Oceanside, San Clemente Bring Talent to SoCal Multi-School Final

02.24.2026HS Boys

Tritons assemble at halfime.

Author: Alex Goff

One of the odd little things about the way Southern California is split is that there is a school league that has multi-school teams in it.

This is a step between club and school, with teams that field the majority, if not all, of their players from one school. However, it’s not a guarantee that everyone on the team is from the same school.

So they get their own league, and their own championship. But what they don’t get is ranked by GRR because they’re not exactly school teams and they’re not exactly club teams.

But we do notice, and this coming weekend, Oceanside will face off with San Clemente for the SoCal Multi-School championship.

Oceanside Makes Final

Oceanside defeated Rancho Cucamonga 57-19 to make this final.

“This year we’ve been blessed with a ton of talent,” enthused Head Coach Mika Maeva. “Players in our forward pack have all been excellent and very versatile.”

That would include captain Thomas Reynoso along with Ean Glover, Patrick Knight, and Jameson Garrison.

“Reynoso and Glover have been able to move around a ton and play in the front row and in the back row. Jameson Garrison has been able to play both lock and flanker has been dynamic in the open field mixing in on the edges,” said Maeva. With that fluidity Oceanside has been able to absorb injuries and unavailabilities.

With a hard-carrying pack, the backs can break it open.

Centers Exzodus Taele and Malachi Misa understand the way the attack is organized and have opportunities to be creative, said Maeva. With the halfback pairing of sophomore Deacon Maeva at scrumhalf and freshman Klahsyk Taele at flyhalf they have talent that will last a while. The experience is in the Deep Three, where seniors Kingston Garrison, Georgie Fa’asua and Kymani Nua prow.

“Overall the group has developed really well,” said Maeva. “The coaching staff really wanted to be consistent this year and drive focus on fundamentals and providing the tools to problem solve and allow them to identify the fixes needed. Mentally we wanted to emphasize low ego, high output. This has really paid off for us so far this season.”

Tritons Tough it Out

Facing Oceanside are the San Clemente Tritons, who defeated Murrieta 26-10 in the semis on Saturday night.
Head Coach Stuart Proctor would probably love some consistency.

“This season has been a bit of a rollercoaster,” Proctor told GRR. “We’ve experience an unusually high and concerning degree of injuries this season, noticeably higher than any other season I can remember. We’ve lost more than half of our starting varsity team to bad injuries.”

Combine that with trouble finding consistent non-league competition, they felt not fully prepared going into the league season.

But the injuries opened up chances for younger players, “and they have stepped up, manned up, and filled out our varsity squad admirably.,” said Proctor. “The work rate and attitude in our camp has been exceptional all season.”
Former Eagle Brian Surgener has been a big help in the coaching staff, as his OC Raptors staff has helped shape the freshmen joining the program.

Numbers are big, they work closely with the Rhino Academy in town, and the team is finding its feet.

“We are blessed here in San Clemente with some of the best coaches, resources, and feeder numbers in the country,” said Proctor. “For one small beach community—home of 2026 Super Bowl winner Sam Darnold—it’s really quite special. Our numbers have just about recovered from to the pre-COVID levels; it has taken us six years to recover from the COVID numbers collapse.”

As for this past weekend’s game, it was a bruising affair. Both sides would have liked to have been more accurate, and there were a lot of possession changes in the first half. Murrieta, in fact, led 10-7 at the break.

“We regrouped at halftime, and went into the second half with a positive attitude and a focused game plan.,” said Proctor. The injuries hit them again, of course, but “once we made a few tactical changes and settled into the second half, we started playing some good attacking patterns, running tight lines and moving the ball more fluidly.”

Flyhalf Jesse Torres started to take control of the game, slowing or speeding up the tempo when the situation called for it.

In the end, the Tritons ran in three tries in the final 20 minutes to win 26-10. The best of those came from a scrum deep in the San Clemente end.

Torres exited with a kick-chase, regained possession of the ball off the kick at midfield, and the backs were there to move it through the hands for the try under the posts.

“We were thin on forward substitutes and our forwards emptied the tank in the second half,” said Proctor. “The Tritons second-half performance was textbook good. A real team effort and second half performance for San Clemente to be proud of.”

What made the night extra special also was that a high school touring team from Tahiti in town (Papeete High School, visiting the Rhino Academy for the week). They were in the stands cheering for the Tritons and singing Tahitian rugby songs. It made for a special atmosphere, and the Tahitians met with both teams after the match, exchanging gifts.
“A true sign of rugby brotherhood,” said Proctor. “Murrieta came to play and gave us one heck of a game.”