Herriman HS opened their Utah HS league season with an emphatic 51-10 defeat of Highland Saturday, putting the rest of the state on notice.

Suiting up for Herriman was, among others, HS All American lock George “Leki” Fotu. The former Peninsula Green second row moved with his family to Utah and they chose to live in the Herriman district because of the rugby team. 

“Leki did a lot for us,” said Herriman Director of Rugby Jeff Wilson. “There are some obvious things he does but it’s more about how he rucks and how active he is defensively. We are very happy to have him, and very happy to start the season.”

The game itself was rife with errors early on, but started to smooth out as time progressed.

“We’ve got a fair amount of experience and some physical guys, which we needed because Highland is a big, physical team,” Wilson said.

Another HS All American, Kalisi Moli, was a huge factor. The HSAA prop plays No. 8 for Herriman and is very difficult to stop. On one occasion, he wasn’t stopped at all, rambling over 50 meters to score. Tomasi Tonga scored two tries for Herriman while Colin Snow continued his upward trajectory, parlaying a good summer with the Utah Lions 7s team into an A-side berth on the Herriman team. He scored a try and contributed nine points with his boot. Flanker Alec Blonquist is back with the team and a factor in the lineouts, while sophomore scrumhalf Noah Vaea and flanker Kaelon Tryon also played well.

“This is a good start for us in a pretty competitive league,” said Wilson. “With Olympus, United, Kau Toa, and East out there, and the Wasatch Club bringing up some really good young talent, it’s going to be tough.”

The Bonneville Conference league games don’t start until March 20, but then it’s a solid slog through a period of six weekends during which Herriman plays five league games plus non-conference games against top teams United and Kau Toa.