GRR: Union HS Oregon
Two of the best single-school high school teams in Oregon met up this weekend, with defending champs Union holding off Newberg 32-31.
While it was a bit of a relief for Union to pull out the victory, it wasn't easy, and the result also shows that Newberg is a team to watch.
Union HS out of Oregon moved to 2-0 in Rugby Oregon action with a 51-19 defeat of Prairie Saturday.
This follows on from 32-0 shutout of Lincoln in the league opener last week. Union was paced last week by sophomore prop Joshua Barber, who scored three tries and was player of the game. The Union forwards looked solid throughout.
The Union Titans repeated as Oregon single-school champions last week, defeating the Portland Pumas 49-38 in the final.
It was a dramatic and difficult final for Union as they had defeated Portland fairly easily in the regular season. But since then the Pumas had improved markedly, and studied Union enough to cause them some real problems.
there was a lot of talk about collision courses as Danville and Peninsula Green both won Friday to book a spot in the Pacific Cup Final Saturday.
In the three-day, eight-team, three-games-each tournament, Danville met Red Mountain in one semifinal, and Peninsula Green faced off with Kahuku in the other.
The first round of the Pacific Cup is in the books, with Peninsula Green, Danville, Red Mountain, and Kahuku all winning games.
Peninsula Green played a tough game against the Bay Barbarians, a team made up of players from Archbishop Riordan and Los Gatos. it was a talented and athletic Barbarians side, but Pen Green's unity of purpose saw them through 29-12.