HS Leaders Show Well in Storer Classic
HS Leaders Show Well in Storer Classic
High-profile HS teams at the Storer Classic started off strong despite the rainy weather.
With rain a constant feature in Southern California these days, teams have eschewed the typical regional response to drops of water out of the sky (that is, they run screaming for shelter), and instead have done the best they could to practice and play.
The Storer Classic moved their games to turf fields and carried on, where Thunder Rugby, 2021 HS Club National Champions and 2022 National Tier II winners, Belmont Shore, 2022 National HS runners-up, SOC Raptors, who almost toppled the eventual 2022 HS Club champs, and 2018 HS Club champs Danville all showed well.
Thunder 3-0
A well-put-together Olympus team out of Utah faced off with Thunder in a hard rain. The Thunder forwards, led by No. 8 Mana Bulabalavu and lock Quinton Johnson, set the tone nicely.
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Thunder then took on Te Mana (Snow Canyon) also out of Utah. The pack once again ran the show, this time with hooker Ray Taele having a strong game. Mario Navarro pulled the strings at flyhalf.
Having returned several players but having also graduated much of the leadership that led to their success in 2021-22, Thunder is finding its way a little but.
"While we may be more talented than last year's team we need to build more discipline and maturity," said Head Coach Josh Williams.
On Sunday it was a tough go against a very good Danville Oaks side. While Bulabalavu was again effective for Thunder, the Danville backline is very skilled and put together some fine tries.
Thunder, said Williams, responded well after a bit of an early shock, and in the end Bulabalavu scored on the final play to win it 19-17.
Belmont Shore 3-0
Three close games against three very tough teams showed that Belmont Shore can still bring it.
In the rain their desire to spin it wide and attack the fringes was perhaps dampened a little bit. But they defended strongly and scored some well-taken tries when needed, beating Marin 12-7, Danville 14-12, and Olympus 17-7.
Raptors Stretch Wings
The SOC Raptors took over 60 players to the event, with their B side playing Olympus B and Orange Lutheran, a new team in Southern California. The B side lost both of their games by a try as coaches rotated players in to get their first game time of the New Year.
"Really excited about this group of players," said Head Coach Sam McMillan.
The A side, which returns nine starters from last year's team, went 2-1.
Danville once again proved to be a tough acorn to crack, this time the Oaks beat the Raptors 7-0. The rain was not easy to work with and the game might well have ended 0-0 were it not for Danville being able to punish one mistake for their lone try.
The Raptors beat a tough Marin Highlanders team 12-5 in even more rain. The adjust to the conditions the Raptors went to more single power carries.
"Games in these conditions are won by defense," said McMillan. Jacob Bower used his power to score twice, and sophomore prop Cade Gilbert clinched the game with a great interception in the last minute to ice the game. Sophomore flyhalf Redmond Chelsey, replacing the injured Keegan Hannon early in second half took his chance and players very well in what McMillan called "an epic game of rugby, maybe one of the top three in our club's history."
On Sunday with the rain stopped the Raptors shut out Mother Lode 31-0.
Opening it up a little more they logged five tries in 25 minutes of the 40-minute game. Prop Clarence Chaney was immense, running strong lines. Hannon was back from his knock and ran the attack nicely, with backs Thomas Hartnoff (fullback), Brice Hallady (wing), and centers Nate Van Buskirk and Jacob Bower being the beneficiaries of the flyhalf's work.
Jack Munro, converted from wing to scrumhalf, is part of a smart group of returners, and new recruits such as Hartnoff, center Blake Allen, and No. 8 Tyrone Cullers have added a spark.
Danville and Marin
As for Danville, yes this was a warmup tournament of shortened games, this was a very good showing by them despite their 14-12 loss to Belmont Shore on Saturday. Marin lost two games but both by tight margins and certainly should still be watched as the NorCal season starts.
