Wow, OK so we have over 80 games this week.
Many of them are shorter games in the Carolina Ruggerfest, which we will be attending, so if you Alex Goff there, come say hi.
But that's not the only tournament going on. Lindenwood University hosts their smaller tournament, too.
At Carolina, there are several ranked teams and teams hoping to get a spot at National Championships. St. Edward out of Ohio, locals Charlotte Cardinals and Charlotte Tigers, Vienna out of Virginia, Key Biscayne out of Florida, Rebels and Lapharetta out of Georgia, and Wando and Oceanside out of South Carolina to name just a few. This is less about winning a trophy and more about playing teams you don't know. Vienna vs Key Biscayne is a game we're very interested to see.
Lindenwood is a smaller tournament but has some big hitters in there. Bixby and St. Thomas Aquinas will be there. They played last week (Bixby Downs Aquinas) so they won't play at Lindenwood. Instead we see Bixby play 901 (formerly Germantown) and Lindbergh. STA plays St. Louis University High and also 901. The KC Jr. Blues, which had a nice warmup tourney last week, comes in to play SLUH and Lindbergh.
In Indiana, Trine University hosts a meeting of St. Ignatius, the defending national single-school champs, and four other teams. Ignatius will field a different lineup for each game (two vs. Notre Dame de la Salette, one vs Chargers, and one vs Royal Irish). The Royal Irish game is the A-side game. (Full disclosure—GRR Editor Alex Goff is an assistant coach to the freshman team at SIHS ... but won't be at their game this weekend.) This is a first runout for all of these teams and a good test for all. The depth at Ignatius is rather astonishing, but not unique, as we will see, for example, SIHS play Gonzaga later this weekend with all four levels.
Gonzaga plays Lasalle in multiple levels as well here. Gonzaga beat Gregory the Great in convincing fashion last week. Berks vs Aspetuck is a clash of two athletic, speedy teams that like to take risks.
Other big games: Dallas Jesuit vs St. Thomas. Both won games last week, with Dallas winning a low-scoring clash with Lake Travis, and St. Thomas taking care of St. Pius X. Illinois-based Neuqua will visit Tempe in Arizona, which is a really interesting crossover clash. Granite Bay takes on SFGG after a tie with Danville.
