The Raleigh Redhawks pushed Royal Irish in a 24-19 Royal Irish win over the weekend, showing that the Redhawks remain very close to the upper echelon of HS club teams.

For Royal Irish it was yet another tight game where they ended up on top. 

Both teams were missing starters as injuries and various commitments (college visits, etc.) held them out.

"We were happy with the effort," said Royal Irish Head Coach Dave Snyder, who only had flyhalf Tommy Hannon and fullback Tanner Quackenbush as regular starters playing in the backline. "It was an exciting match."

The Redhawks torched the new-look backline early on and Royal Irish was forced to make some adjustments, mostly to corral Raleigh's talented halfback combination. Flyhalf Aidan Laros continues to play exceptionally well for the Redhawks.

Adjustments made, Royal Irish scored and, said Snyder, "started figuring things out about halfway through the first half."

Flanker Ulrick Urasky put together his best defensive effort of the season and the Royal Irish forwards followed his example. The Royal Irish pack was powerful and looked very good in the scrums and in tight, and when they opted to power ahead with the ball in hand they did well.

Royal Irish scrumhalf Dylan Peters scored twice and was a pain in Raleigh's side all day. But penalties remain a Royal Irish problem, and they got into card trouble, which Raleigh punished with a try.

It was a good showing by the Redhawks, who showed they can play close with a highly-ranked team even when they don't have all their starters. But Royal Irish showed they have depth, too. Both will need that depth in the grinder that is HS Nationals.

"We are very proud of the guys that stepped up and proved their preparedness," said Snyder. "We have all our players back and healthy for nationals next week, and plan to continue our success we have had historically in the tournament."