We are entering kind of a weird part of the rankings.
After a week off because of a quiet Easter Week, we're back and considering what results from way back in March or February count for now. Normally we will have so much action among active teams that those that stopped playing in March start to drop down. This year, we haven't seen that. Why? Because of one result ... Gregory the Great over Gonzaga. With that result, and GGA's lack of a large amount of games outside their region (Gonzaga plays almost all their games outside their region) means that they're kind of just hanging out where they are.
So then we look for other programs to win games and move past them That hasn't happened in an emphatic way. Jesuit of Sacramento is a very good team; they played highly-ranked teams close. But they didn't beat them. We have moved them up anyway because overall we think they are battle-tested, and are competitive at a national level. But that's what we're seeing almost everywhere: good teams playing tough games and winning or losing close games. BC High, Rye, Greenwich, Trumbull, Lake Travis, St Martin's, Fairfield Prep ... and more ... are all in this situation.
The only team we've seen that has consistently controlled its own fate is St. Ignatius. Xavier is close, and Herriman might be there now (but they've lost those close games, too), and De La Salle could be the one also. But little has happened to tell us that a team is stronger than those Californian school teams that aren't playing as school teams anymore—their players have scattered to clubs which are also ranked quite highly.
Still #1? Find out today. @SIHS_Varsity15spic.twitter.com/2RX1fKtIGr
— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) April 28, 2025
Further down the Top 50 we have a lot of decisions to make. Question-marks hover around St. Thomas Aquinas, Staples, and Christian Brothers. We just need to see more for them to hold or to move up. Celina moves into the Top 50—UPDATE OK, we're fine with that but we were partly basing this on a "win" vs Dallas Jesuit but it was only a partial score on Rugby Xplorer. Why Dallas Jesuit would input just one of their tries and stop, we don't know. But we've learned with RugbyX not to trust shutouts (it can mean one team just didn't get around to inputting their score), but when both teams have a score, you usually think ... oh, I don't know ... it's the score? Anyway, with Celina it is true we felt they had a shot at the rankings but too many forfeit wins just undercut their body of work until they [almost] beat Dallas Jesuit. Neuqua moves in but we're basing that on a competitive loss to New Trier and a big win over a team we're unsure about. It could be that Marist should have been the team to move in. Or what about Detroit Loyola? Or Archbishop Moeller? Or Delbarton? Or Pelham? We're watching all of them.
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