Denver East Holds Off Valor in Colorado Final
Devner East held off Valor Rugby in a wild Rugby Colorado Boys HS final over the weekend.
Denver won the game 26-25 and yet never trailed in the game.
After falling behind Valor Christian continued to battle on and charged back to threaten late.
"We gave them a few opportunities to get back in the game, but ultimately, we were happy to hold our shape and secure a victory," said East Head Coach Zach Levek.
East's backline was solid with brothers Jack and Alex Dempsey at flyhalf and center, respectively. Jack Dempsey being a calming and poised presence, was also clutch with his goalkicking—three conversions helped East to the victory. Alex Dempsey played flyhalf last year bit slotted over to inside center. His hard running created opportunities for other players, and he was a ferocious tackler on defense.
Valuable Lessons for Denver East on SoCal Trip
Denver East HS is back from its City of Angels tour, the 29th tour the team has taken.
East SLC Wins Battle of East HS Teams East Rugby out of Salt Lake City, Utah defeated the visiting East Rugby from Denver, Colo. last weekend and the hosts came away with a well-taken 36-10 victory. East SLC scored first when wing David Bergstedt grabbed a loose ball on the sideline and ran it in. Fullback Rex Bateman couldn't get the conversion over but he did score the next try, finishing off a movement headlined by No. 8 Papa Matelau's break. Bateman converted that one for a 12-0 lead. Denver East would respond with a try but East SLC answered with Matelau powered over from an eightman pick and a 17-5 halftime lead for the hosts.
Major HS Results This Weekend
Playoffs and major games in Boys HS rugby this weekend so far.
Northern California Playoffs
Danville defeated De La Salle for the second week in a row, this time in the NorCal Premier semifinals, 35-12. It was close into the second half, with Danville leading 14-12 with 25 minutes left. But the Oaks backline started to find some space and pull away late.
Granite Bay followed up with a 63-14 dismissal of a very tough Jesuit team.
"We play as a team and that's what counts," enthused Head Coach Chris Miller. "We peak when we're supposed to, which is now."
Avion Ganse, Talae Tuimaunei, and Jackson Launey all led by example in this game with captain Jared Quenga crucial to the effort. Juniors Will Walker (vice captain), Cole McCracken, Masi Koi and Marcus Maveety were all very solid on the day.
Colorado Wraps Up HS Fall 7s
Rugby Colorado crowned its fall 7s champions this November with its usual girls competition and, for the first time, a boys championship too.
Since the 15s season ran late this year, there was no summer 7s for the boys so they played this fall.
Five girls teams and 11 boys teams competed in a series of jamborees each other. The boys teams were split into a Tier 1 and Tier 2 for the finals and the girls also had two tiers, with a Tier 1 plus a 2nd tier that also included some JV teams.
At each jamboree teams earned points and that seeded them for the final tournament November 6.
East HS Wins Colorado State Final
East High School has won the Rugby Colorado state championship, defeating upstart Legend 36-5 in the final.
Legend, which came into the playoffs as the #4 seed, upset PAC, playing an aggressive and hard-nosed style of rugby to get to the final. East, meanwhile, beat the Colorado Springs Falcons 33-14 to make the championship match behind the work of their deep three Cole Younoszai (fullback), Peter Fronczak (wing), and Conner McMeel (wing).
The Falcons put those three under intense pressure and they responded well. Inside center Garrett Mortimer was also instrumental in that win.
Dramatic Finish As Regis Jesuit Wins Colorado
Regis Jesuit edged East HS Saturday to win the Rugby Colorado Boys HS Championship.
The game, played at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colo., was a thriller. Sophomore Eddie Maxfield broke a 14-14 tieby scoring with less than a minute to go, and the conversion iced it for Regis.
Both teams played well defensively, East prop Trevor Borrios was very good on the day and scored the opening try, charging in as a support runner and finishing the play off to set up a 7-0 lead for East. That lead held until halftime.
Early in the second half,Regis Jesuit prop Mariano Adame scooped up a loose ball and ran in from 22 meters out. East replied when Will Crocket, who had come on for an earlier injury, stretched over. Flyhalf Liam Peck converted and East led 14-7 with 12 minutes left.
East Defeats Monarch In Colorado
Colorado's East High School defeated Monarch HS 28-15 in the Infinity Park Stadium this past weekend in Rugby Colorado action.
The match was part of a doubleheader with the Glendale Raptors and San Diego Legion MLR match. It was also a rematch of Monarch's victory in the 2017 State Championship.
The first minutes of the match saw strong defense from Monarch forcing mistakes and penalties from East. However, Monarch struggled at the lineout and were unable to maintain possession. Ten minutes in Monarch began a sustained period of attack. After East missed touch on a penalty, then gave up a penalty on the 5-meter line, Monarch's scrum half Landon Coleman scored under the posts. The conversion kick was charged down—quite the rarity—and Monarch led 5-0 with 18 minutes played.
East HS Comes Back To Beat Regis In Colorado
East HS opened up its Rugby Colorado account with a well-taken 26-21 over Regis Jesuit in a repeat of last year's final.
This was the first 2019 league match for both teams and was also the 14th annual Boot Bowl, played for a trophy made out of East Head Coach Bill Baer's actual rugby boot. Yes, really.
The first quarter of the match was back and forth with both teams testing each other out, but Regis did come close when a nifty grubber eluded the East cover. But East held on.
Later on, East had a two-on-one in the Regis 22, but the last pass hit the ground.
Monarch Wins Colorado Title
Monarch HS defeated East HS in a thrilling game Saturday to win the Colorado DI state championship.
All Bunched at Top of Colorado HS League
It's all bottled up at the top of Rugby Colorado's league after this weekend's highest-profile games.
Undefeated East HS is undefeated no more, thanks to a torrid second half from the Palmer HS Terrors. Monarch HS also won, and so there are three teams at the top of the league with a 6-1 or 5-1 record - East, Palmer, and Monarch.
Against East, Palmer fell behind 13-0 and it looked as if East would cruise to victory, just as they had over Monarch, Regis Jesuit, and PAC in recent weeks. But Palmer coaches Scott Mears and Amy Rusert had a long talk with their players at halftime.
"We talked about getting back to the skills we had been working on," said Mears. "Pass, tackle, ruck - the basics. We needed to make sure we were first to the breakdown and that we were competitive at the breakdown."
Palmer, East, Regis Make Moves in Colorado
Regis Jesuit squeaked out a close one 17-14 over the Colorado Springs Grizzlies.
For Colorado Springs, it was a tough loss to take. Shifts in the lineup from last season have led to a lack of consistency, said Head Coach Otis McGregor. "We've march down the field in good phase play and then knock on at the five-meter line. That happen four times."
For Regis Jesuit, new Head Coach Anthony Mattachione, who moved to Regis from Jesuit-Dallas, this was a key result.
"We only have three seniors this year so with so many juniors and sophomores playing for us it's nice," said Mattachione.
Regis Jesuit Wins Colorado in Close One
Regis Jesuit got some revenge this past week, defeating East HS in a close Colorado state final a year after East did the same to Regis Jesuit.
The 2015 final was 10-5 for East, and this game was only slightly higher-scoring.
“The guys just played their hearts out,” said Regis Jesuit Coach Zach Fenoglio. “That we held them to 16 points was a credit to their heart. East plays very disciplined, mistake-free rugby, and so we knew that when they made those few mistakes, we had to get something out of it.”
Regis was led by flyhalf Ryan Maxfield, who captained the team and, said Fenoglio, led by example. Center Cade Alcock was outstanding as well, while the forwards got big performances from Dylan Able and Matt Peppercorn. And then there was Lou Vera, who played a crucial role with his goalkicking.
Wild Late Surge Puts East Through in Colorado
East HS pulled off something of a shock result in beating Colorado Springs in the Rugby Colorado’s Boys DI semifinals Saturday.
The fact that East won wasn’t so much of a shocker, but the score - 55-15 - was. East Head Coach Bill Baer said the game went as expected for about 45 minutes or so, but then it got weird.
“It was a tough game as we expected,” said Baer. “We scored, then they scored, and we went back and forth.”
In fact, Colorado Springs led 17-10 with about 20 minutes to go. East would score to tie the game, and then from the restart, center Adam Leonard caught the ball and took off, powering through several Grizzlies tacklers to chug 60 meters for a try.
East HS Tours New Mexico
East HS defeated Colorado Springs 25-22 Thursday night in Rugby Colorado league action, and it was a nice cap off to a successful week for the East team.
The East squad toured New Mexico this past week. The team travel to Albuquerque where they began with their traditional tour-opening activity of a Goals Banquet, where each player stated his personal and team goals.
