Sometimes the hardest thing to deal with is heightened expectations.

For example, when most of your team’s backline is  invited to the HS All American camp, you’re expected to perform. But a twisted ankle here, or a case of the flu there, and it can sometimes start off on the wrong foot, and then expectations move you to force things.

None of that happened to the Greenwich HS team in Connecticut, which ran through testate undefeated, pushed both Xavier and Gonzaga close, and then won the Northeast Regional Cup all-star tournament with what was essentially their regular high school team.

Throughout the season, Luke Bienstock, Jack Freiheit, Soh Nakayama, and Mike and Patrick McTiernan led the backline attack. Freiheit scored 43 tries in his time at Greenwich. They were helped, of course, by a forward pack that included Jack Weigold, Kelly Parker, and Ian Pearson, and all of them lived up to expectations.

“We just brought back so much from HS All American camp,” Bienstock told Goff Rugby Report. “We felt this year would be a really good year, and with our coaches at Greenwich helping us, we were confident.”

Even so, some were thinking this might be a rebuilding year for Greenwich, putting more on the shoulders of the players who had received the accolades. 

“It can be tough when you expect that,” said Bienstock. “But more kids stepped up. When we won the Four Leafs tournament - I wasn’t even there for that one - then we felt we might be able to do something. The Jesuit Classic was another one where we played well.”

In the end, Greenwich fell short against Xavier (once by a point) and Gonzaga (18-12 in a shortened game), and against Herriman, but Bienstock said the team was right there, and showed in select-side play how good they can be.

“We just want the challenge, and playing against all-star teams is a challenge,” he said. “The school has been very supportive of us and what we’re trying to do. And Coach [Joe] Kelly has been really great, getting us the funding to travel. We loved playing in the Jesuit Classic and I think we want to go there again. That’s the sort of competition we want.”

And if that’s the kind of competition they find, they will keep meeting, and exceeding expectations.

For always looking for something more to do, and as a representative of a very impressive Greenwich backline, Luke Bienstock is our Aircraft Charter Solutions Player of the Week.