Georgetown Prep Secures First Ever Rugby Win Over Gonzaga
Georgetown Prep took home its first ever victory over Gonzaga, winning 18-5 Friday evening on the Prep South Field.
In the first half, Gonzaga controlled most of the possession and the territory. Several Prep handling errors resulted in spending most of the 35 minutes tackling the Eagle ball carriers. The Hoyas tallied 60 tackles in just the first half. About 24 minutes into the half, Gonzaga broke away down the sideline after some nice offloading for a 50 meter unconverted try.
Prep answered about 4 minutes later when Gonzaga kicked to clear their 22 after a scrum. Senior fullback Zach Geoghegan gathered the kick and beat multiple defenders for a 35 meter try under the posts. He also slotted the conversion.
Dominant Showing from Charlotte Cardinals in Gonzaga Classic
The Charlotte Cardinals won the Gonzaga Classic in dominant fashion.
After losing the final of this tournament by a slim margin a year ago, the Cardinals rolled in showing good form and showcasing a very quick and smart game plan.
They showed that early, shutting out Aspetuck and beating a pretty effective Fort Hunt sides 52-7.
On Sunday, the Cardinals completed pool play with a 45-13 win over War Eagle out of Georgia (the state, not the country) and that set up the final.
School-Team HS Roundup
Leading single-school teams had a good weekend this week, although some games were a little bit tougher than others.
Gonzaga on the Rise
Gonzaga had encountered a couple of rough early results with a squad that is a bit less experienced than most. The Eagles then went to Italy where they played Rugby Rovigo Delta and Rugby Colorno with multiple sides. Losing to some top club teams in Italy isn't something to be ashamed of and Head Coach peter Baggetta told GRR that winning isn't the purpose, anyway.
"A tour is always helpful for us," said Baggetta. "We rarely win games on tour because we make sure to schedule tough opponents, often academy teams and sometimes national teams. This year we went 0-6, just like last year. The year before were were 1-5."
Charlotte Cardinals Impressive in Win over Gonzaga
The two defending champions from Boys HS National Championships met Saturday with the 2024 HS Club top dogs, the Charlotte Cardinals, defeating Gonzaga 45-10.
Gonzaga came into the game working on some combinations and perhaps in something of a reloading phase after their impressive championship repeat last year. The Eagles came into the game 3-1, having lost to Gregory the Great but having beaten three other ranked teams, St. Joseph's Prep, Vienna, and Fort Hunt.
The Cardinals came into the game 3-0 in three shortened games at the Carolina Ruggerfest, but it's worth remembering that their players had been plying a full single-school slate before moving to North Carolina's club season. So as a group of players, they had enjoyed more training time and game time, and that manifested itself into a solid win.
HS Update: Eagles, Tigers, Cavemen, Pelham, and Woodlands
We have had a bunch of stuff go on around the nation in boys HS rugby.
Here are some of the reports we have already posted:
Lindenwood Tournament Key Kickoff For Several MW Teams
Xavier Impresses in Win over St. Edward in the Wind
Smart Game Plan Leads St. Francis Past Torrey Pines in All-Cali. Final
Gregory the Great Defeats Gonzaga in DC
Gregory the Great, ranked #11 by GRR, defeated Gonzaga, ranked #2, Saturday at Gonzaga in an early-season clash.
GGA came into the game 2-0 after beating Vienna and Fort Hunt. Meanwhile, this was Gonzaga's first game of the season.
It was a back-and-forth match with the teams trading try for try, and plenty of big collisions. With four minutes to go the teams were tied 17-17 when GGA was yellow-carded. They played the final minutes shorthanded but managed to score the game-winner to take the game 24-17.
Some Serious Words about a Serious Single-School Championship
Gonzaga College High Schools national championship record reached a high point this weekend.
There is no doubt they are the best school team in the country. Some teams get close, but when we’re talking single-school teams, we’re talking Gonzaga.
Now, there are some caveats. As we mentioned a little bit, St. Ignatius has deal with a flood of injuries this year. It’s only thanks to the depth of their program that they were able to put out a side that was that good. Now, let’s not overstate it—Ignatius had plenty of outstanding rugby players in that lineup on Saturday, but they were certainly testing their depth.
HSNC Single-School Roundup: Top Seeds Strong
The top seeds generally played like it at the Boys HS National Championships single-school bracket.
The only lower seed to win was St. Edward, and that was in the matchup of #4 and #5.
We have reports on all four games. These reports were generated using the UReportNow AI game report system, which uses AI and then human editing to create game reports that teams can use to share to social media or share among their fans.
We did this to show how it works and if you want your team or school to use this service, let us know>>
Gonzaga Holds Off Tenacious St. Edward Gonzaga had to work for it to get by St. Edward Saturday, ultimately coming away with a 36-21 victory. Newly bumped to the GRR #11 spot, St. Edward showed why they were there with a tenacious performance that saw them almost equal with the vaunted #1 Eagles after a lousy start. Gonzaga ran in two converted tries in the first couple of minutes and led 14-0. But after that it was 22-21. "I guess any win over a Top 15 team is a win," Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta philosophically. "We were up 14-0 and we went into cruise mode. We stopped working in the second half." St. Edward responded to the early hole with a try and Gonzaga answered to make it 21-7 at halftime. As the second half progressed Gonzaga was able to keep the other Eagles at arm's length, but it wasn't easy.
Dramatic Ending for Exciting Gonzaga Classic Gonzaga vs Charlotte lived up to the billing to cap off the Gonzaga Classic, a tournament that provided some outstanding competition throughout. Gonzaga made the final with a difficult 14-0 semifinal win over Shawnigan Lake. The BC side had some good scoring chances but couldn't quite finish and Gonzaga did just enough in their semi. The Cardinals played local rivals Clayton and while Clayton had impressed with their speed of play and athleticism, Charlotte was pretty quick, too, and were more physically powerful. But winning the point of contact and using that to open up space, the Cardinals won 38-7 to make the final. The Classic final was indeed a classic. In the 40-minute game both sides knew that field position and points were at a premium.
Gonzaga Defeats Georgetown Prep in DC Gonzaga defeated local rivals Georgetown Prep Friday night, taking the game 48-15 in DC. Gonzaga has just returned from a trip to Argentina where they played two very strong clubs. They lost 14-12 to Tucumán Rugby Club and three days later lost 38-22 to Jockey Club Salta, a game where they led before hitting a bit of a wall. “They were the best teams we have played so far this year; fantastic backs with great ball skills and tough, big forwards,” said Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta. So that trip set them up nicely for a performance against Georgetown Prep—recently back from a tour of the UK and coming off a well-taken win over Fairfield Prep. It was a good showing for the Eagles, but maybe not perfect. “We lost some shape and structure to our play when we took out the majority of our starters in the second half.”
Gonzaga Holds Off Ignatius in Freezing Cleveland In a result that was a bit of a surprise in how close it was, Gonzaga held off St. Ignatius of Cleveland in Brooklyn, Ohio Saturday. This was a physically punishing match and both teams saw injuries to key players—Gonzaga losing a prop and a flanker and Ignatius losing their sophomore flyhalf with a very high ceiling in Hank McGowan. Ignatius brought the intensity they had been lacking somewhat and led into the second half. But Gonzaga eventually pulled it out. “The first half they played exactly the way we thought they would; they ran really hard and we helped them out with a bunch of penalties,” said Gonzaga Head Coach Peter Baggetta. “They came out with a lot of emotion and we knew that would happen, too. We told our guys in the morning meeting that winning on the road in these weather conditions is very tough. They had the crowd.
Old Rivals Gonzaga and St. Ignatius Meet in Cleveland St. Ignatius of Cleveland hosts Gonzaga of Washington DC Saturday in Ohio and this is one of the better rivalries in IS rugby. For years Ignatius passed up chances to go to HS Nationals and instead one of their benchmarks for a great season was beating Gonzaga—this is something they did frequently enough for Gonzaga to circle this game every year. In 2021 they finally met at Nationals, with Ignatius beating the Eagles in the semifinals—Gonzaga would go on to take third and Ignatius 2nd to Herriman. The next year Ignatius beat Gonzaga in the national final, but in 2023, while they met, as usual, in the regular season (a convincing win for Gonzaga) they didn't meet at the national championship as Ignatius lost a close game to Jesuit Sacramento in the semis.
Gonzaga Holds Off Charlotte Cardinals in High-Intensity Matchup In a meeting of the #1 Boys school team and the #4 HS Club, Gonzaga defeated the Charlotte Cardinals 36-27 on the campus of Hampden-Sydney College Saturday. Charlotte capitalized on some Gonzaga handling errors in the Eagles' 22 and ran out to an early 15-5 lead. "A fantastic effort from our boys this being their first full game of the season," said Charlotte Head Coach Jason Zhemke. "We started well and we ended well. I guess we've got work to do in the middle." "All credit to [Head Coach Peter Baggetta] and the Gonzaga boys," added Zhemke. "They are a quality team with great structures and discipline. They are exactly what we expected of them." Charlotte's U16s and B sides did garner wins over Gonzaga. For Gonzaga, Brody Johnson, the MVP of the 2023 HS National Championship final, scored four tries.
Keep Loose, Embrace the Target, Set Standards: Gonzaga's Run to #1
Going into the 2023 HS season it was clear to many that Gonzaga might have a pretty special group.
Goff Rugby Report had Gonzaga ranked #1 and were hard-stretched in throughout the season to find anyone else to take that rankings. In fact, in the 19 weeks of GRR’s Top 50 so far this year, Gonzaga was in the top spot for 17 weeks. Now most programs would try to dodge the favorites status, but, really, Gonzaga couldn’t.
So they didn’t.
“We took a page out of the 2015 All Blacks’ attitude,” said Head Coach Peter Baggetta. “If we’re going to be the favorite, then we just embrace it. In years past our attitude was, ‘let’s not pay attention to that ranking.’ But this time it was more like “let’s own it. If people expect us to perform well, then let’s perform well.’”
