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SoCal Sees Top Contenders Win

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SoCal Sees Top Contenders Win

Hooker Cade Crist trucks it up. Ana Scipione photo.

Southern California saw Torrey Pines, Carlsbad, and St. Anthony all take victories.

Torrey Pines hosted Centennial (Cen10) and their ferocious defense on Friday. It took Torrey Pines 15 minutes to find their way through, but flyhalf Jonty Lee finally found a gap, deked the fullback and touched down under the sticks.

Shortly thereafter the Torrey pack executed a tidy maul from 15 meters out and hooker Cade Crist (pictured) scored the try. Another strong effort from the Torrey forced got them close and a pick-and-go from close in made it, with the conversion, 21-0.  

In the second half Torrey Pines made an adjustment to the ambitious line speed of the Centennial defense with repeated kicks deep into their territory Soon it was 45-0. Centennial capitalized on a series of Torrey Pines penalties late and score two tries to  make it 45-10 before Lee found Crist out wide. The HS All American hooker crunched over the defense to finish in the corner for the 50-10 victory.

“Centennial is a new opponent for us, and they were very impressive," said Torrey Pines Head Coach Matty Sandoval. "They are well-coached and extremely aggressive. Once they have a bit more seasoning, they’re going to be handful.”

Lee, Crist, and Riley Elliott led the Torrey Pines effort.


St Anthony used a strong showing in the scrums and lineouts and an excellent showing from their midfield of Sone Aupiu and RJ Pua to beat Crean Lutheran 48-17. Those two centers, along with flyhalf Manua Taula, were constantly putting each other into space. Taula's kicking all helped control the field position. His boot also set up three tries.

Lock Zephaniah Misa was a fore up front but also displayed some impressive footwork and offloads.

the game was competitive throughout. Down 12-5 Crean appeared to score but saw the try called back. Soon thereafter St. Anthony scored and that was a bit of a momentum shifter.

Hooker Colin Donnely scored off a maul for Crean's first try while freshman scrumhalf Cole Parham came in and provided a nice spark. Jacob Bower scored Crean's second try and Gavin Ryu added the third, both off good overall team play from a team with seven freshman.

"We learned that the margin for error against a very strong and well coached team like St. Anthony is very small, as they will punish you for mistakes," said Crean head Coach Sam McMillan.

Both teams played the game hard but in a good spirit. See the photo evidence above left.


Carlsbad rebounded from a cross-league loss to Torrey Pines with a 40-5 defeat of the RC Bears. Brody Dries, Ray Taele, and Kiah Anglin-Smith got some game time and pade it pay, showing they deserved even more time.