Liberty High School won the Nevada State Championship, defeating Coronado in the final.

With rugby still working on growing in Nevada, the state championship was a 7s tournament, with six teams involved - Las Vegas HS, Liberty, Coronado, Arbor View, Green Valley, and Clark HS. Several of the players on the teams came from the Las Vegas Rugby Academy and Las Vegas Aces HS club teams, but other players are new to the sport. 

The six teams played in two pools of three, with the top two from each going into the semis. Liberty and Coronado got by Arbor View and Clark to reach the final.

"It went really well," said Las Vegas Youth Rugby chief and former USA national team star Vaha Esikia, who is the driving force behind the growth of rugby in Nevada. "We got a lot of athletes and fans. The adult rugby players came to watch, which was really great."

Liberty scrumhalf Darian Serrano got MVP honors for the tournament. It's a start, and a good one, and already two more high schools have expressed interest in competing next year.

"We go from six to eight to ten - it's growing," said Esikia.