Pacific North
Men's
The new-look NorCal DII was full of surprises in week two of the season as SFGG, Life West, and Diablo nabbed wins. After edging out Life West last weekend, SFGG searched Google and didn’t find much of a competition as the Golden Gaters racked up 71 points on the road. Life West picked itself up and rebounded to defeat San Jose, 56-6, and the Diablo Olde Gaels avenged its close loss to Santa Rosa last season by doubling them up 60-27 for their first win for the year.
The high score of the weekend, and perhaps the season, goes to Life West in its DIII match against San Jose. The Gladiators outscored the Seahawks 126-3 as they punched in 20 tries with 12 players pitching in points. Wing Leon Powell led the scoring with five tries followed by a hat trick for King Dazeem Stevenson.
From an incredible blowout to a nail-biter, Fresno won its match against the Sacramento Capitals, 37-36, on a game-ending penalty by Alex Rylance. Fresno held a 34-29 advantage late but the Capitals’ Rupeni Caucau scored in the 80th to take the lead. Fresno gave its kicker one last chance in stoppage time and Rylance won the match for the club’s second win in three weeks.
In NorCal DIV, three teams earned their first victories of the young season. Silicon Valley weathered a comeback attempt from B.A. Baracus to win 31-29, while the Reno Zephyrs and Central Coast Beach Dogs won on the road.
Women's
San Francisco Golden Gate and Berkeley are both undefeated in DII NorCal and will play each other on Feb. 22. The former banked a forfeit win against Santa Rosa last weekend, while the All Blues bettered Life West 46-5.
Berkeley built a 22-0 halftime lead through Jazmyne Spear (2), Teru Baker and Elena Clark, and Kat Chasakara added a conversion. The Gladiatrix put down the first points of the second half through Danielle Ioramo, but the All Blues surged in the final 15 minutes of the match. Spear, Briana Riley (2) and Erika Granger all scored tries, and Clark added a pair of conversions for the win.
After a close loss to Berkeley on Jan. 18, Sacramento rebounded with a massive 85-5 win over San Jose. Flanker Caroline Sequeira led all point-scorers with 29 on three tries and seven conversions. Outside center Miriama Marawa scored five tries on the day, while No. 8 Liz Danielson contributed 11 points on a try and three conversions. Fullback Lexia Reynolds (2), flanker Makena McCluskey, scrumhalf Denita Hubbard and reserve wing Bianca Brau also scored tries. The Amazons travel to Golden Gate this weekend, and San Jose heads north to face Life West.
Pacific South
Men's
Like NorCal, SoCal DII looks to be ultra-competitive in 2020. Santa Monica, Ventura County, Belmont Shore, and Los Angeles flexed their muscles on Saturday. By defeating San Diego 22-15, Ventura County joined Belmont Shore at 2-0 after the blue and yellow crushed San Fernando Valley, 80-12. In Las Vegas, it was the Iain Herriott show as the Santa Monica center scored 34 points with four tries and seven conversions to beat the Irish, 74-10. Lastly, Los Angeles pushed its record to 1-1 with a 31-22 win at Pasadena.
Through the first three weeks of the season in SoCal DIII, the parity in the 12-team league is showing. Ten teams have at least one win and Eagle Rock is the only team at 3-0 after defeating Santa Monica 66-17. In the battle for second, the North County Gurkhas and San Diego Old Aztecs tied 31 apiece and are now 2-0-1 and 1-0-1, respectively. Fullerton and Santa Barbara notched their second wins on the road to put their records to 2-1 while the Beaumont Bluehawks battered Back Bay 50-19 for their first victory.
Women's
The Pacific South finally had all three divisions in motion last weekend. In Division I, Tempe and Santa Monica played to a single-digit decision, while San Diego shut out Belmont Shore 82-0 for its second win of the spring.
Santa Monica and Tempe were never more than 14 points from each other, and by game’s end, the Dolphins scored five tries, and the visitors scored six. In the end, Tempe triumphed 40-33.
“Our win this weekend was definitely a team win. We worked well together executing our offense and communicated well defensively,” Tempe co-captain and No. 8 Nina Freelander praised the effort. “Santa Monica is a tough team and came out hard, but we were able to spread the field and take advantage of holes. Flyhalf Heleni Kuma had a great performance, breaking through their defensive line for a total of four tries. Whitney Diem and Lindsey Mahoney both added a try. Four conversions by fullback Sam Santos and one by Lindsey Mahoney made the final score 40-33.”
Santa Monica earned two bonus points in the close loss, and got its scores through Adriana Conrad-Forrest, Nina Poloukhine, Molly Bradbury and Desiree Leaupepe. The league is idle this weekend and resumes on Feb. 15 with the San Diego and Santa Monica rematch. On Jan. 25, the Surfers beat the Dolphins 38-22.
In Duarte, Calif., DII Pasadena and Las Vegas played to a 7-all halftime. No. 8 Celine Deneuve scored first for the Royals and fullback Kristine Nakada converted, and then the Slots responded with a converted try approximately 10 minutes later. Deneuve scored shortly after the break, but the separation really took hold in the final 20. Three quick tries from Asia Garcia, Sonya Livingston and Janna Henao were all converted by Nakada, and put the home side up 33-7 with 10 minutes to play. Las Vegas sent Genevieve Kalahiki into the try zone, and Tyler Malcom converted, but Pasadena had the last say with a Nakada penalty: 36-14 the final.
There are only three teams in SoCal’s DII this year, and Old Pueblo will travel to Pasadena in week two. Tons of anticipation built around the DIII match between Santa Barbara and Phoenix, which were 2-0 heading into their league game Saturday.
“We were slightly nervous coming into the game against Santa Barbara because we knew they were going to present a tough challenge,” Phoenix flyhalf Jessica Carpenter confessed. “But we also knew that this was going to be a great test for our team and we knew we had prepared well for it. We just had to execute.
“The match was very physical right off the bat,” Carpenter continued. “With only 15 players and no subs, we knew that we had to be strategic about how we were going to play the game. Defensively, we were both very strong. We bashed it out in the middle of the field for quite some time. It finally took a tricky switch play between me and center Jessica Rexrode to get ourselves on the board.”
Phoenix added a try from Sydney Dudley, and Carpenter kicked both conversions for the 14-0 halftime lead. Santa Barbara scored quickly after the break through prop Susanne Saldivar, and then answered Phoenix prop Karlee Nyborg’s score with a try from Katie Janus. Phoenix led Santa Barbara 19-10 with the entire fourth quarter to play. In the final five minutes, Janus scored again, and the Mermaids trailed by four.
Phoenix didn’t have the luxury of a bench, and players like Mariah Sealander as well as Nyborg grit their teeth through injuries to get the game done. “We continued to push through the pain and left it all out on the field,” Carpenter commended the squad. “Toward the end of the game, it was all about time management. We play our best when we control the pace of the game. Santa Barbara made a couple great pushes at the end, but we were able to make our tackles and hold them off.”
Phoenix won 19-15, and the Mermaids earned the bonus point in the loss. Both get a break this weekend, while San Fernando Valley is scheduled to travel to Riverside.
Red River
Men's
With the league-leading Austin Blacks on a bye, the marquee match of DI was between the Dallas Reds and the Austin Huns. The two teams played each other three weeks ago so they knew each other well. After exchanging tries early, Dallas took control to lead 31-10 at the break. The Huns roared back in the second scoring 34 points to three for the 44-34 advantage in the last minutes of the match. The Reds added a try late, but the whistle sounded after the missed conversion giving Austin the 44-39 home victory. With the win, the Huns move into first place over the idle Blacks.
The other DI match featured two teams in search of their first win of the season. Both the Dallas Harlequins and the West Houston Lions have struggled to find their footing this season but the Quins showed its home crowd some magic on Saturday. Romain Gadeaux scored two of his team’s seven tries for the 36-14 taming of the Lions.
In DII, Fort Worth added another W to its total following a forfeit by West Houston and the Austin Huns completed its Saturday sweep of Dallas by doubling up the Reds, 51-25. Dallas will look to get back into the win column this Saturday against the Blacks.
The three clear top squads in DIII remained undefeated this past weekend as the Austin Blacks and the Grand Prairie Mavericks clobbered their opponents by a combined score of 159-17 and H.U.R.T. broke the Arrows 32-10 in the battle for Houston bragging rights.
With second place up for grabs in the North, D.A.R.C. hosted Alliance. Alliance was up by two tries at the half but had to fight off a determined Dallas Athletic team until the very end. Alliance held on to win 31-27 and will face the OKC Tribe this weekend, who defeated the Harlequins, 29-19, on the road.
Down South, only two points separate the second and third place clubs in the standings. B.A.R.C. beat Kingwood 31-12 to increase its record to 3-1-1 while the Woodlands moved to 3-2 after overwhelming Galveston, 47-17.
Women's
There was only one game in DII last weekend, and it was a goodie between Dallas Athletic (DARC) and Bay Area (BARC). The visitors, BARC, scored two minutes into the match, but then the half went quiet in terms of the scoreboard.
"Even though we put points on the board first, we struggled to find our groove and gain momentum throughout the first 40 minutes,” BARC forwards captain Lauren Patterson explained. “After halftime, we came back out and did a better job of securing rucks and taking advantage of space out wide. It wasn't our best team performance, but we rallied in the second half thanks to our reserves coming in fresh and turning it on when we needed them.”
At the 60-minute mark, BARC outside center Veronica Houck scored, 10-0, but then a penalty try awarded to DARC wing Jessica Ellis tightened the game up. It wasn’t’ until the final five minutes that BARC scrumhalf Elizabeth Clementi dotted down for the 15-7 final.
"Unfortunately, we didn't play the game we intended to,” BARC coach Amy Cheesman lamented. “We had a hard time adjusting to the messiness in the ruck and struggled to keep continuous possession for the first half. We are putting that game behind us and are ready to refocus and put in some serious work this coming week. Having four away games in a row is challenging to say the least, and we are excitedly looking forward to our first home game of 2020 at the end of February! I am so proud of our players for consistently showing up and working to be better for themselves and their teammates.”
Frontier - Red River
Women's
The Frontier Red River is a new DI competition this season and involves six teams from Colorado, Texas and Utah. Teams in the same competitive region (CR) play each other home and away, and then play teams from the other CR once before playoffs.
In October, Houston Athletic (HARC) played Glendale (50-43 L) and Black Ice (34-22 W) in a double-header weekend that aligned with the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Glendale. On Saturday, HARC traveled to Dallas for the Harlequins’ season-opener, and won 67-0. Flanker Callie Flynn and inside center Bonnie Richardson were named MVPs and scored two tries apiece, while outside center Nadira Smith dotted down three times. Flyhalf K.C. Curl (2), prop Nick James and scrumhalf Barbie Blair added tries, while fullback Delia Nava kicked six conversions.
South
Men's
It looks like the Florida DII South regular-season title will come down to the February 15th match between the Miami Tridents and the Boca Raton Buccaneers. Both teams continued to pull away in the division as Boca Raton crushed Fort Lauderdale 78-5 and the Tridents pierced Miami RFC, 56-7. Up North, Naples beat Tampa 24-10 to take control of that division at 2-0. The top two teams from each division will move onto the Elite Division, where each team will play three more games to determine the state champion. The remaining three teams will play a couple of consolation games each.
New Orleans kicked off its 2020 True South DII season on the road against the Memphis Blues. Aided by a handful of MLR players getting in a last-minute warm-up before the season starts, NOLA dominated for a 67-0 shutout.
In DIII, Brevard picked up a nice win over two-time defending state champion Palm Beach, 15-3, to move to 2-0 on the season in Florida. Gainesville also remained perfect at 2-0, edging Bay Area Pelicans 12-10. In the only other scheduled action, Sarasota forfeited at Jacksonville.
Action in Georgia saw the majority of the division play their first games of the year. The Augusta Maddogs were the big winners after reaching the century mark against the Atlanta Bucks while the other two Atlanta clubs, the Renegades and the Old White, won decisively at home. In the Gainesville versus Gwinnett match, the Spartans’ offense and defense were on point dealing Gwinnett a 50-5 defeat.
The test between High Country and Athens turned into a track meet as the hard work and dedication put in during the offseason turned into an 80-0 win for High County. Under new coaching, High Country had a strong game plan, maintained possession, and moved the ball at will against the Eagles. John Brown, Erick Dominguez, and Troy Albright shined in the backs and each carried the ball over the try line twice. An early departure due to injury led the way for a young scrumhalf to step in and Steven Huang converted 10 of 12 conversions and scoring once himself. Overall, a strong outing for a team looking to take the next step in competition.
Women's
It was another thrilling weekend in DII Florida. After tying Fort Miami last week, Orlando posted another draw this week, this time against Jacksonville. Orlando took the first lead through a Kristi Schnepp try and Kirstaena Venter conversion, but then back-to-back scores from Sinners April Fogel and Erika Long, along with a Keina Crawford conversion, put Jacksonville on top 12-7.
Jacksonville put down another two tries from Crawford and Rachael Stabbert to accrue its 22 points by the 53rd minute, but Orlando kept working. On top of a Makaila Kowalsky try in the first half, Orlando found try-zone success through Agnes Fuerst and Julia Phillips to end the game 22-all.
Fort Miami and Tampa Bay met on the other side of the league. There were three lead changes in the middle of the first half, but Tampa Bay exited the first 40 with a 21-17 lead. No. 8 Virginia Perez, Karen Liu and Madison Militello scored Fort Miami’s tries (and Militello kicked the conversion), and Sam Black-Keels, Jessie Premet and Jesse DePaolo scored Tampa Bay’s. The difference was Robyn Oliveri’s three conversions.
The Krewe started to make some subs and then Ruth Black’s try put a little more distance on the scoreboard, 28-17 with Oliveri’s fourth conversion. At the 60th minute, Brandi Roebuck scored, and the Krewe kept refreshing the field with reserves and maintaining a solid defense. Latrisha Jarrett ended the day with a try and 40-17 win. Tampa Bay is now 2-0 in Florida and leads the standings.
"It was a slow start for both sides, but as soon as we switched on and started playing our game, we dominated,” Tampa Bay captain Black-Keels asserted. “It was very satisfying to earn a win against an opponent that has consistently held the top spot in the state for many years. The cohesion and work ethic on this team is really something special and we are so ready to use this momentum to push us even further.'
