Torrey Pines won the early Game Of The Year in SoCal High School rugby, taking down rivals St. Augustine 24-21 this past weekend.

It was a wild, back-and-forth game with some big momentum shifts. Torrey Pines took an early lead thanks to the goalkicking of Oren Cargill. A Cargill penalty made it 3-0, and then after scrumhalf Beau Morgans lofted a wide box kick, and Matt Goena raced in to recover the ball and score in the corner. Cargill made the difficult conversion to put the score at 10-0 for Torrey Pines.

But St. Augustine came right back, using their big, powerful forwards to power through the inside channels. Torrey Pines had trouble getting back quickly enough, and committed penalties as a result. It was just what St. Augustine needed.

A poor box kick out of trouble from Morgans was run right back by Augustine, and led to a try. Then St. Augustine marched right back, and powered over for a second try, and a 14-10 lead.

The second half started the same as the first ended, with St. Augustine putting the Torrey Pines under pressure, and with some penalties helping along the way, Augustine scored to take a 21-10 lead.

“And then we kind of woke up,” said Torrey Pines Coach Matty Sandoval. “We were diving over there ruck and offsides a lot. But the last 20 minutes we started playing good rugby.”

Flanker Jude Atiya muscled over with eight minutes left, and Torrey Pines got the momentum in a 21-17 game. And then Cargill came in on the wing to score right at the corner, and then convert to finish it off 24-21.

“We’re not close to a championship team yet, but the last 16 minutes was a championship effort,” said Sandoval.

Also in the Varsity Red San Diego Division, Cathedral defeated SC Tritons 46-24, and La Costa Canyon won via forfeit over Poway.