Rugby won out over the weekend at the campus of UCLA as the Dennis Storer Classic hosted high school programs from around California and further afield.

Running simultaneously with the college tournament was the annual High School round robin featuring top teams from the Northern California, Utah, and Southern California. Two NorCal teams and one Utah team had to bow out leading up to the tournament for numerous COVID cases on their teams. 

Even the teams that did compete were all missing key players across the board but in the end they persevered and came to compete. The Northern California teams included Lamorinda, Mother Lode, Marin Highlanders, and East Palo Alto. Some of the NorCal teams have not been able to practice much due to inclement weather as well as the COVID cases on their teams, so they struggled at times to put all the pieces together.

Southern California was represented by a very physical Belmont Shore side, and a Falcons team from Torrey Pines High School which was essentially the core of the defending Tier II National Champion San Diego Mustangs.

The OC Raptors that took 6th in the HS Club bracket of the Boys HS National Championships last summer came to compete on Sunday, while the defending national HS Club champions, Thunder Rugby looked as strong as ever. 

East Palo Alto and Belmont Shore started the day with a contest that was very tight all the way to the end. EPA was threatening to score and could have tied the game but Belmont Shore capitalized on a turnover and scored to win 12-0.

Snow Canyon had a couple of nailbiter games but ended the day 2-1 after beating Marin Highlanders in a hard fought opening day match 5-3, and then won another defensive showdown, this time with East Palo Alto, 7-5. 

The Falcons put an end to Snow Canyon's great start by beating them 27-7. Falcons were plagued with sickness and injuries missing three of their All Americans: Riley Elliott, Thomas Wagner, and Judd Berman. After the Snow Canyon game the Falcons were down on numbers having only 15 healthy players to start the game against Lamorinda, but their remaining All American, Cade Crist, and the grit of the Falcons carried them through 2105.

The Raptors came out strong on Sunday and played three (shortened) games in a total of four hours. Led by All American Nate Leff, the Raptors routed Mother Lode and Marin Highlanders with a combined score over the two games of 47-5. 

The third game, against Lamorinda, was the fourth game of the weekend for the Northern Californians. Both teams played their underclassmen to ensure that everyone who made the trip got significant playing time. It was a well-played game, with both sides showing promise for the future and battling to the bitter end. The Raptors took it, but it was a close one, 15-14.

Belmont Shore finished 4th in the Southern California club competition last May but always brings talent through their outstanding youth program. They looked very strong and well-drilled, with All American Sone Aupiu leading his team to a record of 4-0 on the weekend, outscoring all four NorCal teams by a combined score of 111-10. 

Defending National Champions from Carlsbad, Thunder Rugby, are looking for a potential repeat of last year and they did not disappoint at the Dennis Storer Classic.  Thunder graduated some outstanding players following nationals, but it seems like they are reloading rather than rebuilding. And they still had Solomon Williams, Spencer Layne, Kingston Vivao, Liam Parker, and Brendan Amiatu-Tanoi returning.  

Thunder played East Palo Alto in the curtain-raiser for the Cal vs UCLA match. 

EPA played with ferocity and the game was on a knife edge going into halftime when Layne scored to put Thunder up 12-5. After halftime the floodgates opened when Thunder's All Americans showed the crowd why they are All Americans. With the Cal Bears warming up and watching, Williams gave a pass to the All American prop Amiatu Tanoi in space and it took numerous East Palo Alto defenders to take him down. That opened a gap on the outside for Vivao to run in and dot another one down. 

This sequence happened a few more times with Liam Parker and Spencer Layne and the game ended 31-5. The Thunder ended the weekend 3-0, beating Lamorinda, Mother Lode, and East Palo Alto by a combined score of 112-10 over three games.   

The Dennis Storer Classic High School tournament was a great success not only for the high school players, but for the college coaches to see the players that have applied to their schools in action.  The tournament will be back in 2023 on Martin Luther King Weekend, and it has proved a crucial preseason date on the calendar for West Coast teams.

Storer Classic HS Scores