Olympus, Layton Christian Lead in Utah Boys Fall 7s
Olympus, Layton Christian Lead in Utah Boys Fall 7s
Olympus and Layton Christian remain atop the Utah Youth Rugby boys fall 7s list after the second weekend of action.
LCA beat Kearns 45-7 and Herriman 21-12 but dropped a 27-19 decision to East HS.
That was East's first win over the fall as they skipped the opening tournament and they lost to Herriman and Olympus in a rough opening list of games.
For Layton Christian, though, sitting at 5-1 isn't so bad.
"We are working really hard to build a strong 7s team to compete at a high level," said Head Coach Tongia Vaitaki. "We not only want to build rugby but also to expose the hidden talents we have here in Utah."
Among those hidden talents are Ikani Taumoefolau and Bryan Pangai, who have been impressive in the forwards. Having played at Bloodfest and the NAI 7s, they have worked their way into becoming core players who draw defenders and set free their teammates.
Those teammates include players such as Trevor Halalilo and Siaki Fekitoa. They have pace and elusiveness and while Fekitoa is young and not all that big, he plays with a ton of confidence. This allowed LCA to go 2-1 despite missing the influential Justin Sau and Penisoni Talanoa, who had football commitments.
For Olympus, meanwhile, it was more of the same, with wins over East HS, Keanrs, and Mountain Ridge. They sit 6-0.
Cole Nugent and Dison Brown were exceptional on the weekend, with Porter Maughan once again being key to the Olympus efforts.
"Cole is attacking and leading the team defensively," said Head Coach Brad Anderson. "Dison is dominating the rucks."
Brown has also been impressive defensively.
Olympus also got a nice addition with Johannes Glasker coming in for his first weekend of 7s.
He was, said Anderson, "electric."
He made long breaks almost every time he touched the ball.
"Overall it was a team effort, but those guys are certainly excelling," added Anderson.
Herriman trails these two teams with a 4-2 record, and while East is only 1-2, it will be interesting to see if they can build on that victory over LCA.
