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Around the Nation in HS Rugby

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Around the Nation in HS Rugby

Jacob Papesh takes it up for St. Ignatius vs Pendleton. Photo Preston Bucsanyi.

Here's a look at some of the action in Boys HS Rugby around the country.

SoCal Finals

We have our report on the SoCal School-Season Multi-School semis and final here: San Clemente Wins SoCal Multi-School Championship Under the Lights

Look for our report on Torrey Pines winning the Single-School final shortly. Torrey Pines beat Loyola 41-12.

Xavier vs Gregory the Great

Xavier HS out of New York beat Gregory the Great 34-14 behind a massive defensive effort. We will have more on this soon.

Top Texas Clash

Strake Jesuit defeated Dallas Jesuit 41-10 in Texas to take the inside track on the top spot among school teams there. St. Thomas continued their strong form with a 46-31 defeat of FFA.

St. Ignatius Cleveland vs Two Teams

St. Ignatius actually ran out two varsity sides this week, one to face Pendleton and one to face Notre Dale de la Salette. Both games were held at the Fortess at Obezt just outside Columbus, Ohio. In frigid weather against Pendleton, Ignatius got three tries from elusive wing Tommy Passarello and two from captain and scrumhalf Mark French, both of whom were outstanding on the day. Ignaitus picked up some injuries, unfortunately, but they still won 35-6, scoring seven tries and converting zero.

It was cold enough for Mark French of St. Ignatius to blow on his hands to keep them warm. Photo Preston Bucsanyi.


The Ignatius defense kept Pendleton out of their 22 for almost the entire match. Passarello's first try turned the tables on Pendleton and was a big momentum-shifter.

Also on Saturday, Ignatius Varsity B took on Notre Dame de la Salette. In a back-and-forth game in which La Salette showed very well, a late Bobby Rosol try secured a 42-36 win for Ignatius.

Northern California

St. Francis defeated De La Salle to win the Northern California Single-School championship, Bishop O'Dowd won the Open Division final, while Jesuit of Sacramento beat St. Ignatius SF to tke 3rd in the Varsity division.

More on this here: NorCal School Finals: St. Francis On Top.

Carolina Ruggerfest

Charlotte Cardinals started exceptionally well in this tournament, winning big over St. Edward and also Fort Hunt.

"No complaints from me," said Cardinals Head Coach Jason Zehmke. "It was a good day."

The Cardinals' rivals, the Charlotte Tigers, beat St. Xavier and also the Richmond Strikers, albeit not by as wide a margin as the Cardinals enjoyed. Still, the local teams were two of the strongest in Ruggerfest. 

Florida

Okapi Pink improved to 3-2 with a win over Boca Jrs 27-24. Fort Lauderdale earned their first win, over Tampa.

Arizona and Illinois

Neuqua of Illinois is touring Arizona and lost two games in the early going.

They were defeated 40-5 by Tempe on Friday. No. 8 Marleigh Fely and prop James Tosh were huge carriers for Tempe, while center Lucas Schiermeyer found some space to exploit. Davis Reid was 5-for-7 on conversions.

On Saturday Tempe defeated Desert Legion 50-33. Meanwhile Neuqua were edged by Scottsdale 17-12.

Colorado

Two tries and 16 points from Franco Olivier paced Monarch to a 36-28 win over Vikings. Valor was able to edge past East HS 23-22.