Cumberland Valley Repeats in Pa
BLUE BELL, Pa. -- The Cumberland Valley High School Boys’ Rugby team made it two state championships in a row today, defeating Conestoga High School 32-5 at Montgomery County Community College, the site of the 2015 Pennsylvania Rugby State Championships.
CV earned its way into the final by winning 15-14 over a physical West Allegheny squad on Saturday, while Congestoga also had a close game, beating St. Joe’s Prep 37-33.
Cumberland Valley started the scoring this afternoon with a 40-meter slashing run by inside center sophomore Skylar Vilaychith. Conestoga answered with a try at the 10-minute mark of the first half. Neither team’s conversion was good, leaving the match knotted at 5-5.
Surprise Barbarians Win Washington
The Budd Bay Barbarians of Olympia Wash. upset Liberty 28-23 to win the Washington state championship Saturday in Seattle.
Capital Wins Idaho
With their flyhalf and goalkicker, Colbin Larson, in the sin bin in overtime of the Idaho Boys state championship game, Boise’s Capital HS had to turn to a third-string flanker named Lennin Rodriguez.
Put in late as a sub, Rodriguez has a prodigious boot, but one that is a little difficult to control. With the game on a knife edge at 17-17, Capital got a penalty 40 meters out, and asked young Rodriguez to take a shot at goal. The flanker booted the ball over, with space to spare, and won the championship for his team.
Gonzaga Wins 2nd Straight
Gonzaga won their second straight Boys National Single-School Championship with a bruising defeat of Jesuit Saturday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
Both teams played hard-nosed defense and points were definitely at a premium. With two huge, tough packs, Gonzaga won by being a little bit bigger, and having some startling pace out wide.
Boys Nationals Scores
Latest scores from the Boys HS National Championships, single-school (SS), multi-school club (MS), and Tier II (T2).
The final games will be played Saturday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
Royal Irish Defends Title
In a game of tremendous drama, the Royal Irish won their third national high school club title in the last four years, using an inspiring defensive stand to hold off Granite Bay 21-15 Saturday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
Mudturtles Take Tier II
The Union County Mudturtles defeated Charlotte Catholic 17-5 to win the Tier II bracket a the Boys HS National Championships Saturday, capping off 3-0 weekend.
The Mudturtles were led by flyhalf “Chicken” Dabulas, who orchestrated a snappy win over Fishers in Friday’s semi, and then Saturday’s victory also.
Union got some impressive big plays from a variety of players, including No. 8 Khalil Burns, who scored on a 50-meter run against Fishers, and prop Nick Costa.
In the Tier II final, the game seemed to be going Charlotte Catholic’s way in the early going. Charlotte had a long breakaway for a potential try, only to have a Union defender race in to make the tackle and jar the ball loose at the last second.
Familiar Foes for 5th in Single-School
Greenwich HS will meet Xavier HS in the consolation final of the Boys single-school national championships Saturday, after both won their second-day games on Friday.
This will be a rematch of a game played earlier this season, won by Xavier 37-36.
“We are really happy to have won,” said Greenwich Coach Joe Kelly after his side dispatched St. Thomas Aquinas 40-22. “And we’re even happier that we’re playing Xavier. We want another shot at them.”
Led by some strong work from Tommy Williams, Lucas Bienstock, and Mike McTiernan, Greenwich rebounded nicely from a competitive loss to Herriman to beat the Kansas state champion STA team.
Oregon HS Club Final Saturday
The Rugby Oregon Boys HS Club championship will be decided Saturday as unbeaten Beaverton faces 10-1 Eastside.
Beaverton defeated Bend 48-15 last Saturday in the semis, while Eastside got by Linn Benton 31-10.
“This not a team where one player stands out above the rest,” said Eastside Coach Matt Manley. “Truly, this is a group that works well together. Beaverton is a great side and our last game was a fantastic display of rugby. We simply need to play our best rugby at the right time, minimize mistakes, and leave it all on the field.”
Beaverton and Eastside met May 1, with Beaverton coming away 26-22 winners. But Eastside, with seniors Captain Taka leading the way in the forwards, and Tali Ofa leading by example as well.
Taka has been a revelation for Eastside,
Jesuit v Gonzaga Part III
It’s going to be Gonzaga v Jesuit for the third year in a row in the Boys Single-School HS Championships after both won semifinals Friday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC, but it will be a game where the teams took markedly different paths to get there.
Gonzaga ran out to an impressive lead against Herriman, and then almost lost it as the Utah team came storming back. Meanwhile, Jesuit ran out to an early lead over Penn and held that lead to win comfortably.
Boys NIT Latest
Gonzaga survived a stirring comeback by Herriman to book a place in the Boys HS National Championships single-school final.
The DC team dominated early and led at one point 39-15. But Herriman responded with some brilliant quick play, the Utah team started scoring tries, and scored three late tries to make it 39-34. Herriman had the ball with time left but lost possession and Gonzaga kicked to win it. Herriman will rue missing four of their six conversions. Both teams played with a lot of power, but it was their speed that got the tries.
Battered but Unbowed, Royal Irish to Final
The Royal Irish will be in their fourth straight national HS final after the Indianapolis team defeated a hard-nosed West Shore United 30-12 Friday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
The Pennsylvania club West Shore gave Royal Irish plenty to work through, and the Irish also had some injuries to deal with. The most concerning of those was a leg injury to flanker Noah Schrader on Thursday. Schrader missed Friday’s game and is still a doubt for Saturday.
The Royal Irish struggled put put away Phoenix Alpharetta in the quarterfinal on Thursday, and while part of that was to do with Phoenix playing very well, especially in the first half, Royal Irish Head Coach Scott Peterson said he also felt his team started slowly.
Possible Mich. Final Preview Goes to Grandville
The Michigan state high school playoffs are soon upon us and fans and observers got a nice little preview Wednesday when Grandville and Rockford met in league play.
Granite Bay Brilliant in Semis
Granite Bay qualified for the Boys HS National Championship club final with a hugely impressive 41-14 defeat of Utah state champion United Friday at the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC.
Boys HS Nationals Live Stream Info
The Boys HS National Championships is kicking off today, Thursday.
Here's a short preview: Boys Nationals Set for Thursday
Here's a link to live streaming of the event.
Here's a link to the Event Program.
