Oceanside HS Edges Murrieta in SoCal

02.01.2025HS Boys

Oceanside HS won a meeting of two 2-0 teams in Southern California’s Multi-School league, beating Murrieta 36-31.

It was an exciting and tightly-contested game as top of the table was at stake. Oceanside’s strength was probably in the forwards. Thomas Reynoso, Zavier Leatherman, Jonah Tua, and Kingston Faatili all provided powerful carries and tested the Murrieta defense.

Freshman outside center Exodus Taele was dangerous out wide and scored.

This is something of a rivalry. Oceanside HS is basically the old Carlsbad HS team—these teams draw players mostly from one high school and strong support at Oceanside prompted the school rugby efforts in Carlsbad to gravitate there.

But really, whether it has been Carlsbad HS or Oceanside HS, their rivalry with Murrieta is heated.

Oceanside Head Coach Mika Maeva knew it was going to be tough.

“It was a very physical and hard-hitting match,” Maeva told GRR. “Murrieta was good around the breakdown and brought a ton of pressure launching off the line.”

Maeva said his forwards did well to battle through the defensive rush.

At prop Reynoso was outstanding not only carrying the ball but in the set piece and leading his team’s defensive effort.

Murrieta tackled hard in a game played in an intense but sportsmanlike spirit. The back row of Murrieta—poachmaster Cole Bracken, strong carrier Tyrone Cullors, and defensive power Nolan Abeyta—led the team.

Southern California

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