Hey there, Rugger!
👊 Happy Friday.
It'll be interesting to see how the FIFA World Cup goes in the USA. Rugby is way behind soccer's growth here, but hopefully we'll steal a few good ideas before 2031.
In the meantime, five more state champions were crowned this week and the USA U20s are headed to Georgia for one heck of a challenge.
Packed with rugby. Let’s go 👇
📝 Storylines
🏆Connecticut Champs
Greenwich are your CT D1 Champs after defeating Trumbull 36-17.
This was a back-and-forth battle. Trumbull took an early 7-0 lead, but Greenwich responded quickly with two tries. Then Trumbull slotted a penalty kick to tie it up 10-10 going into halftime.
The second half opened much the same, with the teams trading tries for a 17-17 scoreboard. But Greenwich slowly pulled away, taking advantage of Trumbull’s lineout struggles and finding front-foot momentum.
Final Score: Greenwich 36-17 Trumbull
“Our players did a great job recognizing the way that Trumbull was defending us and adjusted to it. As coaches we just had to stress patience to the players. We knew that if we played our structure and kept our discipline that the opportunities would be there, especially in the second half.”
Simsbury took the Connecticut D2 title in a tight 33-26 victory over Stamford. Notably, this is Simsbury’s first state title in 20 years. Well done!
🏆New York Champs
Xavier wins New York with a 44-19 victory over Fordham Prep.
Mike LiVigni with the deets here.
🏆Michigan Champs
Detroit Central Catholic and Rockford were locked 27-27 after two rounds of overtime.
It all came down to a penalty-kick shootout, and Detroit Catholic was the more accurate side.
Congrats to Detroit Catholic!
🏆Massachusetts Champs
BC High are three-peat champions after beating Milton 48-17 in yesterday’s state final. It was a dominant showing by BC High, capping an undefeated season by the Eagles. A polished performance by Coach Paul Carty’s lads.
Not only that, but apparently Gronk was getting the BC High boys amped up before the game.
Pretty good way to end the season 👊
Congrats BC High!
🏔️ Great Northwest Challenge
The GNC begins tomorrow, and the brackets are stacked. In Division 1 Boys, the NorCal Grizzlies, Utah Selects, Washington Selects, Montana West, and Colorado make up a compelling group that’s loaded with elite talent.
The Grizzlies have won GNC the past two years, but program director Adrian Ferris noted, “If you are comfortable, you are vulnerable.” continue reading here
🏉 Youth National 7s kicks off in Ohio
Today, the annual 7s tourney gets rocking at Walsh University. With an ever-expanding field of teams, this event has become a premier destination for elite players across the nation.
Goff has the details here, this is his backyard after all.
We’ll follow up after the event to see how things shake out 🤙
🇺🇸USA U20s
Today, the USA U20s men embark on a journey filled with incredible tests and opportunities. Georgia—the country—is the destination, and formidable opponents lie ahead in this year’s Junior World Championship:
Argentina — June 27
England — July 2
Ireland — July 7
Doesn’t get much more serious than that!
When we spoke with Coach Neets, he expressed confidence in the USA squad saying, “We put a lot of thought into making sure we have the right guys on this team— and we feel really good about the group we have. We’re incredibly excited for the opportunity to play world class competition in Georgia.”
You can see the full roster here in the USA Rugby press release.
A few names stood out to us:
Jameson Beatty — South Meck (NC), Charlotte Tigers (NC), and Life University stud. A tremendous athlete and competitor, he brings a spark to the backline whenever he’s out there.
Spencer Huntley — Cathedral Catholic (CA), SD Mustangs (CA), Hartpury (UK). No introduction is necessary for this guy. He toured South Africa with the U23s last year in preparation for this summer. We’re stoked to see him play with his own age group again, now with a year of high-caliber UK rugby under his belt.
Jayden Williams — St. Edward (OH), Ohio State. Looking back a few years, Jayden was a driving force behind St. Edward’s cultural turnaround and first ever Nationals win. We did a whole piece on that here. Last year he competed with the U19s at the RAN tournament.
Gavin Holder — Junior Crusaders (NZ). This dude absolutely tore it up at the global youth sevens competition in December wearing the red white, and blue. Pumped to see him play 15s with the rest of the lads.
Tyler Trower — SD Mustangs (CA), Hartpury (UK). Older brother to the electric Dylan Trower, Tyler has been playing with old Mustangs teammate Spencer Huntley at Hartpury, and also played alongside Jayden Williams and Jameson Beatty at the RAN tournament last year.
It’s awesome to see that USA talent pipeline spilling out into the world. There are plenty of phenomenal players on the USA U20s roster, but these are some guys we’ve been covering at Rugby Riot the past couple seasons—we can’t wait to see them kick some ass in Georgia.
Before taking on Argentina, the boys have a warmup match against the Georgia U20s—a boon for a team that has had limited game time together. We’re not sure if that game will be live-streamed, but Paramount+ is the place to go for all the Junior World Championship action.
Cheers, boys—give ‘em hell!
We’ll be following along.
🔢 By the numbers 2026
Best Average Point Differential:
1. Herriman | +38.6 pts per game
2. Charlotte Cardinals | +37.5 pts per game
3. Celina | +36.0 pts per game
4. SD Mustangs | +34.8 pts per game
5. Simsbury | +34.5 pts per game
Highest Scoring:
1. Celina | 52.2 pts per game
2. SD Mustangs | 48.4 pts per game
3. Simsbury | 48.1 pts per game
4. Charlotte Cardinals | 48.0 pts per game
5. Herriman | 47.7 pts per game
Stingiest Defense:
1. Liberty HS (MO) | 5.6 pts per game
2. Westshore (OH) | 8.0 pts per game
3. Herriman | 9.1 pts per game
4. Charlotte Cardinals | 10.5 pts per game
5. Charlotte Catholic | 10.8 pts per game
Tightest Region
Based on average point differential between regional teams
1. Southwest | 11.2 ave point diff
2. Midwest | 12.3 ave point diff
3. Northwest | 12.8 ave point diff
4. South | 16.3 ave point diff
5. Central | 16.6 ave point diff
6. Northeast | 17.2 ave point diff
7. Southeast | 19.6 ave point diff
Greenwich vs Trumbull in the CT State Final
📸 meralkatphotography
The Legion Academy U18s are in Fiji with Sky High right now and it looks like a sweet trip. Besides the rugby (obviously) they’re drinking kava with Fijians, doing river adventures, and generally living it up.
If you’re thinking about going on tour next year, we highly recommend working with Sky High Sports. They have a great blend of elite rugby knowledge and the ability to collaborate and make the trip uniquely yours.
Just top notch operators — check them out here.
Legion U18s training in Fiji
📸Legion Community Foundation
Keep these coming in, coaches.
Here are a couple more additions to the RIOTXV since last week:
The RIOTXV celebrates the grinders, the glue guys, and the players who exemplify a tremendous team-first rugby spirit.
In 2024, the USA U20s fell in the World Rugby U20 Trophy Final to which team?
Oddball musings, thanks to the cold tub.
🏉 Can we abolish the penalty kick shootout? This isn’t soccer. I’d rather see a game decided by arm-wrestling than a penalty kick shootout.
🏉 I punted a ball during practice (pretty far, I might add) and one of my U12 players said “wow! Coach has aura!”
I said, “What's aura?”
He looked at the ground and quietly replied, “Coach just lost aura.”
I think I know what aura is now.
That’s a wrap, gang!
Next week we’ll have more dope rugby stuff to share with you; scores, highlights, stories… all the goods.
If you like this, share it with your friends!
Be well, ruck with gusto, and may your compression shorts always stay in place.
-The Rugby Riot Team