SoCal Varsity White Latest

Top teams in the Southern California Varsity White are starting to show themselves after this weekend's results.

First off, here's what we know among key results:

Carlsbad beat Alta Vista to move to 5-0 (score unconfirmed).

Santiago got a forfeit win, which moved them to 1st place after Wilson won, but failed to secure a bonus point. Wilson beat Artesia 18-17 (you'll see below that Artesia doesn't have a bonus point listed; that's because they forfeited a game earlier in the season, and so were at -1 bonus-loss points before the close loss this weekend. That additional bonus point bumped them back to zero.)

University City scored big over Mira Mesa in a clash of undefeated teams in San Diego South. Also in that division, High Tech High moved to 3-3 with a win over Coronado. The Tritons beat San Juan 15-0 in the meeting of undefeateds in Orange County. 

Now to some details: 

UC and Mira Mesa were both unbeaten when they went into this weekend's game (University City v Mira Mesa - Undefeateds Meet Up). 

It was a very tight first half, but as the game wore on, University City started to pull away. Patrick Madden was excellent with his kicking, and UC eventually won 73-24.

"It was probably our best and more complete game all year," said UC Head Coach Jason Lee. "Our reserves really stepped up. I am proud of our boys' effort. We prepared a new game plan and they executed it perfectly."

Lee said that Mira Mesa was excellent on attack - "deadly and efficient" he said - but UC starved them of possession, especially in the second half.

Among those doing that work was Damen Kohli. The prop was really active over the ball and in loose play.

Meanwhile, Wilson HS was undefeated playing an Artesia team that hadn't won all season. But, hit with injuries from last weekend, Wilson played some youngsters, and struggled.

Artesia saw their chance and took a 12-0 lead into the halftime break. But in the second half Wilson scored twice to even it up at 12-12. Then Wilson pulled ahead 15-12 on a penalty only to see Artesia retake the lead with a late try. But one more attack from Wilson put them in the Artesia half, and a penalty later they had the three points they needed and a hard-won victory. Junior Ewan Scott was outstanding for Wilson in difficult circumstances.

Coach Tony Balasuriya said the heat of the day exposed a need for better conditoning, but, he added, "hard games are useful because they expose your team's waknesses."

The Tritons pulled off a crucial upset in Orange County (see game preview here: Tritons v Stallions Possible OC Decider) and that puts them in an excellent position to win the division.