January is Here and So Is Boys HS Rugby
January is Here and So Is Boys HS Rugby
Winter break is officially over and we're into some high school action this coming weekend.
In fact, we had some action this past weekend with Torrey Pines and San Clemente facing off in Southern California. Torrey Pines won 49-14.
Southern California
The SoCal Youth Rugby league is pretty robust and with a more friendly relationship with SCIRF we will be seeing more crossover between those two groups. But right now it's a SCYR weekend coming up with these games opening up the season:
| 1/10 | Villa Park | at | Loyola | SoCal |
| 1/10 | John Muir | at | St. John Bosco | SoCal |
| 1/10 | Servite | at | Rancho Cucamonga | SoCal |
| 1/10 | Murrieta | at | Edison | SoCal |
| 1/10 | Coronado | at | Torrey Pines | SoCal |
| 1/10 | San Marcos | at | La Jolla | SoCal |
| 1/10 | Oceanside | at | San Clemente | SoCal |
Oceanside is the new iteration of the Carlsbad HS team. Carlsbad and Oceanside operated as multi-school programs, but with more and more players coming to the Thunder club from Oceanside, and with support from the Oceanside HS Athletic Department, this public school team, playing under Head Coach Mika Maeva, had some serious potential.
It's worth pointing out that this is a pretty dense league with a strong group around Los Angeles and another around San Diego, with a couple (San Clemente, Murrieta) occupying that area in between.
Torrey Pines appears to be the strongest team in the league right now, but there is a whole season to prove that guess wrong.
SCIRF
Back in action after a break, here we are in terms of standings:
| SCIRF Platinum | W | L | T | PF | PA | PA |
| Saints | 2 | 0 | 0 | 103 | 15 | 88 |
| LCC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 46 |
| Cathedral Catholic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 19 | 61 |
| Mira Costa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 5 | 54 |
| Los Alamitos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| Fallbrook | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 139 | -115 |
Now, this isn't supremely representative of where these teams are because several of the games contributing to these standings were against SCIRF Gold teams. This coming weekend we have Platinum-against-Platinum with Charlotte Catholic at Mira Costa and the Saints at La Costa Canyon. So of those five teams with a zero in their loss column, two (unless there are ties) will come out of the weekend with a different number.
North Carolina
As we mentioned before the break, the league leaders in Tier 1 will have some tough games ahead of them once January rolls around.
| NC Tier 1 | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| South Meck | 3 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 8 | 89 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Charlotte Catholic | 2 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 70 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Hough | 2 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 5 | 57 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Marvin Ridge | 1 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 49 | -6 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Ardrey Kell | 1 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 104 | -66 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Myers Park | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 68 | -39 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Corinth Holders | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 105 | -105 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
It's relatively clear which are the top teams right now. But "right now" is working pretty hard in that sentence.
This coming weekend Charlotte Catholic plays Marvin Ridge, which is a huge game for both. But the big one is South Meck vs Hough.
| 1/9 | Marvin Ridge | at | Charlotte Catholic | NC SS-Tier1 |
| 1/9 | Marvin Ridge T3 | at | Charlotte Catholic T3 | NC SS-Tier3 |
| 1/10 | South Meck | at | Hough | NC SS-Tier1 |
| 1/10 | Ballantyne Ridge | at | Providence | NC SS-Tier2 |
| 1/10 | South Meck T2 | at | Clover | NC SS-Tier2 |
| 1/11 | Myers Park | at | Corinth Holders | NC SS-Tier1 |
| 1/11 | Capitals | at | Marvin Ridge T2 | NC SS-Tier2 |
Arizona
Things are looking up in terms of stucture in Arizona, and the state has decided to build the high school league through a Birds of a Feather approach. By holding early games at one festival location, Rugby Arizona can show all the players, especially the new ones, that there are a lot of young people playing the sport.
This has been an effective way of building enthusiasm in many state leagues. Usually a SRO does one festival. Arizona will do two, plus some Friday Night Lights events, too. The idea here is that if a team is still building numbers, they can just play 13-on-13 or whatever is needed.
Still we've got games and teams to watch. Red Mountain and Tempe have been the strongest sides the last several years. We'll see if that's the case this year.
| 1/11 | Red Mountain | vs | Scottsdale | Arizona Festival |
| 1/11 | Eclipse | vs | Tempe | Arizona Festival |
| 1/11 | Tempe | vs | Red Mountain | Arizona Festival |
| 1/11 | Scottsdale | vs | Phoenix | Arizona Festival |
| 1/11 | Phoenix | vs | Eclipse | Arizona Festival |
Then What?
The Storer Classic at UCLA is January 18-19 with teams from Southern and Northern California, plus the odd team from Arizona and Utah. South Carolina will open its Jamboree, which takes the combined-competition model from Arizona one step further. Texas also sees their first games as do Louisiana.
By the end of the month, Florida will be in league play as will Northern California.