Adam Bornhorst | Flanker | St. Ignatius (OH)

🏉Noteworthy: Bornhorst battled through multiple seasons of injuries—a broken hand, a broken ankle—but never missed a practice, never stopped supporting teammates, and served on the team’s leadership council. Even without logging many minutes on the field, he played a huge role in St. Ignatius’ success this season—something that coaches and teammates recognized and appreciated tremendously.

💬Coach’s quote: “He was such a glue guy for this team, and such a great teammate. Borny’s a perfect example of an unsung hero.” - Dan Arbeznik, St. Ignatius Head Coach

Brandon Zubyk | Lock | Doylestown (PA)

🏉Noteworthy: A workhorse in every phase—Zubyk doesn’t light up the stat sheet, but he dominates the dirty work. Known as the “silent assassin,” he controls the air in lineouts and brings relentless physicality to every ruck and tackle.

💬Coach’s quote: “You never hear a word out of him, but he just does the job all over the field. He only scores about 1 try a season because he is too busy hitting every ruck and tackle in sight.  He had his very best game of the season in our state championship victory over Gregory the Great Academy, again with his rucking, tackling, and lineout jumping.  Brandon is rock solid and truly an unsung hero.” - Kevin Reilly, Doylestown Coach

Bishop Rielly | Outside Center | Raptor Rugby (TN)

🏉Noteworthy: Captain, mentor, and try-scorer. Despite injuries and illness during his senior season, Bishop led pregame talks, mentored younger players, and still closed his high school career with a hat-trick at Nationals while playing through injury.

💬Coach’s quote: “Bishop did not cut corners and did everything a captain should do. His leadership was paramount to the success of the Raptor program in 2025.”
-Mike Orefice, Raptor Rugby

Zach Church | Flanker | St. Edward (OH)

🏉Noteworthy: From zero varsity minutes last year to owning the #7 jersey this season. Church brought nonstop work rate, led fitness sessions, and delivered standout performances—especially against Xavier (NY), where he earned multiple “Eagle Hammers” (you get those for big, manly tackles).

💬Coach’s quote: “Relentless effort and aggressively eager to support the team through physical play and positive energy.” - Coach Zack Stryffeler

Luke Schnepp | Flanker | St. Louis Jets (MO)

🏉Noteworthy: Youngest guy to make this list so far! He’s everywhere on the field and has great work ethic. He plays like a much older, more experienced player. With 3 solid years ahead of him, it might not be his last time on this list.

💬Coach’s quote: “Luke as a freshman has an exceptional work rate. In his first game he made every tackle and was at every breakdown. I was extremely impressed with his ability for such a young age. One to watch for the future.” - Lukas Black, Head Coach — St. Louis Jets

💪State Champs

🏆Greenwich gets it done.

Greenwich and Fairfield Prep met in the Connecticut state final for a rainy rivalry slugfest.

The wet conditions definitely played a role in this one, as both squads struggled to hold onto the ball.

Both sides played solid defense, but momentum was tough to sustain. Every time a team looked ready to break through, a knock-on would kill the drive. Still, there was plenty of high-level rugby on display—especially from Greenwich’s scrumhalf/winger combo, and Fairfield Prep’s physical forward pack.

Greenwich scrumhalf Benja Gonzalez Lobo was excellent all day, managing territory with surgical box kicks and spotting space when it opened up. He created the first try with a clever soccer-style pass off a loose ball, perfectly placed for winger Santi Lattuada to chase down and ground. 5-0 at the break.

The second half saw Greenwich extend the lead through a penalty kick and another opportunistic Lattuada try—this time snatching up a dropped pass and scurrying 50 meters to the try zone. That made it 15-0.

Fairfield Prep didn’t go quietly. They battered the Greenwich line with wave after wave of hard-nosed carries, caused some massive collisions at the gain-line, and eventually earned a penalty try after a Greenwich high-tackle near the goal line. A huge shout-out to the Prep forwards for absolutely bulldozing would-be tacklers on multiple occasions.

But Greenwich held firm.

“It was a physical match on a rainy day,” said head coach Jamie Everett. “There were five yellow cards total. At one point we were down to 13 guys. But I was really impressed with our game management and our effort on defense. That’s what carried the day.”

Fairfield Prep stayed on the front foot for much of the second half but couldn’t convert their possession into more points. Greenwich’s defense bent but never broke.

Final score: Greenwich 15, Fairfield Prep 7.

The Greenwich boys played smart and defended with grit when the game was on the line.

And now they’ve got another state title to show for it. 🏆

Congrats Greenwich!

🏆Xavier wins NY tier 1 over Fordham Prep
Xavier held a scrappy Fordham Prep team at bay to claim the NY Tier 1 title. Missing five starters due to injury, the Knights relied heavily on the recently returned James Allison and his trusty boot. He was able to flip the field throughout the game and give Xavier relief from the tackle-breaking Fordham side.

Ultimately, Xavier had just enough gas in the tank—and a season’s worth of grit—to hold down the fort defensively when it mattered most.

Final Score: Xavier 32 — 24 Fordham Prep

🏆Rye defeats Chaminade in Tier 2
Rye finished their season with a strong performance—and a state trophy to boot. They took the lead early and never relinquished it. Chaminade can hang their hats on a fine season, and I think we’ll be hearing their name a lot next year.

But today belonged to Rye. They were strong defensively and dominant in the attack, with tries scored by:
- Sam Surak (winger)
- Archer Fenton (fullback)
- Jack Anderson (flanker)
- Ryan Hess (winger)
- Owen Saya (hooker)

Final Score: 🏆Rye 31 — 5 Chaminade

Congrats Rye—New York Tier 2 State Champs!

🏆Detroit Central Catholic wins MI state title
It was a big day for Detroit Central. Not only did they go undefeated on the season, they also earned their first state title.

And they did it in dominant fashion—a 66-17 victory over West Ottawa.

For the people in the back: That’s a 12-0 record AND a Michigan D1 State Title for Detroit Central Catholic.

Whatever they’re doing over there is working—and we’ll be tracking.

Congrats DCC! 🏆

🤔Looking ahead: Where will the 2031 World Cup games actually be played?
The casual answer is: NFL stadiums, duh. But it’s not that simple.

At first glance, big NFL venues seem like the obvious choice for hosting the 2031 Rugby World Cup. But two big issues complicate things: field size and scheduling.

Football fields are smaller than regulation rugby pitches. That might work for domestic play—but for a World Cup? With Tier 1 nations involved? It’s a hard sell.

Then there’s the NFL calendar. The tournament kicks off in September—smack in the middle of football season. Stadium availability becomes a major issue.

How bout MLR stadiums? That’s where we run into capacity issues. The largest (Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego) seats 35,000. Most hold far fewer (4K-10K).

That’s where the MLS might come in. Many MLS stadiums meet rugby’s field size requirements, and with capacities in the 20–30K range, they could host early pool matches—especially in rugby-savvy markets. Not a perfect fit, but maybe part of the answer.

For reference, here’s what 2023 Rugby World Cup attendance looked like on opening weekend:

• France vs New Zealand: 78,750

• England vs Argentina: 63,118

• And even Japan vs Chile: 30,187

Don’t worry—we’re still six years out. But it is a puzzle that has to be solved. Maybe this is much ado about nothing, but we’re keeping an eye on it.

🏟️ MLR conference semifinals incoming (THIS WEEKEND)
It’s conference semifinal time in Major League Rugby—and if you’ve been meaning to tune in, now’s the time, guys.

A couple things:

1. Watch the games. They’re all streaming on ESPN+. Easy access, no excuses. If we want pro rugby to keep growing in the U.S., this is how we help. Playoff viewership sends a signal—so let’s show up!

2. Circle Utah vs Seattle. The Utah Warriors have the top seed in the West, and I think a few of their guys came up through Herriman HS. But the Seawolves are rolling into the playoffs with momentum. That’s the matchup we’ve got circled—and we’re working on mapping more of these high school-to-pro connections. Because that’s cool.

The MLR’s still in build mode. So let’s get eyeballs on it now and make the media bigwigs pay attention.

🇺🇸USA Rugby Dates to circle
The USA Men’s and Women’s teams are hosting several international matches this July—and the East Coast is where it’s all going down. Here are the dates and opponents:

• July 5th — USA Men vs Belgium — Charlotte NC

• July 12th — USA Men vs Spain — Charlotte NC

• July 19th — USA Men vs England AND USA Women vs Fiji — Washington DC

Tickets are between $21-$162—see you out there.

Something we’re working on…👀

Alright, it’s a map—what gives?

This is a work in progress. So we wanted to share our…progress.

The map graphic above shows all the cross-state matches that happened during the spring season. It’s part of a tool that we’re working on— and we hope to share it with you later this summer.

Some things it’ll include:

• Interactive features: click on a state connection and see how states match up with each other. i.e. California vs Utah teams.

• Heat map for the lowest scoring/highest scoring matches.

• Score differentials by state

• Teams with the most cross-state wins

A little further down the line:

• Tournaments

• Camps

• Events

The purpose is to make it super easy to see what’s going on in the rugby scene at a glance. Also, we want to highlight where rugby is flourishing, and where it might need a boost.

We’ll let you know when it’s ready for prime time.

Oh, and we’re going to include college in the map too so you can toggle back and forth between high school and college rugby action.