High School Boys
Howell defeated Rockford in dramatic fashion to win the Rugby Michigan Boys HS championship this past weekend.
The playoffs produced plenty of drama throughout.
Rockford themselves had to work very hard to get to the final … even the semifinal. The quarterfinals included a tight 19-17 defeat of Detroit Central Catholic.
In a game where both teams had scoring opportunities only to see them go begging, Royal Irish garnered some measure of revenge in beating Penn HS for the Indiana state title over the weekend.
St. Augustine and the Union County Mudturtles secured Rugby New Jersey state titles over the weekend.
Led by a player-of-the-game performance from Andrew Whiteman, the Hermits battled in a tight game with Delbarton. Delbarton led 12-7 at halftime but St. Augustine came back, tied it 12-12 through a try from John Lawson, and then Whiteman scored the game-winner.
After taking 3rd place in Tier 2 at the Boys High School Nationals tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah, Aspetuck Valley Rugby Club defeated Simsbury HS and Greenwich HS to win the Connecticut State Championships.
The final, 20-12 over Greenwich, was considered something of an upset, as Greenwich has generally dominated the Nutmeg State in HS rugby for years.
The Charlotte Tigers followed up on their 3rd-place finish at the Boys HS Rugby National Championships with a 48-24 defeat of the Raleigh Redhawks to win the North Carolina state HS club championships.
The Tigers B side also won the Tier 2 championship.