It was an interesting weekend for the boys high school teams at the Storer Classic at UCLA.

Northern California power Danville was expected to do well, and did, beating Snow Canyon 26-0 and Santa Monica 24-10 (although the game was tighter than the score suggests). 

Danville ran out to a 19-0 halftime lead against Snow Canyon, but with the subs rolling in points were at a premium. Danville held on 26-0. Against Santa Monica, Danville led 17-0 at halftime, but saw the Southern Californian squad score twice to make it 17-10. Santa Monica looked set to tie the game but Nate Becker broke off a long run for Danville to put the game away.

Keanu Andrade had a superb weekend at scrumhalf while Kyle Makaiwi with almost perfect with his kicking. Makaiwi got some more good news this week when he was named to the HS All American squad for the Las Vegas Invitational in February. At flanker, Lorenzo Richardson did the tough work and combined well with fellow back-rowers Austin Cowdery and Nate Becker.

New HS club Riordan got on the first for the first time, tying Snow Canyon 12-12 and beating Back Bay 12-5. They also lost to Santa Monica 10-0 and tied North Bay 17-17.

Juniors Payton Ilalio, Sam Tofi, and Zev Rymland, along with freshman Lasa Tofi, played well for Riordan. This is the opening salvo for the Archbishop Riordan school team as a full varsity team. Two years ago they played only in Northern California’s JV league, and last year they were in the Silver division. But, now three years old, the rugby program, coached by Tony Wells and Wylie Ilalio (who also is on the football team coaching staff), Riordan now has around 80 kids playing for three separate teams.

“The boys loved it,” said Wells of the effort at UCLA. “It was a good start for us and I think we’ll be pretty decent this year.”

Santa Monica had a solid weekend, too, beating North Bay, Riordan, Lamorinda, and SFGG, while splitting with Danville (one game with the 2nd-siders).