🏉 A tale of two halves.

St. Joe’s came out firing, scoring twice in the opening minutes and pinning Gregory the Great deep in their own territory for nearly the entire first half. Heading into halftime up 21–8, it felt like St. Joe’s might be on the verge of a rout.

Gregory the Great apparently didn’t get the memo.

The GGA boys came out of the break locked in—clean, composed, and clinical. They moved the ball with precision, made very few mistakes, and didn’t allow St. Joe’s to regain control. Their maul execution was excellent, and their kicking—shaky in the first half—was suddenly sharp and well-timed.

With tries from Sebastian Nies, Peter Fraser, Christopher Bateman, James Martin, and Jack Nolan (plus two penalty kicks), GGA stormed back and built a 37–26 lead with under five minutes to play. St. Joe’s found the try zone once more in the dying moments to bring it to 37–31, but by then it was too late—Gregory the Great had already sealed it with a technical, savvy second half.

🤔 Our Questions:
If these two meet again in the playoffs, what adjustments will each side make?

Final thoughts:

Rye is cooking with gas. 🔥

Two games in, two big wins. After taking down Jesuit New Orleans in their opener, Rye kept the momentum rolling with a dominant 51-7 win over Staples in their home debut.

The hosts came out flying, jumping to a 17-0 lead in the first 15 minutes. Co-captains Archer Fenton and Owen Saya led the charge, with Fenton putting on a show despite being under the weather. He notched three first-half tries to push Rye to a 34-0 halftime lead.

Winger Sam Surak added a pair of tries, and hooker Jack Anderson continued his streak of physical, all-around play. But defense is the heartbeat of this Rye squad—they held Staples scoreless until a late consolation try.

Next Up: Rye takes on Greenwich (CT) next. Staples faces Fairfield Prep (CT).

💪Defense is the theme this week for Xavier.

In a match defined by freezing temps and swirling winds, Xavier leaned on defense and adaptability to take down Greenwich 26-7 in Brooklyn.

After a scoreless first 20 minutes, Greenwich struck first with a try by junior prop Henry Wahl, converted by Benja Gonzalez-Lobo. But Xavier answered quickly, as scrum-half William Scariano punched in a try and Ed Marquez-Miles nailed a tough conversion into the wind to knot it at 7-7 before the break.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Xavier took control. Junior flanker Liam Averill and junior 8-man Rob Milacci—who earned Man of the Match honors—added three tries between them, while the defense held Greenwich scoreless.

“We remembered that our defense is our strong suit, and we stayed to that in the first half.” said William Scariano. “And then the second half, when we got that wind, we adapted to score.”

Next up for Xavier: St. Joe’s By the Sea (NY) AND Chaminade (NY) in a double-header.
Next up for Greenwich: Rye (NY) 👀 Keep an eye on this match.

✍️ Full article by Mike LiVigni: Click here

🦅 The Raptors are soaring.

The last six meetings between the Raptors and Thunder were all one-score dogfights. Not this time.

The Raptors shook off a slow start and stomped on the gas late, pulling away for an important 33–13 win.

Thunder struck first with a penalty and had most of the first half territory, but Nolan Abayeta broke the deadlock with a bull-dozing try, converted by Jesse Torres to give Raptors a 7–3 edge at the break.

After Thunder crept back to make it 7–6, the Raptors flipped the switch. Torres—who finished with 18 points and a highlight-reel night—scored off a beauty of a pass from Redmond Chelsey. A lineout steal from Duffy Kessler set up Cole Bracken’s pick-and-go try, and moments later Shea Summer flew in for the bonus-point score. Thunder managed one more in the corner, but Torres had the final word with his second try in the dying minutes.

Bracken was a menace at the breakdown, Hartley locked down the midfield on D, and Kessler absolutely feasted in the lineouts. We already mentioned Jesse Torres, but he deserves another shout—the kid was electric.

A phenomenal result for the Raptors. There are big tests on the horizon—The Mustangs and Belmont Shore both looming, but this win gives them great momentum as they contend for a spot at Nationals.

💥Sacramento Jesuit dominates in a NorCal battle.

After back-to-back close losses to Danville and Granite Bay, Sacramento Jesuit flipped the script with a statement win over Marin—a team that recently beat Danville. It felt like the kind of performance that could spark a second-half surge for a squad that’s already been through the fire this season.

Injuries. Long road trips. Missing key players due to other commitments. Jesuit has battled through all of it.

If you watched their film back in January—which we did—you saw flashes of a team loaded with talent and potential. Add in veteran head coach Andrew Acosta, who’s got double-digit Nationals appearances under his belt, and it’s easy to see why we’ve been bullish on Jesuit for a while.

Next up: After three straight weeks on the road, Jesuit finally gets to play at home. Motherlode is first, followed by SFGG. Then, another big one: Jesuit takes on Fairfield Prep (CT) during their cross-country tour in a few weeks.

In a clash between two of NorCal’s top club teams, Granite Bay held off Danville for a 31–24 win in what could be a playoff preview.

Both squads came in with strong résumés and matching close calls against Sacramento Jesuit, and the game delivered on the hype—physical, fast, and gritty until the final whistle.

“Danville is an exceptional team—really good players, excellent coaching staff,” said Granite Bay’s coach, Chris Miller. “Our boys stuck to the script and played with a lot of heart. They’re grinders. They keep fighting till the final whistle.”

With both teams expected to make playoff runs, this might not be the last time they see each other. Stay tuned.

👀 La Salette showed their class this week.

Coming into the weekend, we knew very little about La Salette’s level this season. They’d played (and won) a few games, but not against anyone with national clout.

That changed—fast. La Salette looks like the real deal, folks.

First, they rolled St. Edward (OH) 45–5. Sure, St. Ed’s has struggled a bit this year, but they won a game at Nationals last season and usually hang with top teams. This one wasn’t close.

Then they followed it up with a 43–13 beatdown of St. Martin’s (KS).
(Okay, you have our attention, boys.)

St. Martin’s also went to Nationals last year and returned most of their starters. What’s more: they came in hot—fresh off wins like 84–0 (over SLUH). La Salette shut that down.

Bottom line: keep an eye on these La Salette fellas. We’ve got a feeling they’re not done surprising people this year.

As for St. Ed’s and St. Martin’s—they’ll be fine. Both have talent and strong coaching. But they’ve got some regrouping to do after a tough road trip.

John “Quote-Machine” Prezzia summed up St. Martin’s rough weekend best:

📣 Wichita announces their arrival with a big win.

Consistency is the key to a strong season. It’s also the key to getting coverage!

Well, Wichita is showing that their previous win over St. James Academy was no fluke.

Confession time: Wichita wasn’t on our radar—we didn’t even know exactly where they were located (Mr. Goff briefly had them listed as an Oklahoma team). But they’re on our radar now.

The KC Jr. Blues are historically one of the crème de la crème teams in the Midwest. The fact that Wichita managed to squeak out a win tells us two things: first, they can defend—holding anyone to just 14 points, especially a regional powerhouse, is no small feat. Second, it makes us wonder if the balance of power in the Kansas/Missouri/Oklahoma triangle is starting to shift.

SLUH is looking vulnerable (see: 0–84 loss to St. Martin’s). The Jr. Blues just took a hit. And meanwhile, Wichita is quietly flexing.

We’ll know more in a few weeks, but for now—we’re filing this result in the “raise an eyebrow” folder—and we’ll keep tabs on these guys from Wichita.

Some takeaways from the tournament:

Knoxville was loaded this past weekend. A handful of top-tier teams—and a few serious surprises—brought the heat. Here are some of the key takeaways:

💥 Charlotte Cardinals keep rolling
The defending national champs went 3-0-1 and looked deep and dangerous all weekend. Their only blemish was a hard-fought 21–21 tie with the Cavemen (more on them below). Outside of that, the Cardinals did nothing to raise doubts about their 2025 title ambitions. They’re still very much that team.

💪 Cavemen announce their presence
Be honest—you probably didn’t have the Cavemen in your preseason notes. Most folks didn’t. A former D2 squad, they’ve recently jumped to D1 and wasted no time making a name for themselves in Knoxville.

They tied the Cardinals 21–21.
They beat Woodlands 28–20.
They took care of business against the Raptors (TN) and Pendleton (IN).

Word on the street is these boys are massive and seriously skilled. We’re not totally sure what their path to Nationals looks like just yet, but if the committee leaves them out, there will be some rightfully angry Cavemen. They deserve a spot.

🐯 Charlotte Tigers did fine…but
The Tigers went 2–1, picking up solid wins over Pendleton (IN) and Greer (SC). Not bad results at all! Their lone loss came against Woodlands, a 12–34 final.

The only downside? We didn’t get to see the Tigers face either of the tournament’s top two teams—Cavemen or Cardinals. Those matchups would’ve given us a clearer picture of where the Tigers stand.

Still, it was a respectable showing from this squad—we just wish we got to see them tested against the best in Knoxville.

🤔 Woodlands struggle to find their footing
Yes, they were missing some vets. And yes, they’re working in some younger players. But this was a rough weekend by Woodlands’ high standards.

They played a tight one against the Cavemen (28–20), edged the Charlotte Tigers, but lost 7–26 to the Cardinals—a game that was 0–26 until the final play. Their 5–7 loss to the Raptors (TN) was perhaps the most surprising result of all.

Last year’s national runner-up isn’t out of the conversation by any means—but there’s work to do. With rising teams like the Cavemen in the mix, nothing’s guaranteed this year. That said, we tend to agree with Coach Marx (quoted below): Woodlands will clean things up and be right back at the top before this season’s over.

Northeast teams get frisky. And one team stands out.

Here are a few takeaways from the weekend:

👋 BC High, welcome to the party.
The Boston boys steamrolled through the weekend, going 4-0 and letting everyone know they mean business. Their closest result was a 29–12 win over Trumbull (CT), but aside from that, it wasn’t close. A 34–0 shutout of a strong Fairfield Prep side capped off a dominant run.

The message was clear: BC High is a force to be reckoned with.

📋 Connecticut teams had mixed results

Fairfield Prep finished 3–1, with convincing wins over Canisius and Simsbury, plus a 26–12 victory over Fordham Prep. Their only loss came on Day 2 against the red-hot BC High squad.

Simsbury struggled against everyone not named Canisius, though they kept it close against McQuaid Jesuit.

Fairfield Pegasi got rolled by BC High but held their own in other matchups.

And Trumbull? Honestly, they showed well. They dropped close games to Fordham and BC High but bounced back to beat Fordham in the rematch and finished 2–2, good for third place overall. We haven’t seen the film, but our gut says these boys defend hard.

Final thoughts: