🏆 St. Ignatius (OH)

St. Ignatius has had a hell of a year, and they just capped it off with another Ohio D1 state title. St. Edward faced Ignatius in the final—and by all accounts they brought the heat early on in the game, putting points on the board and giving St. Ignatius fits with their intensity. But a couple St. Ed’s yellow cards opened the door for St. Ignatius, and they capitalized with back-to-back-to-back tries. By the time St. Ed’s sniffed the try zone again, late in the second half, the damage had been done and St. Ignatius pulled away for a decisive 45-21 win.

National champs ✔️
State title ✔️

Congrats to St. Ignatius on a phenomenal 2025 season!

🏆Marquette (WI)

Marquette finished a great season with a close 21-17 win in the state championship over Pulaski Roos. That makes the Hilltoppers back-to-back state champs in an increasingly competitive Wisconsin league. Impressive stuff!

Marquette had some big-time contributors this season. Here are a few:

Congrats, Marquette boys, on a great season and state title!

🏆 New Trier (IL)

New Trier was barely on our radar to open the season, but boy did they change that this spring. A determined effort at Nationals in Elkhart earned them a 2nd place finish in tier 2. And that reset our expectations entirely. They’re a team that plays with a ton of heart and physicality and can compete with literally anybody.

New Trier defeated Naperville 66-5 in the D1 state final (Illinois). The score tells the tale—and we aren’t surprised. At nationals they looked like a team that was gelling at the exact right moment.

Congrats to New Trier on an excellent season and well-deserved state title!

🏆 La Salette (IL)

These lads were impressive at nationals, so we aren’t shocked that they returned home and cruised to the state title over Marist. What was a little surprising was the score at halftime: 26-26. The second half was a scoring bonanza!

It was a fantastic season by this small boarding school in Illinois. Huge congratulations to La Salette—Illinois state champs!

Side note: Illinois decided to separate school and club teams this season. The jury’s out on whether that was a good idea, but here’s our take: Both state finals were essentially blowouts—we’d much rather see La Salette and New Trier play each other, especially this year.

Medina (OH) — D2

Medina took home their second Rugby Ohio Single School State Championship last weekend with a 30-17 win over defending champs Warrior (OH).

Their defense came to play, shutting down a Warrior attack that had been lighting up scoreboards all season and holding them to just 17 points, while Medina’s attack found space out wide and capitalized. The lads punched in five tries and controlled the tempo from start to finish.

We’ve been tracking these Medina guys all season—they’re good! Now with another trophy on their shelf, we just have one question: Are they gonna start pushing into the top tier in Ohio? We’d love to see them take on St. Edward and St. Ignatius next season.

Congrats to Medina on a great season and a state title!

Fairfield Prep vs Greenwich — Saturday, June 7

It’s a rematch. It’s a rivalry. It’s for all the marbles.

Here’s how each team’s path to the final looked:

Fairfield Prep
After a rocky end to the regular season—including a gut-punch 17-12 loss to crosstown rival Fairfield Pegasi—Fairfield Prep regrouped and went on playoff warpath.

Their quarterfinal against Staples looked doomed early. Down 22-7 and playing with just 13 men after back-to-back yellow cards, Prep’s season hung by a thread. But the boys clawed back, took a 26-25 lead in the final minute, and sealed it when Mason Beardsworth picked off a pass and went the distance. 33-25. Survive and advance.

The semifinal vs Trumbull followed a similar script. Prep trailed 20-7, then 25-14, before unleashing 20 unanswered points to take control. A late Trumbull try made it a nail-biter, but Prep held on 34-32 after forcing a poach and killing the clock with a final-minute scrum.

Finals bound.

Greenwich
Greenwich was the only CT team to go to nationals, and that’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, the experience at Elkhart is unrivaled—tons of elite competition and opportunity to grow as a team. On the other hand, the three-day tourney can take a toll on a team as the nagging injuries become full-on issues. It’s a brutal weekend physically.

But Greenwich came out of nationals ready to rumble. They had earned a bye in the first week of the CT state playoffs, and then beat Fairfield Pegasi in a gritty game, defeating their red-hot rival 26-24.

And now the stage is set:
It’s Fairfield Prep vs Greenwich for the state title—a rematch of the 2023 championship game.

Greenwich is loaded with experience, but Prep’s confidence is peaking, and their comeback instincts are battle-tested. Connecticut is famously unpredictable—but we predict a high-emotion fireworks show. It’s got all the ingredients: rivalry, rematch, small-town pride, terrible weather (probably—because northeast spring, you know).

If this match is streaming, we’ll post about it on our Instagram page. No word on that yet.

Tier 1: Xavier vs Fordham Prep

Xavier returned from nationals and hit the ground running with a big win in the semifinal—a 61-0 result over Corning. Dominant by anyone’s standards.

Now they face a tough Fordham Prep side that has improved dramatically since their last meeting. Fordham has won some big games over regional beasts like Trumbull, Rye, and Pelham. So they’ll give Xavier plenty to handle.

Tier 2: Rye vs Chaminade

Without a doubt, Chaminade is a program on the rise, and they ride a solid winning streak into this match.

Rye started the season off in dominant fashion, and they’ve had one goal since the beginning: Win the state title. Well, here they are in the championship match. Thiiis close to the ultimate goal.

Our question: Will the upstart Chaminade Flyers shock Rye, or will Rye return to their imposing form and capture the state trophy? Stay tuned.

This one snuck up on us—didn’t Michigan just start their season like last week? Kidding—we just lost track.

Anyhow, Detroit Central Catholic will face West Ottawa in the D1 state final. We don’t have a ton of intel on either side, but both have been impressive in their home state and in cross-state games. DCC defeated some Ohio teams (Moeller and St. Ed’s) while West Ottawa was victorious over Olentangy—the Ohio club runners up.

We’ll follow up with the deets from this one.

BC High punched their ticket to the Massachusetts state final with a dominant 68-14 win over Weymouth on a hot afternoon that saw the Eagles come out flying and never let up.

Weymouth landed a few early punches, capitalizing on some penalties to get on the board. But once BC High settled into the referee’s style, their defense tightened up—and their offense went into overdrive. The Eagles scored in just about every way possible: off tap penalties, multi-phase build-ups, counterattacks, and even a rolling maul. It was a full-team effort, with players creating space, working through contact, and shutting things down on defense.

A few Eagles picked up bumps and bruises, and their status is still up in the air heading into next week’s championship clash with Xaverian, who defeated Belmont on Wednesday night.

Note: Last time Xaverian and BC High played, it was a nail biter: BC High edged Xaverian 36-35. This rematch is gonna be a banger.

The final is set. BC High vs Xaverian Bros on June 14th. Let’s go!

We teased this last week. Here are the deets:

What’s the Unsung XV?
Every team has an unsung hero—probably more than one. We wanted to shine a spotlight on one player from each team who has quietly and selflessly worked his tail off to help the team succeed—without receiving much attention for it.

We’re asking coaches to select one player from their team who fits this description. Coaches, you can submit your Unsung XV player by emailing us here: [email protected]

We’re going to give these guys some shine—in no particular order—over the coming weeks.

Here are the first five members of the UNSUNG XV 👇

Note: There will be many more than fifteen. We want to feature the unsung hero from every team that wants to participate. Enjoy!

🏉Noteworthy: Palmberg was extremely consistent this season— 95%+ success rate in lineouts. He sacrificed his body in the biggest moments of the biggest games and had zero knock-ons or poaches all season. THAT is some UNSUNG XV stuff right there.

💬Coach’s quote: “He really stepped up in the SoCal final and the National final, when we were attempting to run out the clock in both games by having forward pods carry, he put his hand in the air and his body on the line taking heavy carries against desperate defenders, who were intent on separating him from the ball. Disciplined defender who makes all his tackles. Lived his entire career in the shadows of bigger name Mustangs, but the team and the coaches know his value.” - Matty Sandoval, SD Mustangs Coach

🏉Noteworthy: Despite starting the season on the bench, Brown’s work ethic and attitude caught the attention of coaches—he became an important part of the Cardinals’ squad and raised the bar for the entire team.

💬Coach’s quote: “What stood out for me about Andre besides his fantastic attitude, was his work rate on the field. Covering the entire backfield and often making big plays on the opposite wing.” - Jason Zehmke, HC Charlotte Cardinals

🏉Noteworthy: Teli originally played center, but he switched to hooker when the team needed him there and quietly put his nose to the grindstone all season.

💬Coach’s quote: “Extremely high work rate, just a defensive monster in the middle of the field who still attacks like a center!” - Jason Paquette, HC Charlotte Tigers

🏉Noteworthy: Miranda is a selfless player and a tireless worker—he played almost every minute of every game this year, and had a 100% lineout success rate in their last game at nationals.

💬Coach’s quote: “Gavin might not get all the accolades, but the team knows his value and that’s what really matters. His consistency and respect for the game is priceless.” - Werner Marx, HC Woodlands

🏉Noteworthy: Rock solid player who just gets it done. Meehan played multiple positions this year and was a steady force, no matter where his team needed him to play.

💬Coach’s quote: “Great young man of character. Quiet killer. Works his ass off. Great teammate. Makes few mistakes. Tough, resilient.” - Chris Miller, HC Granite Bay

Ok, that’s our first batch of UNSUNG XV players. We’ll keep publishing these as we receive selections—so keep em coming!

Oddball musings, induced by borderline hypothermia.

🏉 Interesting aside
All of Ohio’s state champions—D1, D2, middle school, boys, girls—came from the northeast corner of the state. And guess what…they all have strong feeder programs.
Ohio is a microcosm of the country: feeder systems build champions, folks.

🏉 Worst pregame meal I’ve ever witnessed
Three chili corn dogs and a Red Bull.
It was college—and no, he did not make it to halftime.

🏉 Back in my day...
Icy Hot and Tiger Balm fumes wafted across the sideline while some dinged-up flanker tossed back a fistful of Advil at halftime.
Now kids are talking cryotherapy and tracking their macros.
Pretty sure those words didn’t even exist when I played high school rugby.