Midweek Games and Updates Around the Country

04.27.2023

Midweek games give us a chance to look at some of the other HS action around the country and what's coming up.

Playoffs loom in several states.

Fairfield Prep over Loudoun in Gonzaga Classic Varsity Bracket

Granite Bay, Danville to Top of NorCal

Baltimore Poly Takes Down Exiles

Rebels Hold Off Phoenix Alpharetta in Thriller

Gonzaga Wins a Gonzaga Classic Full of Surprises

SoCal Latest: Belmont Shore, SOC Win Close Games

Massachusetts Teams Starting to Heat Up

Utah

Westlake and Herriman both won midweek games. Kearns was coming off a 55-24 victory over Riverton from Saturday. SLV Rhinos won 36-10 over West Valley that weekend also.

"We're starting to click," said Herriman Head Coach Jeff Wilson. Herriman was defeated 29-27 by East HS April 8 which was a bit of a surprise. But there's a little bit of a story here, as some players from Herriman actually accompanies Layton Christian on a trip to Tropical 7s. That move actually got LCA's coaching staff in hot water with the league because of a lack of communication between coaches. Was that the difference in the East game? One can never know.

Still ... Herriman is playing well with younger players better embracing what the team is trying to do.

Josiah Dunn, Carson Grundy, and Eli McQueen all scored a pair of tries. Losi Brown and Ed Vanisi were forces. Dunn added five conversions for 20 points on the day.

This weekend Herriman faces Highland. East plays Mountain Ridge.

Washington

It does seem as though Eastside and Rainier are the top two in the state. But Washington has always been a region where someone can come on late.

Eastside went into their match with Budd Bay nursing some injuries and wary of a difficult Barbarians side.

The match began with an energetic display from Budd Bay, as they put the Lions' defense to the test with their formidable wingers. However, momentum soon shifted in favor of Eastside, as the forwards, led by Peleki Vuatalevu, advanced down the field. Vuatalevu handed off to prop Etu Tuifua, who scored the first try in the 7th minute.

Over the next 20 minutes, the game oscillated between both ends and sides of the field but mistakes and penalties hindered scoring. In the 27th minute, Eastside No. 8 Lewis Chambers broke through several defenders and passed to flanker Chris Burns to put him under the posts. O'Meara's conversion brought the score to 12-0 at halftime.

Budd Bay looked to respond at the start of the second half but Eastside got the ball back and O'Meara set up a try by Tuifua, extending Eastside's lead to 19 points. But the match took a dramatic turn as Budd Bay scored through No. 8, Ethan Reichanbach and then center Randy Marti. Scrumhalf Basil Elsner converted one of those tries to make it 19-12.

The game continued with intense back-and-forth action, as Eastside's backline faced off against Budd Bay's aggressive defense, Eastside's lineout vs. a powerful Budd Bay scrum. Eastside ultimately broke through with two tries from the powerful Kolani "Puka" Masunu and one from Peleki Vuatelevu. O'Meara converted them all to win it 40-12. It was much closer than the score appeared, but a good, patient win for the Lions.

Rainier, meanwhile, defeated Seattle 73-3 to keep on rolling.

Oregon

Camas defeated Summit 45-27 and remains unbeaten at 5-0. Next up is West Valley which is also unbeaten.

"We are expecting a large crowd for this big game," said Camas Head Coach Rich McLeod. "I think we will see a lot of athleticism from both teams and I feel defense and the team with less mental mistakes will prevail. Should be a hard hitting and hard running game with most of the athletes on both sides being rugby/football athletes."

Camas has not been able to field all of their starters in any game this season; they expect all of their starters for this game.

McLeod added, however, that the Oregon league is more than about just two teams, adding that Tsunami and Summit can hurt you.

"Summit is tough at home and put Camas to the sword last week," said McLeod. "For me, the sleeper is Beaverton. If they can get into the playoffs they will be very difficult. They are very physical and are organized."

Idaho

Eagle's 23-18 win over Owyhee was revenge for their earlier loss to the same opponent. As a result the teams are both 3-1, with Owyhee in first thanks to an additional bonus point. This has been a very competitive Rugby Idaho season. Of the eight games so far, three have been within a try, and one more within nine points. Only one team could really be described as a blowout and in even that game the losing team scored two tries.

Rocky Mountain, 0-4, faces Eagle this week and Owyhee plays a tough Rigby (2-2). Rigby could certainly beat an Owyhee team they lost to April 1 17-12.

Wisconsin

(Thanks to Badger Kings for his help.)

Muskego moved to 2-0 with a 22-14 defeat if Middleton Monday evening. Waukesha beat Parkway 26-7 and Elkhorn beat Oregon 34-26. This is a very competitive league.

But the big game was Wednesday evening at the Wisconsin Rugby complex at Cottage Grove, where Green Bay took on Chargers. Green Bay shut out a very tough Chargers side 24-0 to move to 3-0.

Photo by Badger Kings.

Tennessee

Raptor Rugby continued its winning ways with another strong defensive showing against a young but very athletic Spring Hill side 26-0. The Raptors were again led by their pack and overall solid play from scrumhalf Xander Smartt. Smartt led a balanced attack and showed a strong kicking game. Flanker Max Orefice picking up his first career hat-trick, and freshman Baron Lankford rounded out the scoring with a strong individual effort in the final stages of the match. Senior Lars Curlin handled the kicking duties and was 3-for-4.

That made Raptors 6-1-1 and they enter the state semis against Father Ryan. Spring Hill travels to Memphis to face 901 Rugby in the other semi.

Connecticut

Greenwich looked very good in winning their Quad State tournament, and meanwhile Fairfield Prep backed up their solid showing at Gonzaga ith a 62-24 midweek win over SImsbury.

Prop Charles Dooley scored three tries for Fairfield, while Nick Vittoria, Ben Sheldon, Matt Samuelson, Rob Murphy, Griffin Ramirez, Morgan Emmet, and Matt Mancini also touched down.

Vittoria and Murphy each converted three.

Texas

Jesuit Dallas won the Texas single-school championship, beating Strake Jesuit 27-14. The first time these two teams met Strake had won comfortably, 31-0. Things were different this time.

Dylan Wachsman started the scoring for the Rangers but Strake answered and with the conversion led 7-5. Just before halftime Dallas scored through Jacob Lehman to lead 10-7.

The Rangers extended their lead when Chase Brown broke away from the pack for a long run to make it 15-7. With the game becoming increasingly demanding up front the Dallas forwards punished Strake turnovers and score one more to lead 22-7. Neil Lancaster barreled his way in for the final try before Strake added one more.

Now it's time for the other divisions

Cy-Fair and Kingwood won their quarterfinals last week to move to the D2 semis. Kingwood will now visit Boks and Cy-Fair is at Dallas Jesuit's D2 team.

In D1, Woodlands hosts Celina and West Houston hosts a rapidly improving Four Points.

Florida

We're down to the semifinals in Florida, too. Key Biscayne is at Boca and Gibbons is at Okapi.

For the most part, this has been a very competitive Florida league with seven results within a try in 27 games—this is a really high percentage. But ... not one of those close games involved Okapi, so really it's seven close games out of 19. Okapi has been dominant and they beat Gibbons 36-0 back in January.

North Carolina

The Charlotte Cardinals A-side leads the Tier 1 and in four games have given up ... one try. Only the Raleigh Redhawks (who really impressed GRR at the Gonzaga Classic) are close. Both the Cardinals and Redhawks play games they expect to win on Saturday.

So ... on Sunday they are slated to play each other.

Illinois

Glen Ellyn has been coming on strong and won big over Naperville and, last night, Brother Rice. Joey Pope, Filip Maciorski, Rhett Pierce, Michael Short, Anthony Reed, and John Dardis have led the way for Glen Ellyn.

Atop the Boys D1 West is Glen Ellyn, while 1st in the South is Notre Dame de la Salette which sits 3-0. La Salette had a relatively close game with Marist, but they also beat Brother Rice fairly convincingly.

This weekend we see La Salette vs 3-1 Neuqua, which is a big one.

Indiana

We went over a bunch of Indiana stuff here:

Pendleton, Westside on a Collision Course in Indiana

Since then ... (well we said Penn shut out Dwenger but that was GRR being hasty since Dwenger hadn't put in their scoring info yet so ...) Dwenger beat Penn 33-22 paced by a brace of tries from flanker Trent Tippman and a brace from Anthony Ley.

Ohio

Ignatius leads the Super Division with a 3-0 record with St. Edward next followed by Moeller and St. Xavier. Ignatius is at Moeller this weekend. What's lurking in this league is that the semifinals are scheduled on Memorial Day Weekend, which is also the weekend of the HS National Championships, where Ignatius is competing.

St. Edward plays Detroit Central Catholic, which will be an interesting one because DCC is having a very strong season.

Highland leads the D1 with a 4-0 record; Medina is at 3-1. Highland plays Mentor this weekend.

New York

Pelham HS beat Fordham Prep 36-9, scoring five tries. No. 8 David Barrett was solid and scrumhalf Mike Sample converted four of the five tries plus a penalty, while flanker Eamonn O'Reilley and center Lazlo Somlay also showed well.

Pelham and Xavier lead the MetNY D1. In Upstate NY, Canisius and Kenmore won by a wide margin over the weekend but it's early days still. At 2-0 Canisius faces 1-0 Syracuse this coming weekend.