Jesuit of Sacramento concluded a quick trip to Southern California, taking on three well-regarded single-school teams, winning one and losing two.

For Jesuit, this was a key step-out after having to cut short their season because of injuries and pressures from the COVID pandemic. This year, Head Coach Andrew Acosta has a relatively young team, but one with plenty of numbers and plenty of potential. Few, however, have played a lot of rugby over the past year, so this very early warmup was designed to get some grass under their feet and log a few tackles.

For that, it was a highly successful trip.

Jesuit vs Mira Costa

On Friday evening Jesuit took on Mira Costa. And the game spoke to the issue of whether Jesuit was a bit rusty as the Marauders fell behind 14-5 to Mira Costa.

But in the second half, Jesuit started to piece things together, scoring four unanswered tries to win 29-14.

Mira Costa Head Coach Duke Dulgarian said his team played well at times, but one of the issues for his squad is that very few players know rugby before high school.

We're constantly teaching the basic laws of the game," he said. "However, we have 52 boys so we feel like our program is here to stay. They fought hard."

Mira Costa scrumhalf Nick Signorelli scored the opening try for Mira Costa and Van Graw, who moved from fullback to flyhalf, did a nice job controlling territory, especially in the opening half. Flanker Kiev Larios, playing in his second game, hit rucks all over the place.

Jesuit vs St. Augustine

This game was shown on NFHS and if you have signed up you can see it here>>

The game was a hard hitting affair as both sides sought to control the game through the pack. The Saints were led by Isaac Morrill and Anthony Alvarez while Egya Reddy was an impact player at flanker, pressuring the Jesuit offense and carrying well also.

The Saints offense was controlled by juniors Sam Johns and Estevan Torrance, with Johns keeping Jesuit backpedaling with his kicking game. It was Johns who opened the scoring with a try, and then Aiden Kemp, playing No. 8, crashed over for another. 

Senior Chase Basson's try capped off am impressive 17-0 showing for St. Augustine. 

The Saints defense was steady and limited the number of line breaks up the middle, and when Jesuit went wide, the Saints defense was able to contain.

Saints centers Grant Gauthier, Peyton DeLuca, and Chase Basson all worked well together to limit the damage from a potent Jesuit attack. Freshman Caelyb Aguirre was very consistent in playing strong defense and breaking through on a few long runs that relieved pressure at key moments.

"It was a great day for single school high school rugby," said St. Augustine Head Coach Eric Dent. "We want to continue to provide opportunities for top tier single school high school rugby teams to play against each other.  We work closely with our AD's and Admins so we can create home and away opportunities with schools like Jesuit."

Jesuit vs Cathedral Catholic

In the second game, Jesuit and Cathedral Catholic went back and forth, with Cathedral looking the stronger early, and scoring two key late tries, while in the middle of the game Jesuit started to put some movements together. Cathedral scored early, catching Jesuit napping a bit on a quick tap. Jesuit replied with a nice run on the outside and a penalty goal to lead 8-5.

Some good phase work put Jesuit up 15-5 but then Cathedral captain Dylan Fortune recovered his own chip kick to score under the posts with about three minutes to go. That made it 15-12 with the conversion. Then Cathedral scrumhalf Spencer Huntley took a quick tap from a Jesuit penalty and weaved his way through the Jesuit defense. He was headed for the corner when he was tackled high, penalty try, and a 19-15 Cathedral win.

"This was a great weekend of intense and competitive rugby between four true, varsity high school programs," said Cathedral Head Coach Glenn Irvine. "Many, many thanks to Andrew Acosta and the Jesuit team for traveling to San Diego; all the teams look forward to playing again in the near future."

This trip was also a bit of a dress rehearsal for a statewide Catholic School tournament that is under consideration. In March St. Augustine and Cathedral will host Regis Jesuit out of Colorado and St. Joseph's out of Philadelphia. In addition, college coaches and representatives from the USA pathway system were on hand to scout talent, too.

"They were great hosts all around," said Jesuit Head Coach Andrew Acosta. "Lots to work on. It was a good learning experience for our squad; the first road trip in quite some time and we were missing a few players due to injuries and COVID, but we had a good experience. Playing three single schools in less than 24 hours was a challenge. The trip showed us where we need to focus going into the season. We can't get this from training and the film sessions will be helpful."

Stand out players - It is an inexperienced forward pack, but Senior prop JP Leatherby led from the front. Our backs are a work in progress, but there were some nice moves and interplay. Stand out players - Seniors Roanin Krieger, Tai Miller, Fletcher Popp and Juniors Noah Sanchez (scrumhalf) and Mo Ix-Siu (Center) showed some flashes. Krieger led the team with 19 points and had a good weekend from the tee.

For Jesuit over the weekend, senior prop JP Leatherby led from the front in a relatively inexperienced pack. The backs need some time to fine-tune things, but it is early days. They have talent, with senior Roanin Krieger leading the team with 19 points over the trip. Seniors Tai Miller and Fletcher Popp, and Juniors Noah Sanchez at scrumhalf and Mo Ix-Siu at center showed flashes. 

The Cathedral vs Jesuit game is on YouTube (see below).