Another Close One in NorCal While Jesuit, Lamo Win
Another Close One in NorCal While Jesuit, Lamo Win
It was a good weekend for Jesuit, Granite Bay and SFGG this weekend in Northern California.
After two very close losses, Jesuit of Sacramento put a more complete performance against the Marin Highlanders.
Fully healthy and having taken on some lessons from one-try losses to Granite Bay and Danville, ran out to a 28-0 halftime lead over Marin and held on 31-0. Head Coach Andrew Acosta praised his team's composure.
Senior lock Wade Johnston opened the scoring thanks to a maul. Hooker Josh Baleiweilagi scored ten minutes later and that was followed by tries from wing Cannon Davey (capping off a nice counterattack from fullback Maverick Nagel) and senior flyhalf Jack Patock (back from injury) on a weaving run. Davey was a perfect four-for-four with the conversions.
Jesuit seemed in control in the second half but they did struggled to finish, being held-up once, stepping onto the touchline just before scoring another time, and getting confused by the multiple lines on the field and touching down at the wrong place. Davey added a penalty, and that was it.
"We got bit by the injury bug the past two weekends, but we were able to keep everyone on the field," said Acosta. "It was a very composed performance for the Marauders. We used our kicking game and played rugby in the right parts of the field."
Meanwhile, Danville and Granite Bay played a tough, back-and-forth match that remained close all day. The Oaks were a bit bigger and their size allowed them to control some things up front. Granite Bay played tough but key mistakes made it tough on them; still GB held on 31-24. (We apologize for an earlier version of this story which had Danville winning, which is completely our fault for misunderstanding some communications.)
SFGG beat Motherlode 34-12. Brody Hatch led from the front at prop for SFGG with Skylar Tiatia having a big game at flanker. Giving up zero tries in the game, only four penalty goals, SFGG's team defense was outstanding. On attack fyhalf Martine McCluster ran it all quite well and wing John Maquire was dangerous out wide.
The result moved SFGG to 2-0. Granite Bay's win over Danville puts them at 4-0, while De La Salle (on tour in Ireland) is 2-0.
In the 12 games played in this league so far, five have been within a try, which is a very high percentage.
| NorCal Premier | W | L | T | PF | PA | PA | BT | BL | Pts |
| Granite Bay | 4 | 0 | 0 | 146 | 69 | 63 | 4 | 0 | 17 |
| Danville | 2 | 2 | 0 | 116 | 96 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| De La Salle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 12 | 72 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| SFGG | 2 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 29 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Jesuit Sac. | 1 | 3 | 0 | 89 | 85 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Marin | 1 | 3 | 0 | 53 | 111 | -58 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Motherlode | 0 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 181 | -142 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In NorCal's Gold Division, Carmichael encountered their first loss as they were edged 35-31 by SacAir, who won the game in part thanks to a 5-for-5 effort on conversions from Austin Maze. Timoci Baikeirewa scored two tries for SacAir while Gary Tia, Isaac Koi, and Claude Koi also touched down.
San Mateo Wolverines moved to 4-0 with a 65-33 win over Gridley. Silicon Valley won big over EPA.
Lamorinda moved to 2-0 with an impressive 48-19 victory over Carmichael. Despite only kicking the two conversions in this game, the scores keep coming from Carmichael's Rupeni Rukuvau, who has notched sevens tries and a grand total of 95 points in only four league games.
Lamorinda had several long spells of unbreakable defensive lines, knocking back every Hawk runner before them. Flanker Bryce Birdsong gave Carmichael flyhalf Luke Smith a difficult time, storming off the back of the lineout to take away decision time. Center Elliott Lewis and wing Will Puamau were very dangerous with the ball.
The try of the match came four minutes after halftime when. Puamau started the attack with a big run and a classy offload to the Cal-bound Lewis, who ate up some meters before popping the ball off the deck to Birdsong. The junior Flanker then produced some fancy footwork and then fed No. 8 O.C. Lehner, who took a direct route to the goalline. Just as he was being tackled Lehner flipped the ball out the back to prop Vita Tuapaki, who scored.
"You can watch a lot of high school rugby and not see a try like that; explosive running, multiple offloads, just great stuff," said Lamorinda Head Coach Ray Lehner. Puamau,
Carmichael selected Lewis and Taupaki as their men of the match. Lewis scored two tries and 16 points in total. Lamo got a penalty try and also scored from Puamau, flyhalf Thomas Parrott, center George Toti, Tuapaki (as described above), and lock Sean Tandler.
