HS Rugby Action Around the Nation
HS Rugby Action Around the Nation
Around the nation in HS Rugby so far ...
Tri-State Area
Greenwich of Connecticut defeated Rye of New York 27-14. It was a tough, competitive game in which Rye wasn't helped by a red card (two yellow-card-worthy high tackles).
"This was our second Top-10 opponent in the span of six days," said Rye Head Coach Jim O'Hara. "We proved we can play with the best. But we’ll keep working and take some lessons from this."
Archer Fenton at scrumhalf was a standout for Rye.
From the Greenwich side of things, the team leaders did superbly to keep Greenwich focused and organized.
Segundo Mas, Benja Thompson, and Jake Pobjoy were outstanding in that regard for GHS, which is racking up some solid results. Certainly they are playing in a more unified way than last year.
Xavier HS of New York were edged by Virginia HS club Vienna. This was a pretty high-profile win for a Vienna side that has already beaten Raleigh Redhawks, Richmond, and Aspetuck, and lost a close one to Gonzaga.
This was as close as you could get, with Vienna running out to a 22-7 halftime lead and holding on in nailbiting fashion 29-28. This game had a 90-minute lightning delay and severe weather punctuated the game throughout.
That delay was with the score 22-21 Vienna. And it was Vienna that scored next to take a two-score 29-21 lead that was just enough—Xavier got a penalty try right at the end of the game.
This was a good result for Vienna especially considering they were missing some of their more celebrated starters, including Andrew Evan and David Kendig.
The Prairie
The Woodlands defeated the Kansas City Jr. Blues 32-10 in a clash of Texas and Missouri teams, #1 vs #20. Woodlands hooker Cody Clough capped off a maul for a try three minutes in, and Zane Smith ran in from 35 meters out to extend Woodlands' lead. Smith scored his second thanks to a kick-chase and Woodlands led 19-0.
That was it for Smith. He was moments later red-carded for a dangerous tackle, and Woodlands was down a player for the rest of the game. KC's Kade Williams kicked a penalty.
The early part of the second half was a stalemate, but past the midway point Junior Blues prop Jay Estes drove over for a try and Williams converted to make it 19-10.
Neel Menon added a penalty goal for Woodlands, and then added a try, a conversion, and a penalty to extend the Woodlands lead.
Cody Clough was very good for Woodlands.
Louisiana
Jesuit New Orleans welcomed another ranked opponent to their town, this time it was Lasalle College HS out of Pennsylvania. Jesuit won 29-15. Will Hand stepped in nicely at flyhalf after Andrew Newell was held out with an injury. Scrumhalf Matt Cashio scored two tries.
Other Reports
California
De La Salle ran out to a 28-0 halftime lead over SFGG, and cruised to an impressive 47-7 victory in Northern California.
DLS started the game with some mistakes—trying to force offloads that weren't there—so while they had line breaks, SFGG was able to stop them.
Eventually outside center Chris Biller broke a tackle and was in next to the posts. After that flyhalf Parker Beilke called for a move on the short side and was over and around. A kick downfield set up wing Jack Kuiper for a chance, but he was tackled without the ball, leading to a penalty try. Suddenly it was 21-0.
Later in the first half DLS spun it wide where fullback Lucas Meranda found a gap and was in from 40 meters.
The second half saw the De La Salle players get a bit of whiteline fever. SFGG defended well, and went wide to score a well-taken try. That perhaps showed DLS that patience was still a virtue. Meranda ended up scoring twice on long runs, and Biller exploited a mismatch to get his second.
Reserve scrumhalf John Arcidiacono was in for the final try of the day.
"SFGG as always were gracious hosts and they are a young team with a lot of potential. They have great coaching, awesome facilities and are dealing with an injury bug of their own that they will hopefully be done with soon," said De La Salle Head Coach Derek Holmberg, who added that when his team followed the plan and didn't try to force things, the tries flowed.
The next opponent for the Spartans will be Marin, which faced Jesuit of Sacramento this weekend. It was a competitive clash between these two and Jesuit came out 35-12 winners.
"We are a work in progress," said Jesuit Head Coach Andrew Acosta. "Against Granite Bay we had 10 visits into the opposition 22 and only scored twice. Our goal was to improve in that area."
This is a Jesuit team with a good number of players who haven't played a lot of rugby. Injuries didn't help that. But against Marin Jesuit started to see some interplay between forwards and backs. Flyhalf TJ Pappas ran things nicely and lock Kaden Collins was dominant in the lineout.
In NorCal's D1 the Elsie Allen Lobos continue to play well, beating Pleasanton 72-5 behind player-of-the-game performances from Waisea Bainibure and Junior Rokotuiwowa.
In Southern California, the HS Club season has started. Thunder won comfortably over Back Bay with lock Quintin Johnson, flanker Ray Taele, and flyhalf Nate Wilson leading the way. SOC Raptors won big over the Rancho Cucamonga Rebels and the San Diego Mustangs shut out OMBAC 41-0.
None of these results is especially surprising; next week, with places at HS Nationals on the line, SOC plays Belmont Shore and Thunder plays San Diego.