Middle-States HS Roundup
Middle-States HS Roundup
HS rugby was relatively quiet around the middle chunk of the country this weekend as Easter slowed things down.
Utah
However, we did see Herriman produce an emphatic win over Highland 60-28. Herriman led 60-7 until late. Kaden Sturgis scored two tries, both on interceptions, while Logan Youngblood and Mote Kinikini showed well.
It has been a somewhat bizarre season in Utah. The top league was divided into two pools of three, with Herriman, LCA, Cavemen, and Highland in one pool, and Brighton, West Valley, Kearns, and East HS in the other. At first glance, the split might seem logical. East won the D1 state championship last year, with LCA 2nd, so they were split into Pool A and Pool B. Cavemen beat Kearns for D2, so Cavemen joined LCA in Pool B and Kearns went to Pool A. Brighton and Highland had the same record in the league last year, and were split Brighton into Pool A and Highland into Pool B. All of that seems somewhat logical.
Except ... Highland was technically the "lower-ranked" team between them and Brighton. So Pool A had a 1st, a 2nd D2, and a 6th. Pool B had a 2nd, a 1st D2, and a 5th. So the other split was between 2024 semifinalists Herriman and West Valley. But it wasn't that Herriman and West Valley were essentially equal, while Brighton and West Valley were. Herriman, which split their season with East, finished the regular season 5-1, and made the National Championship semifinals, was certainly better than West Valley, but the difference was more pronounced than Brighton-vs-Highland. So the split would appear to be fair: Pool A 1st, D2 2nd, 4th, 5th compared to Pool B 2md, D2 1st, 3rd, 6th. But it didn't turn out that way. Cavemen, LCA, and Herriman are certainly stronger than East, Brighton, and Kearns. Herriman ended up losing close games to LCA and Cavemen, and are out of the playoffs.
Pool A vs Pool B results:
Pool B 8 wins, Pool A 2 wins. Now, how do we know this? Because Utah Youth Rugby scheduled pre-pool-play games between these teams. If they did that, couldn't they have used those games to seed their pools? If they did that, they would have seen these standings:
| Utah Non-Pool Results | W | L | T | PF | PA | PA | BT | BL | Pts |
| Cavemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 191 | 34 | 157 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Herriman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 145 | 34 | 111 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| LCA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 17 | 83 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| East | 1 | 2 | 0 | 87 | 104 | -17 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| West Valley | 1 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 169 | -124 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Highland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 84 | -48 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Kearns | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 89 | -72 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brighton | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 110 | -90 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
LCA didn't play Brighton and Highland didn't play Kearns, but we have out answer. Looking at these results it would make sense to split Cavemen and Herriman. But they didn't.
Kansas
In Kansas, Kansas City Junior Blues beat St. Thomas Aquinas pretty emphatically 43-7.
"Very flat," said STA Head Coach Tim Kluempers. "I understand we might lose to a team because they're just better than us and you still give an effort. But this wasn't us and we've got a lot of work to do."
KC was in control on both sides of the ball from start to finish and Head Coach Casey Cummings, for his part, said the team is starting to piece it together.
"Our starting 15 is really starting to click, showing control, organization, and dynamic attack throughout," he said, adding that he felt it was a statement win for his side.
Flanker Seth Tali was player of the game for KC as they look to HS Nationals in May.
Montana
Missoula made a bit of a statement themselves, edging 3-0 Gallatin 19-14 to move to 2-0. Flyhalf Ryan Haidle's try in the latter moments of the game, with Aidan Schraeder's conversion, turned a 14-12 deficit into a 19-14 win for Missoula. Helena won 70-0 over Flathead Valley to improve to 3-1.
So Gallatin and Helena are leading the league at 3-1. Both have lost close games to Missoula.
Minnesota
Hopkins unleashed an impressive win over Eagan. Hooker and captain Noah Denfeld scored 23 points with nine conversions and a try, while center Hitofua Taumalolo scored five tries. Hopkins is now 3-0 in the league.
Louisiana
Brother Martin defeated St. Paul 55-7 and Jesuit New Orleans beat East Jefferson 66-12. Those were the state semifinals, and set up Sunday's state final between rivals Brother Martin and Jesuit.
