Southern California heats up a little more even as the rains come.
The Storer Classic has moved to the UCLA Intramural fields to keep their tournament going (those fields are turf). This is a good opening for some highly-regarded teams—Danville, Thunder, SOC Raptors, Belmont Shore, Olympus—and we're going to get an idea of where Santa Monica and Mother Lode sit, and the new Orange Lutheran team.
It's a preseason tournament, to be sure, and the games are shortened, but they still give a good indication how the season might go.
Some other teams in SoCal are kicking off the regular school season, including new team Loyola HS.
Loyola HS LA Starts Rugby Program, Hires Cristian Rodriguez as Coach
But we're keeping an eye on Los Alamitos vs Long Beach Poly, a really good rivalry kickoff game.
The North Carolina season seems to have teams in the higher end of the standings against teams a little lower down. So is this week all predictable or a chance for an upset special?
In SCIRF, St. Augustine looked to keep their solid start going.
Sam Johns has been playing well at flyhalf putting his teammates into space and he can run as well. Four-year starter Colin Duffy is a consistent linebreaker, while young back Caely Aguirre is coming into his own and provides a lot of versatility, which gives the Saints options. Younger still Gavin Lower, a freshman, has provided an impact in the forwards while Sebastian Tucker adds energy and aggression in the pack.
Thursday night Servite beat St. John Bosco 19-12 to give themselves a bit of a boost; Bosco will be looking to rebound this weekend.
