St. Pius X, St. Thomas, and West Houston all produced big wins in Texas HS rugby this weekend.

St. Pius X, ranked #29, beat #25 Strake Jesuit 29-28. This was a thriller and a well-played one at that. Captain and flanker Michael Fite scored two tries for Pius. the second was the game-winner. With time winding down Pius worked their way down close to the Strake line and then Fit forced his way through a wall of defenders to get over.

That try made it 28-27 for Strake, Fite then colly lined up and slotted the conversion to win the game. The skipper had 19 points from two tries, three conversions, and a penalty goal. The entire St. Pius X back row scored their team's points, with flanker Max Bright and No. 8 Andreas Romero getting the other two tries.

All three back rowers were also key on defense, while flyhalf Burke Battenfield showed smart decision-making and an elusive sidestep.

St. Pius X is now 4-1, with their only loss being to St. Thomas.

"Honestly our loss to St Thomas woke the team up," said head Coach David Selby. "The team came out on Monday with a determination that the loss wouldn’t define them. They committed to play together for the whole 70 minutes and it was the 69th minute try and conversion that won the game."

Selby noted that Strake was somewhat depleted when they lost to West Houston. 

"We knew that their key players had returned and would be looking to get back to their winning ways. This hardened their resolve and commitment to to prove that they were worthy to be ranked," said Selby.

St. Thomas, meanwhile kept their winning ways with a tough road win over Lake Travis. This was the fifth straight road game for St. Thomas in a lopsided schedule made more lopsided by the weather.

"Possession and go-forward is working," said Director of Rugby James Wolfinger. "The backs and the pack are working well together and the big thing is our defense has tightened up. I think that was the high points for the game."

Certainly, as Thomas held Lake Travis to just two tries in the 31-12 win.

"This group has bought in on the defensive approach and the coaches have been doing a really good job of putting in the pattern. Our numbers are good which makes it easier to work on some of this stuff."

Captain and No. 8 Charlie Batterson now has 11 tries in five games. Fullback Nico Lopez scored two tries on the night and slotted three conversions. Flanker Taylor DeJarnette played a strong game at flanker and scrumhalf Mitch Onufro kept the action going.

West Houston kept up their run of solid results with a 31-0 shutout of Cy Fair. West Houston continues to post solid results.