Perhaps the biggest question when the Boys HS Nationals were seeded was whether the Irvine Rhinos or San Diego Mustangs should have been in the Club top-tier, or in Tier II; the Mustangs ended up in Tier II, and are fine with that.

Coming into Nationals, the Mustangs had produced a series of good results speckled with frustrating losses, including a loss to South Bay in the SoCal playoffs that basically settled the Tier I, Tier II issue. But at the same time, coaches Matty Sandoval and Ramond Samaniego were pretty sure they had the goods.

"We were fine with being in Tier II," said Samaniego. "We knew it was the right place for us. Once we were admitted to the tournament, we told the boys, this playoff game against South Bay will determine who moves up and who moves down, and then it was just a matter of who we were going to play. We lost to South Bay, they are a great team, and we accepted being in Tier II."

This was, actually, the most competitive Tier Ii in memory, and the Mustangs knew that, also. They were missing players due to injury, but still needed everyone to get through the grueling three games in three days.

"We traveled with a team of 32, and our starting 25 were strong, but even with that we were missing four or five starters due to injury," said Samaniego. "The first day allowed us to really clear our bench and gave us a chance to make sure guys got playing time and everyone was able to contribute."

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Prop and captain  Michael Perrone was a force once again, and Matt Goena got off his sick bed to play in the final two games, and San Diego not only won Tier II, the Mustangs won convincingly.

Day One saw San Diego take care of Union County 38-7, then it was Wando 45-0, and in the final, Aspetuck 38-19.

The Mustangs scored the most total points in the Boys HS National Championships - in any tier - and gave up the fewest. Were they content to be dropped into Tier II? Yes. But that didn't mean they played as a content team. The Mustangs still played like a team with something to prove, and proved it.