Jesuit High School of Sacramento defeated Sierra Foothills 36-24 in Northern California HS club Varsity Gold action Friday night.

Photos of Jesuit, in red and yellow, and Sierra Foothills, in black and green, by David Barpal. Click image to enlarge.

The Marauders brought their strongest lineup to face one of the top club teams in the region. In a very physical encounter, Sierra's backline put plenty of pressure on the Jesuit threequarters, making it difficult for them to really find space and run.

"Our forward pack kept us in the game," said Jesuit Head Coach John Shorey. "We had some good performances in the pack and we were able to take advantage of some good tactical kicking."

Big lock forward Robert Paylor was "devastating in the breakdown," said Shorey, ensuring Jesuit was able to chase and win ball kicked downfield. Meanwhile, hooker Grayson Jones continued his run of strong games, and he connected well with Sam Neubuerger, who was dominant in the lineout, winning his own team's throws and also disrupting and stealing Sierra throws.

"The forwards really helped us out," concluded Shorey.

Behind the pack was scrumhalf Willie Nelson, who spent the summer at Napier College in New Zealand thanks to a local scholarship program. Nelson was able to spend time perfecting skills few young American kids nail down, especially his box kick. It was Nelson's kicking from the hand that repeatedly turned around the Sierra team and put his team on the front foot. If the ball rolled into touch, Neubuerger had a good shot at winning it back, and if it stayed infield, the chase, with Paylor hitting the rucks hard, was on it.

In a tough game, where Sierra Foothills did superbly to score four tries and force Jesuit to make some major adjustments, Jesuit held on.