Utah Youth Rugby Enters Playoffs
Utah Youth Rugby Enters Playoffs
Utah Youth Rugby enters its multi-tiered playoffs this weekend with a few questions to answer.
How good is Highland?
Opposition, namely Herriman's Director of Rugby, has spoken in complimentary tones on what Highland has been able to accomplish. Finishing the Red Conference (school teams) 3-1 and having beaten Olympus, Mountain Ridge, and East, seems to back that up.
A young, athletic Highland squad will take on Olympus this weekend in the semifinals.
"I brought in some new coaches to help with the team and have renewed support from the football program," said Head Coach Dan Berg. "Although we are young we have the ability and experience to win now."
The center pairing of Paizge Mailei and Viliami Esikia have been hugely effective and the outside backs of Joe Fonua, Ashton Olevao, and Zedrick Fifita are part of a fit and speedy attack. That name, Esikia, might be familiar to some and indeed Viliami is the son of former USA star Vaha Esikia. Vaha has three sons in the program including freshman Leo, who is the starting flyhalf.
Esikia the elder has brought an international and professional perspective to the team and Berg has welcomed that with open arms. Nusi Tukuafu has joined to help coach the forwards and has also helped raise the level.
Should Highland get by Olympus and Herriman get by Mountain Ridge, the rematch between the two might be different from April 9's 40-17 Herriman victory.
"Our starting 15 has changed a bit since we played them," said Berg.
In the Blue/White Conference, which features HS Clubs, United is 6-0-1 in conference and non-conference play. Their only blemish is their 24-24 tie with Herriman. Aside from that game, the only time United has allowed more than 12 points is last week against Genesis, a game United didn't need to win in order to be the #1 seed.
Layton Christian is #2 after losing a bit of a weird one 39-38 to Te Mana (Snow Canyon), and losing 31-12 to United. Or these teams the favorites to make the final? Certainly not. Genesis can certainly upend anyone—all of their losses have been close.
In the Blue/White Tier 2, Brighton has been impressive, losing only one game. That was a non-conference loss to Highland 49-24. Every other played game has seen Brighton win by more than 40. The concern is that they haven't played a game with a result in some weeks. Brighton's result against 2nd-place Kearns was 73-10.
