🏟️Mid week check in: NC Final Set

👉See the full rankings picture here.

Reminder: the rankings are results-based. If your team has only played two games and feels underrated—relax.
Teams like Charlotte Catholic have been stacking wins since December 5th. Consistent excellence gets rewarded 🙌

Charlotte Catholic and Hough will clash on Saturday at Queens University in the high school boys state final.

Catholic defeated South Charlotte 47-0 in the semifinal, led by a ferocious pack and imposing back line.

Hough advances courtesy of a 39—24 win over Marvin Ridge. Hough had previously lost 14—12 to Marvin Ridge, so this is a great momentum builder heading into the final.

The only other loss on Hough’s record was another 14—12 affair…against Charlotte Catholic.

That’s how close the Huskies are to a perfect record this year—4 total points.

We’ll preview this matchup between Hough and Charlotte Catholic on Friday, but for now, here are the bullet points:

Stay tuned for a full preview on Friday.

In the meantime, here’s a montage of Charlotte Catholic sophomore Miles Caple doing manly-man things. The kid is a brute:

La Costa Canyon (CA) doesn’t always get enough love. But count us among the believers in this squad now.

A terrific performance against Cathedral Catholic in the first annual Carrigan Cup illuminated a well-rounded team with physicality in spades. These boys run like hungry animals and have suffocating defense as well.

Swagger… that might be the best word to describe their victory on Saturday. Whether it was punishing carries in midfield or capitalizing on opponent miscues, the LCC boys looked like they were feeling themselves and having a great time.

Cathedral Catholic is clearly a bit banged up after their recent slog of matches, but they still showed terrific talent in flashes, notably from talisman Kingston Hawkins—as dangerous a back as they come.

If you had turned off the livestream at halftime—when it was tied 12-12—you may have predicted a low scoring finish.

But a series of unfortunate Cathedral mistakes — a bungled kickoff returned for a score, and an intercepted wide pass (also returned for a try)—set up a scoring frenzy in the second half as the Dons were chasing the game.

La Costa Canyon, for their part, took exactly what the game gave them and let no opportunity go missed. 8-man Luke Hensley took the aforementioned interception to the house, and showed dogged effort around the ruck all game. And Dylan Delport was a smooth operator at scrumhalf—consistently finding chinks in the Don’s armor.

One thing that stood out about the Mavericks’ game is their ability to string together positive phases on the attack before striking decisively. They were patient, determined, and support runners were always available to advance the gain line.

Cathedral kept us gripping our seats with several electric plays of their own, but they struggled to regain the front foot after LCC dotted two quick tries to open the second half.

Overall, it was an impressive game by La Costa Canyon—and it may set them up perfectly for a deep playoff run. This feels like a team that’s hitting their stride at just the right time.

Final Score: LCC 43 — 33 Cathedral Catholic
📺Watch the replay

Next Up:
LCC 🆚 Los Alamitos
Cathedral 🆚 Mira Costa

The Saints have quietly put together an impressive stretch of victories. The latest was a 63—0 thumping of Los Alamitos (CA). That’s their third-straight blowout win, which keeps them squarely in the playoff conversation in the Premier League.

The scoreline really tells the tale of their Los Alamitos match, but we couldn’t help but notice a few things that should be able to travel well in playoffs:

Final thoughts

Next up: St. Augustine faces a huge test playing Torrey Pines this weekend. 👀

Called it: Rio Americano is the real deal. Even in defeat, we saw enough. Overlook the Raiders at your own risk.

That said, De La Salle took the win and looks like they’ll be a tough out for anyone. They’re only three weeks into their season and will iron out plenty of kinks in short order.

Rio Americano started the match on the front foot, challenging De La Salle deep in their own territory both out wide and straight up the gut. The Rio backs did an excellent job limiting damage when De La Salle found small gaps, forcing turnovers and slowing momentum.

Twenty minutes in, Rio fullback Seti Perona struck from distance, beating a defender deep in his own territory and hitting the gas to finish a superb solo try. Rio led 7–0 after the kick.

It looked like the Raiders might carry that advantage into halftime, but De La Salle’s Siumisi Afu ripped the ball free in a tackle, broke multiple defenders, and leveled the score just before the break. Tied 7–7 at halftime.

The second half opened as a midfield slugfest before De La Salle put together one of their better sustained drives of the day, with lock Tyler Foley crashing over to make it 14–7. That score sparked the Spartans, who found rhythm and forced Rio onto the back foot. Luke Recktenwald barreled through a tight gap minutes later to extend the lead to 21–7 with 22 minutes remaining.

That would be De La Salle’s last try—and the last one they would need.

Rio Americano responded by tightening defensively and, more importantly, controlling possession for long stretches. Their pod work was methodical and shifty, changing the point of attack with impressive awareness and speed. After a grinding seven-minute sequence, Sam Enochian plunged over to cut the deficit to 21–14.

With eight minutes left, Rio pushed hard to level the match — nearly scoring from a maul, threatening the edge, and almost capitalizing on a sharp turnover from hooker Cash Lazard. Each time, De La Salle held firm with disciplined tackles and strong defensive shape.

When the final whistle blew, the Spartans had closed it out.

Final Score: De La Salle 21—14 Rio Americano
📺Watch Replay

Riot Take:

De La Salle is very good. But they’re going to be an absolute monster once they have a couple more weeks under their belt. They showed some rust, but still won through physicality and athleticism.
When you’re nitpicking the winning side, that usually says more about their ceiling—which is high.

Rio Americano is plain fun to watch. They have a spunky energy combined with high rugby IQ that creates electric moments throughout the game. They’re particularly sharp on their set pieces—lineouts and mauls were a huge strength in this match despite being a bit smaller than De La Salle. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of this crew moving forward.

As one coach noted after the game: “Rugby was the winner today.”
Couldn’t agree more.

A few quick hits from areas where the season is still early.

Shay Farkash (Torrey Pines) continues to be a problem for opponents in SoCal. His latest game-wrecking moment was an outrageous tackle where he carried the ball-carrier about 15 meters on his back. Shay got no chill 🤣

That’s it for today. See you Friday!

-The Rugby Riot Team