Six teams are looking for single-school championships this weekend in California.

The SCIRF league of teams looking to follow California Interscholastic Federation rules, sees St. Augustine play San Clemente in the final.

The Saints come into the match undefeated while San Clemente’s lone loss of the season was against Saints when they were defeated 14-0 in January.
"San Clemente Triton Rugby is raring to go this weekend," said San Clemente Head Coach Stu Proctor. "The biggest difference in our performances this year has been our ability to win games against good motivated competition whilst not playing at our best. The one win that escaped us in the regular season was the game at St Augustine. Beyond playing against a very good defense and well drill rugby team, we understand why, and we are now ready."

San Clemente will depend on a varied attack from fly half Trey Torticill and go-forward ball from prop Nate Cross. While Saints will depend on Michael Colucci to lead the forward pack and backs Aidan Konja and Matt DeFrates to direct attack.

"Our boys have prepared like we’ve asked," said St. Augustine Head Coach Ethan Willis. "We are excited to play in our third SCIRF final in a row. This game will showcase some of the best high school rugby talent in Southern California. We are happy to play in the final again, but we’re not satisfied."

More Finals

Meanwhile, Southern California Youth Rugby's Varsity White season finishes up. These are single-school teams that play under SCYR's rules (which allow a small percentage of out-of-school players if their school doesn't have a rugby team). Servite has been almost unstoppable this season, and will take on a Carlsbad team that was similarly dominant before having to struggle a little bit against Murrieta Valley last week.

Carlsbad, Servite To Meet In SoCal Varsity White Final

The speed of Servite has seen them roll past some very good opponents. Carlsbad will need to control possession to keep that speed in check.

And in Northern California, Jesuit takes on De La Salle in the culmination of a short Single-School Cup season. This is really a precursor to the NorCal Premier season, but it has a greater value, too, as the winner of this game will play the winner of Servite and Carlsbad in an all-California final.

(Word is that we might see a cross-regional game between NorCal and SCIRF too).

Jesuit has to be favored in that game, as the defending national champions look to regain their #1 ranking. The Marauders appear to have reloaded nicely, as they often do, and done so despite seeing their longtime head coach, John Shorey, retire.

Still, this is a high-rankings championship weekend in California.