Cathedral Catholic has a bit of a chip on its shoulder after a tough 2015 season where they almost, but not quite, made the championship game.

The Southern California Catholic school defeated Poway 53-7 to move to 2-0, right behind 3-0 Mira Costa. This weekend, St. Augustine, a very tough customer indeed at 1-1-1, takes on Cathedral hoping to knock them off. Cathedral knows all about those kinds of games - they lost one against Torrey Pines last year that was a contentious game and the difference between making the championship game and staying home. Cathedral was the only team to beat 2015 Varsity Red champs Fallbrook last year, and they liked their chances in the final.

But that didn’t happen, and now they want to get back there.

“We’ve been practicing real hard,” said Head Coach Glenn Irvine. “Last year we beat Fallbrook but we lost to Torrey Pines and St. Augustine - we lost our focus. We think it would have been an interesting championship game between us and Fallbrook. But the boys learned a lot. We went to Australia, and the boys are doing well now.”

Irvine and St. Augustine Coach Eric Dent know each other well, and they understand this is a big clash for either of these teams wants to chase down Mira Costa.

“It’ll be a really good game,” said Irvine.

The rivalry between St. Augustine and Cathedral goes back to the 1960s in other sports, with the schools playing for a charity cup that has been contested in rugby for seven years. 

Cathedral is looking to avenge last year’s wild 66-45 loss.

They will need a big game from HS All American prop Owen Duvall, who also captains the team, and speed young wing Ryan James. Laim Brady is a tough-to-bring-down No. 8. And there's also the intriguing Jack Vecchio, a 6-5 forward, and 4th brother to play rugby at Cathedral, who also kicks goals. You certainly don't see that combination every day.

They will need all and more this weekend.