visitors, turning off the scoreboard at 41-0 officially in the first half to open up the subbing and even the matchup a bit.  A very deep bench would keep the level of play high for an unofficial final of 74-5.  LVRA are a side which has varying leves of experience, but conducted themselves with the kind of class and hard play that you would associate with their coach, Vaha Esikia, and gave great effort all the way to the final whistle.  Afterward, Herriman hosted their guests to a meal and billeted them for the evening, and players from both teams enjoyed getting to know each other off the field and sharing some good old fashioned rugby brotherhood.

Herriman will take some well learned lessons on execution in to their 3/31 matchup with perennial Utah power Snow Canyon, while Highland will get the week off for Spring Break and look to build on an impressive performance.