A ton happened in HS Club action this week and the results had a wide-ranging effect on the rankings; here, then, are our explanations.

First off, some of the easier bits: Good performances in the Carolina Ruggerfest prompted us to put Clayton, Key Biscayne, and the Charlotte Cardinals into the Top 50. Clayton's move was pretty straightforward—this past weekend they beat Neuqua, Phoenix Alpharetta, and Loudoun. Key Biscayne is a bit more complicated because they entered the weekend 2-3 in Florida's league. We felt they were about 52, 53 ... so we're not surprised they can play, but we're still a bit wary of putting too much value in results in shortened games in a tournament format. Still, overall we decided they should be ranked and also their wins over Raleigh Redhawks and Four Points (who are lurking just outside the Top 50) led us to conclude that the Florida league deserved a little overall boost. 

The Charlotte Cardinals had an early reputation as a good team but, with the club being brand new, we had to see them. They are solid, and beat Key Biscayne.

So, for now, the Cardinals go in at #23. This might be a little generous; we'll be keeping an eye on them.

Berks lost to Conestoga so Conestoga comes in and Berks drops behind. But, remember, this is a preseason game not a league game, so this isn't set in stone. Disregard that last sentence, as Conestoga should be in the School rankings. 

More Complex Stuff

Charlotte Tigers went 3-0 in the Carolina Ruggerfest but their opposition was, overall, not as strong as that of the Cardinals. So we're not completely sold just yet, but we're also not inclined to drop them down yet, either. 

Danville beat San Mateo, who had beaten East Palo Alto, who ... you guessed it ... had beaten Danville. there's always a trio like this. The feeling is for us that Danville is on an improvement trajectory, but really we've got them all around the same ranking. 

The Kansas City Jr. Blues lost a couple of games by large margins early on this winter/spring. But we said they were waiting for players and the early games were chances to blood younger athletes. Once they got those more experienced players back, guess what? They won in pretty impressive fashion. So they move up, and depending on how the spring goes we're inclined to throw out those early efforts.

And we talk about that aspect a lot—anomalous early-season results. Remember how last year St. Ignatius opened up the season losing 47-0 and ended up #2 among school teams. That brings us to The Woodlands and West Houston. Yes West Houston is on probation for playing ineligible players last year (they have appealed). West Houston can play the season, but not the playoffs. Assuming their linup is legal, they will be ranked and they did beat Woodlands, albeit a slightly understrength Woodlands, on Feb 26. We dropped Woodlands down and put West Houston up, but warned that things might change—we might throw out that result (17-12) if we see the teams on different trajectories.

Well it's rare that we are inclined to dismiss a result so quickly, but Woodlands, with some injured players back, just slammed a very good Strake Jesuit team, beating them by more than 50. That makes you take notice. Woodlands moves up back into the Top 10 (but not back to their #3 spot).

A New #1

Granite Bay has been producing result after result, and a pretty emphatic defeat of a very good SFGG team, coupled with Thunder being idle and Charlotte Tigers being good but not astoundingly good, has us put GB in at #1. Again, remember much could change. Tempe, which, remember, almost beat Granite Bay in California, moves up. Fort Hunt after beating #4 Aspetuck, moves up. That game was quite close so Aspetuck doesn't drop down too far.

Royal Irish is the team that opens the season with a big loss this time. They bounced back a day later with a good win, so, yes, Royal Irish moves down, but not especially far ... yet.

Coming into #3 where Woodlands sat last week is Granite Bay. Again, this is an early-season ranking and these things can change dramatically. The Charlotte Tigers get back on the field this coming weekend; Aspetuck plays Fort Hunt; Royal Irish plays St. Ignatius ... you get the idea. There could easily be a new #1 and with Granite Bay playing SFGG we might see a flip there, too. Thunder Rugby takes a week off after many of their players won the SoCal Open Division with Carlsbad. Once the club season in Southern California gets going you'll see many of those teams move around. 

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Rank	Prev Rank	Team	Notes
1	3	Granite Bay (CA)	Beat SFGG (12)
2	1	Thunder Rugby (CA)
3	2	Charlotte Tigers (NC)	3-0 at Carolina Ruggerfest
4	11	Tempe (AZ)	Beat Mira Costa
5	9	Fort Hunt (VA)	Beat Aspetuck (4)
6	6	SOC Raptors (CA)
7	4	Aspetuck (CT)	Lost to Fort Hunt (9)
8	7	Genesis (UT)
9	18	Woodlands (TX)	Beat Strake Jesuit (S11)
10	5	Royal Irish (IN)	Lost to St. Ignatius (S4), beat St. Edward (S16)
11	10	San Diego Mustangs (CA)
12	13	Snow Canyon (UT)	Beat West Valley (21)
13	12	SFGG (CA)	Lost to Granite Bay (3)
14	19	Boca Raton (FL)	Beat Cardinal Gibbons (S7)
15	14	Belmont Shore (CA)
16	15	United (UT)
17	17	Vienna (VA)	Beat West End
18	16	Mother Lode (CA)
19	20	SLV Rhinos (UT)	Beat Olympus
20	21	West Valley Warriors (UT)	Lost to Snow Canyon (Te Mana) (13)
21	35	Kansas City Jr. Blues (MO)	Beat Penn (S19), La Salette
22	24	Harlequin (TN)
23	Unr	Charlotte Cardinals (NC)	3-0 at Ruggerfest
24	27	Danville (CA)	Beat San Mateo (25)
25	25	San Mateo (CA)	Lost to Danville (27)
26	26	East Palo Alto (CA)
27	30	Okapi (FL)
28	50	Germantown (TN)	Beat SLUH (S31)
29	28	Berks (PA)	Lost to Conestoga
30	39	Wellington (FL)	Beat Cape Pirates
31	29	Hough Huskies (NC)
32	32	West Houston (TX)
33	34	Pendleton (IN)
34	36	Eastside (WA)	Beat Eastside (Ore.) (49)
35	46	HSE-Fishers (IN)	Beat Moeller (S45), St. Xavier
36	31	Morris (NJ)
37	33	Red Mountain (AZ)
38	Unr	Key Biscayne (FL)	2-1 at Ruggerfest
39	36	Marin (CA)
40	38	Doylestown (PA)
41	22	Raleigh Redhawks (NC)	1-2 at Ruggerfest
42	42	Raptor Rugby (TN)	Beat Riverdale
43	Unr	Clayton (NC)	3-0 at Ruggerfest
44	43	West Shore Utd (PA)
45	41	Eagan (MN)
46	48	Neuqua (IL)	1-2 at Ruggerfest
47	23	Phoenix Alpharetta (GA)	0-3 at Ruggerfest
48	37	Liberty (WA)
49	49	Eastside (OR)	Lost to Eastside (Wash.) (36)
50	40	Fairfield (CT)