The Greenwich/Fairfield team won the Northeast RCT in a tournament where three select sides couldn’t overcome the unity and power of a (mostly) single program.

Greenwich HS was far and away the best team in Connecticut, and as has been the case in recent years, the team has remained intact for the local all-star competition, adding a few players from Fairfield Prep. Greenwich Head Coach Joe Kelly said he’d like to have welcomed more Fairfield players this year, but in the end added only two - varsity No. 8 Greg Terry, and JV flyhalf/center Connor Bercik. Both were instrumental to the team’s success.

And success it was, with Greenwich crushing a team of players from Vermont and the Albany, NY area (Capital District/Vermont) before beating a tough Massachusetts team 33-21.

The Massachusetts forwards took it to Greenwich in Sunday’s final, and starved Kelly’s team of the possession they are used to. Add to that the fact that HS All American scrumhalf Soh Nakayama had to leave early to attend the UCLA summer camp, and it made for a shaky game in many respects.

But Greenwich’s top players have been consistently good all season, with Luke Bienstock and Jack Freiheit leading the charge, and prop Tommy Williams carrying the load up front.

“Our greater strength was in the backs, for sure,” said Kelly. “We were able to run out to a good lead, but we struggled a little bit with our flow after Soh went out. Massachusetts had a good squad, and they really were strong in the forwards.”

But there’s a lot to be said for cohesive play, and Greenwich had it.

Greenwich also won the JV competition, beating a very strong Empire team 33-30 and then Connecticut 17-7. Empire was very close to winning this event (they went on to beat Massachusetts 36-0). Scrumhalf Luke Persanis and wing Moises Soto (both of Pelham HS), Fordham Prep fullback Connor Devlin, and Mahattan hooker Jovante Spence all played well.