It’s a busy weekend for Jesuit HS of Sacramento as they played Clayton Valley Thursday, and then look ahead to CK McClatchy and Lamorinda in the following days.

Clayton Valley came into Thursday’s game 3-0 after beating Dixon 31-24. They were bolstered by lock forward Jax Carter, who notched four tries against Dixon and is part of a tough forward pack that includes Jake Ray at No. 8 and lock Carlos Espitia.

With their halfback combo of Ryan Cooper and Eric Burkley directing play, they have had a strong start to the season. But Jesuit’s forward pack held their own against a strong Clayton Valey front eight, and the Jesuit backline, which needed to raise its game, did so.

Robert Paylor was again a massive presence for Jesuit at lock forward, negating Clayton’s potential advantage in the breakdown. That gave the backs, led by HS All American Christian Dyer at flyhalf and Joe Deterding powering through the line at center, room to run. 

“Our backs were really dynamic and did a good job playing a fast game,,” said Jesuit Head Coach John Shorey. “Our forwards were strong in defense and in the backs we were able to move the ball more. We have needed a bit of balance in our game and we got more of that today.”

The rest - Jesuit 51 Clayton Valley 17.

This is one of those statement games for Jesuit, as Clayton Valley has enjoyed some early-season success, and the Marauders won comfortably.

Now it’s on to McClatchy and then Lamorinda in the multi-school division in Northern California. The Lamorinda game will be a curtain-raiser for the Cal v Utah game in Berkeley.