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HS Boys End of Season Awards

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HS Boys End of Season Awards

The 2014-15 Boys High School season is, of course, done with a National Championship Invitational, another invitational on top of that, and almost 50 state and regional champions.

So how about some awards and end-of-season notes?

Glad you asked. 

 

2014-15 MVP: Steven Branham

Was the Fallbrook No.8 and HS All American hooker the best player in the USA? Well, we don’t know. Honestly, it’s really difficult. So what we did was look at a number of factors - impact in games, how well the team did with and without that play, performance at key moments, and performance at higher levels.

There’s also something of an intangible aspect to this, as well, and maybe that pushed Steven Branham over the edge. Certainly Branham is a special player - a powerful defender, a versatile attacking force, and one who’s not afraid to go into a ruck. But in addition to that, he’s been a leader. Branham led Fallbrook to a championship in Southern California’s Varsity Red division. He led them to a victory in the Fullerton Youth Tournament. He then was instrumental in keeping the team together to play in the SoCal club season - not an easy job when some players figure their rugby season is over and it’s time to play baseball.

And in that season, Fallbrook made it to the semifinals before losing a close one to Back Bay.

So Branham gets our award in part because he played superbly, but also in part because he kept the team together, on and off the field.

 

Honorable Mention Forward: Jack Iscaro

We started listing the other players who could have been put here, and decided not to. Yes, we know you’re out there. There are some terrific talents. But Jack Iscaro - who we hope will pick the USA over Italy when the time comes - led Gonzaga to a national title and was everything he needed to be.

 

Honorable Mention Back - Brian Hannon

There are backs with straight-up talent, and backs with brains, and backs who were consistent … Hannon has all of that, although he might say he was supremely consistent all season. However, the Royal Irish flyhalf was a massive reason why his team won the national club NIT, and not Granite Bay. He is a multi-skilled player who is elusive, smart, tough, and versatile. We’ll take that.