📝The Riot Notepad 🔥

Final Score: De La Salle 42 - 14 Bishop O’Dowd
Why it’s interesting: A lot of talk about the “best teams in California” has revolved around two particular teams in SoCal (Torrey Pines and Cathedral Catholic), but De La Salle should also be part of that conversation, among a few others. In this game they took care of business and showed that they are indeed ready to roll. We’ll be tracking them as they get deeper into their season and meet some tough opponents.

Final Score: HCYA 45 - 15 Kingwood
Why it’s interesting: HCYA got their season off to a great start by defeating Kingwood in convincing fashion. We watched several highlights from the game and these lads look quick. We didn’t see a lot of defense in the highlights, but they certainly know how to carry the ball at-pace and break tackles. It will be interesting to see how they fare against Strake Jesuit next game.

Final Score: Jesuit 50 - 12 San Joaquin
Why it’s interesting: Sacramento Jesuit had a long weekend trip down to SoCal a couple weeks ago, beating a good Mira Costa team, and then getting whacked 59-12 by Cathedral Catholic. The sense was that Jesuit was just getting things going, and we noted that they have a talented group that just needed some time to gel. Well, we don’t have too many details on this most recent game, but dropping 50 bones on any opponent is a good way to cleanse the palate. We expect them to sharpen even more as they face tougher competition in the coming weeks.

Final Score: San Clemente 81 - 0 La Jolla
Why it’s interesting: After losses to Torrey Pines and Oceanside, San Clemente looks like they’re back on track. They have won two straight—the most recent being this match where they dropped an 80-burger on La Jolla. It also earned them a 7 spot jump in the rankings. But we aren’t really sure if this result says more about La Jolla or San Clemente at this point in the season. Both have lost to Oceanside, who is on a three-game win-streak.

Final Score: Okapi 45 - 5 Jesuit New Orleans
Why it’s interesting: Okapi had the largest jump in our rankings this week (8 spots!) courtesy of a very emphatic win over Jesuit New Orleans. In the highlight clips we saw, the Okapi boys look very capable—big fast dudes. With only two games under their belt, it’s tough to get a true read on how good they actually are, but the early indications are they are not to be overlooked.

Final Score: Brother Martin 64 - 5 St. Paul
Why it’s interesting: Brother Martin is another team that made a big jump in the rankings (4 spots) with a convincing win over St. Paul. They also had a strong win against Jesuit New Orleans the previous week. We’ll be tracking them as they continue their season.
Eric Orphys, St. Paul’s Head Coach, assessed the game saying “they have some big powerful kids…they supported their ball carriers and beat us to the rucks.” But Coach Orphys also had positive things to say about his squad despite the defeat, noting, “Our mistakes are fixable, and the boys seemed to not let the score bother them and kept competing. Our lineouts were a positive and we had our 6, a junior named Sean Parker, score our only points taking advantage of some momentum in the second half. He was also responsible for taking two of the opposing lineout's balls in the game.”

Final Score: Granite Bay 35 - 14 SacAir
Why it’s interesting: This was a preseason game, and a good opportunity to get both teams some game experience before the season starts in March. Chris Miller, Granite Bay Head Coach, said “The team played well and we’re off to a good start. Clinical performance overall.” There are things they need to work on for sure, but that’s what pre-season is all about, with Coach Miller noting that dialing everything in “will happen organically as we play more matches.”
Granite Bay is always a tough squad. We’ll see how they measure up once the real tests start in a few weeks.

Final Score: Gregory the Great 7 - 3 Vienna
Why it’s interesting: Talk about a low scoring game — this was actually the lowest scoring game this week in the entire country! Vienna is historically very good, and Gregory the Great is one of the top teams in PA. In what was described as a “slug fest” by spectators, neither team could get much going on offense, aside from an early try by Gregory the Great and 3 points via penalty kick by Vienna. It’s very early for both of these squads, and they’re both likely still figuring out their rosters and such. But they’re both teams to watch—and having early pre-season bouts like this will only help them both be prepared once their respective seasons begin.

PSA: 👇How NOT to keep someone updated at a game 😂