West Houston put it to a St. Pius X team on a roll, beating the ranked school team 41-0 Saturday in Texas league play.

Seven tries from the West Houston Lions secured their fourth consecutive victory in the Rugby Texas D1 South League, and they remain unbeaten.

The opening exchanges were particularly cagey with both sides not giving an inch, but with 10 minutes on the clock it was West Houston that went in front courtesy of center Zane Smith, converted by Ben Saunders. Within four minutes, powerhouse flanker Seth Smith went over for the first of his two tries.

St. Pius responded straight away and pinned West Houston in their 22 for about 10 minutes. West Houston held them out, however, and finally a turnover at a ruck saw West Houston kick clear. From that lineout in the St. Pius X half, West Houston spread the ball wide to flyhalf Ben Saunders, who chipped the ball ahead, chased, caught his own kick and passed to Smith. The pass, however, was forward so no spectacular try this time. West Houston won the ensuing scrum and after two phases prop Jacob Sanders was over for his first try of the season.

The St. Pius X back row trio ran hard at the West Houston pack, but solid tackling from Smith and Gene Kendall in the centers prevailed. St. Pius did come close but a crunching, try-saving tackle from hooker Travis Padilla and lock Sam Morris held the ball up in-goal.

In the second half, West Houston turned up the pace and scored right from the start. Blindside flanker Julian Orban caught the ball from the kickoff, and with some fancy footwork ran it in. No 8 Hunter Finlay went over for a spectacular dive-over try soon thereafter, and further tries from Seth Smith, fullback Mateo Rousseau, and three conversions from Saunders capped off the 41-0 shutout.

It was yet another convincing win for West Houston and they lead the Texas D1 South. Their final game is against St Thomas on the April 21. The Lions will not advance to the state playoffs, however. Charged with fielding inelligble players in 2021, West Houston has been allowed to play the regular season, but not the postseason.