In a meeting of the top two high school teams in Arizona, Tempe edged Red Mountain 20-17 in a physical early-season encounter.

Tau Pauga's penalty goal was the difference in a tense game that will create plenty of baggage for the rematch.

"Overall our team put in a great defensive effort," said Tempe Head Coach Bret Fullerton. "We made quite a few mistakes in our own end, especially in the first half, but our defense was great on the goal line."

Tempe held up Red Mountain in-goal multiple times.

With some players not available, Tempe had to move others around. Nick Sio Leha stepped in at No. 8 and was very effective. Nick Alvira was brought up for his first U18 game and played both wing and center well, while Ashton Liddell's pace produced all three Tempe tries.

With Aki Pulu playing well as usual and Tau Pauga kicking the game-winning penalty, it was a broad-based performance.

"The boys all played with a lot of heart."

Youth Movement Spurs Tempe Resurgence

Red Mountain Head Coach OJ Hawea said his team didn't protect the ball well enough at the breakdown and when they had chances didn't make them count (see the mention of them being held up in-goal). 

"They put more pressure on us than we are used to and we took too long to adapt," said Hawea. But, he added, "this was a great result for us as this might be the best group of ids I've ever ad from a culture point of view, and early lessons lik this is giving us lessons we need."

With the result, Tempe improves to 3-0 in Rugby Arizona league play, while Red Mountain drops to 3-1. These teams meet again on March 31.