NorCal School League Action and Oaks Win Close One
NorCal School League Action and Oaks Win Close One
Northern California HS rugby just had its busiest weekend of the New Year, with the single-school competition kicking off its opening weekend.
There Was Club Action Too
Before we get to the schools, here's a look at one preseason club game. Danville came back to defeat Marin in a very close game. And to show how competitive both programs are, it's worth noting that the JV contest was 12-12. In the varsity game, Marin wing Tyler Weisberg's try was the only scoring of the first half, and in fact the Highlanders held onto that lead well into the second half. Danville started to piece things together in the final 20 minutes or so, and Christ Leibrandt's try, converted by Jared Randall, made it 7-5 Oaks.
Marin responded almost immediately, with hooker Kevin Peterson scoring to make it 10-7. But the final 10 minutes were Danville's Breaden Forschler scored and Randall converted to make it 14-10. Then Randall capped it off with a try as time was expiring. Danville 19, Marin 10.
School Teams
De La Salle, Jesuit, St. Francis, and St. Ignatius all took home wins as Rugby NorCal's single-school competition gets going.
Northern California's single-school competition differs from, for example, Southern California's in that in SoCal the school teams play their season, it ends, and then the clubs start. In. Northern California, that is true except that Jesuit of Sacramento and De la Salle plays on through the Premier club season without any changes.
That means that, conceivably, a Jesuit-vs-De la Salle game could be a league game in two competitions.
As it is, this school league has expanded nicely and there are plenty of teams that can compete.
St. Francis started well with a 50-7 win over Serra. Scrumhalf Kaimani Keanaaina ran the attack nicely and continues his solid form. No. 8 Mone Pifeleti was a powerhouse again. But the platform was set nicely bby the front row of Judah Reed, Shepherd Cremer, and Sione Tonga.
De la Salle defeated Bishop O'Dowd 42-14. It was a good showing for BOD but the Spartans remain a key contender in this competition. They scored two early but the O'Dowd Dragons worked their way back into the game. It was a pretty chippy game and certainly both sides wanted to win the physical battle. There was some pushing and shoving and the referee had to get involved, but things settled down and the game ended with both sides shaking hands.
O'Dowd got tries by No. 8 OC Lehner and center Elliott Lewis, and DLS players voted those two the top players from the Dragons.
"De La Salle is a big and physical team, our forwards were under pressure in the scrum and at the line of touch all night but they just kept battling," said O'Dowd Head Coach Ray Lehner. "I am really proud of our boys, there are teams in Northern California that flat out refuse to play De La Salle, they forfeit rather than take the beating. I don't think the result was ever in question but the Dragons will never back down from a challenge; it's who we are."
St. Ignatius of San Francisco defeated Bellarmine 33-7. This is the first season that St. Ignatius is under the official school umbrella after a successful opening season in 2023-24.
"We're very happy with the growth of the program thus far," said Head Coach Jack Casey. "We had an uptick in numbers ... the alumni response has been extremely enthusiastic, as there are scores of alumni who played rugby at a variety of levels, but never had the opportunity to play for SI. The school has certainly taken notice and has been very supportive of the program, for which we're immensely grateful."
So now the work has begun to improve the rugby performances.
"The boys set clear goals of taking home NorCal and California state championships," said Casey. "Ambition is one of the team's core values, and these goals are in line with that. Our boys are clear-eyed that we play in a very strong NorCal league, and that any element of surprise we enjoyed last year as an upstart program is irrelevant this season. We know the margin for error will be slim, and we'll have to prepare and execute at a high level week in and week out to have a shot at those goals."
Jesuit defeated San Joaquin Memorial 50-12 in what is always a tough road match, with the most northernmost team in the league playing the southernmost. Jesuit ran in eight tries with flanker J0sh Rucker and flyhalf Jack Patrick earning player-of-the-game honors.
"Memorial was a big physical team that ran hard and made us work," said Jesuit Head Coach Andrew Acosta. "But we were able to play some decent phases of rugby. [It was a] big improvement from the Cathedral game."
