Close Games Cap NCR All-Star Weekend

01.18.2026College Men

New England Independents Red vs Great Lakes Thunderbirds.

Author: Alex Goff

Changed to a bracket format, the NCR All-Star tournament was, more than ever, a win-or-go-consolation situation.
So Saturday morning produced four all-or-something games.

Teams that lost on Saturday morning tracked to a consolation bracket, so there was still something to play for. All eight teams played three 60-minute games in the space of about 33 hours.

Midwest Barbarians 50 New England Independents White 22

The Midwest team brought a powerful, physical team up front and plenty of explosiveness out wide Ren Heimer (Iowa) continued his superb form as a fullback, launching counter-attacks, kicking goals (16 points in the game), and setting up chances.

The Midwest forward worked very hard and thundered through the gainline also. Front-rowers Sam Zimmerman (Iowa), Bensen Han (Carleton), Gavin Pederson (Iowa Central), and Etuate Lolohea (Iowa Central) all scored tries. No. 8 Matt Carda (UM-Dulluth) and lock Wyatt Young (Iowa Central) also got over the line. So did Heimer, but in the end it was the big dogs who had the bite.

The New England side got a try from Roman Legere (U. Vermont standout who is playing as a grad student at Nichols), and two from Ayomideji Israel-Akinbo (Alfred University) scored two, and if there was a player who came in relatively unknown who made an impact, it might be him.

New England Independents Red 52 Mid-Atlantic Sharks 0

The defending champs controlled field position brilliantly. They played in the Sharks’ end of the field, and took points when they were available. They were excellent in the scrum and while they were able to play some champagne rugby, focused instead on the basics.

Prop Gjergji Bacuku (Dartmouth) was a powerful presence and scored a try. Filimone Manu (AIC) was a thriller out wide and scored two, and Ethan Knight (Dartmouth) could hardly miss with the boot.

Great Lakes 29 Tri-State Foundry 5

The Thunderbirds were strong and pretty thunderous in the pack and consistently made the gainline. They weren’t always flashy, but they didn’t need to be. When they needed to be flashy, flyhalf Takudzwa Musingwini (Wheeling) was the playmaker and always a threat to run. He connected with newly-crowned NCR D1 Player of the Year Alex Nyamunda, and the Wheeling center scored three tries.

In the forwards, Philip Tracey (newly-crowned NCR D1AA Player of the Year) of Bowling Green took charge and was outstanding in all aspects.

Western Bison 27 Midwest Barbarians 22

If there was a surprise performance in the opening round it was the Western Bison. They put together a group of players from Southern Nazarene, Sam Houston, Oregon State, and Texas A&M. The Bison swarmed in and had the Midwest on their heels early. Once the Barbarians got their momentum back they were too far behind.
The two teams matches up well, but the player who really shone was probably Jordan Ayala out of Cal Poly Humboldt and SHSU flanker Jackson Rauch. For his part, Rauch was a powerful runner.

On a side note, NCR has worked a promotion deal with the National Rugby League out of Australia, promoting their event in Las Vegas , and looking to put together a NCR rugby league all-star team (yes, really). Some USA Rugby League National Team scouts are also at the tournament.

It’s an interesting crossover. Anyway, we mention it here because Rauch has rugby league player written all over him.

Southeast Bears 50 New England White 14

The Bears just had it all together. Their unity in play rivaled that of New England Red. Queen University players Seth Vallance and Keanin Kamp combined for five tries but it was the Bears’ defensive work that probal saw them through.

Still, it was 7-5 Independents midway through the first half. Kamp, playing prop, finished off some good forwards’ work. A brilliant try from Gerald Mahoney (Northeastern) on a kick-chase and an event better conversion from Axel Nino (Babson) put the White back on top at 14-12.

And then it all changed. Simple hands out put the Bears in at the wing (Alex Smith-Stephens of Clemson). So it was 17-14 at halftime. In the second half the Southeast played with a bit more adventure and confidence. Once they spun it wide a little faster and made the Independents work hard on defense, the space began to open up. Lock Neal Geldenhuys (LSU) continued his excellent run of play.

Semifinals

New England Red 24 Great Lakes 15

New England once again looked to control field position, but that backfired a little bit. In the early going they negated over 100 meters of territory gain by putting kicks out on the full. That set up three separate attacking lineouts for the Thunderbirds. They scored once, however. New England’s defense was strong enough to get them out of a hole.

After that, the kicking game and the attack worked a bit better. The Independents were very strong in the scrum, and solid in the lineout. All of this meant the Independents not only survived their own mistakes but punished Thunderbird mistakes, and their penalties.

With the game close, Knight was able to keep the scoreboard ticking over, slotting four penalty goals to secure the win. It was tactically smart rugby.

Southeast Bears 34 Western Bison 14

The Bison put a huge amount of effort in that quarterfinal win and once the semifinals came around later in the day, it was perhaps a bit too much. Geldenhuys scored a big try for the Bears while their maul was clicking nicely—hooker Noah Ainsworth (Clemson) scored two tries.

Like the Independents, the Bears did the basics well, and while they didn’t opt for kicks at goal, instead they went for the lineout, drove it over, and dared the opposition to stop them.

Final Placement Games

7th Place: Mid-Atlantic Sharks 36 New England White 29

The Sharks started out strong and led 24-0 before New England White’s Gerald Mahoney (Northeastern) chased down a kick to score just before halftime.

For the Sharks, Duane Sylvestre (Loyola Maryland) led with two tries while Cole Boyer (Penn State Berks), Aidan Parson (Towson), Brandon Delia (Temple), and Luka Jansen Van Vurren (Kutztown) added tries. Sean Comiskey (Scranton) slotted three conversions. As you can see, this was very much a cross-divisional Mid-Atlantic side.

New England White is a younger side than their Red counterparts, and the fact they are in this tournament is partly why Red does so well.

They were down 29-5 but started to come back. Liam Pearl (UMass) cut back to touch down. Then BC freshman Adam Borhorst ripped the ball free near the Mid-Atlantic line, regathered, and charged over. that put White within two scores. But the Sharks iced it through Boyer on a dive over.

Tries from John Cox (Holy Cross) and Kadin Phimister (UMass) inched White closer, but it was too far to go.

5th Place: Tri-State Foundry 31 Midwest Barbarians 26

Defense and a holding-on penalty led to Hamish Goonan (Rutgers) tapping quickly and getting the opening try for Tri-State. Another penalty (offside on a kick) led to a Foundry lineout and then anothe ruck penalty. They ran a nifty tap play and Cassius Grimes (Fairfield) was over through some slightly surprised Barbarian defenders.
Both teams survived potential tries before Grimes made a few players miss and galloped in under the posts.
Down 21-0 the Midwest had a ton of work to do. But some snappy backline ballhandling set up St. Bonaventure center Manu Taula to pick up and get over.

In the end the Foundry cruised and never trailed Lenny Mannino (Fordham) scored another while Midwest did finally get some tries though through David Evans (Drury), Liam Rodgers (UM-Duluth), Wyatt Young (Iowa Central), and Emilios De Palm (Wisconsin) all getting over the line. Ren Heimer converted three, but the damage had been done.

3rd Place: Great Lakes 55 Western Bison 7

Time together saw the Thunderbirds piecing it all together. Frustrated at not being sufficiently clinical in the semifinal, Great Lakes exploded in the first half to dominate. Musingwini pulled the strings well and unleashed the hard runners, while adding 14 points on a try, three conversions, and a penalty goal. Alex Nyamunda had just the one try but he didn’t need to be the main man, while Joseph Martindale (Marian) notched two tries.

Marian had five players on this Great Lakes team and they all contributed, with Colby Siler being especially active.

Final: New England 23 Southeast 20

In a very entertaining and dramatic final, the New England Independents Red got a relatively solid lead, and saw it all but disappear. The Bears had possession and time and a penalty at the end, but couldn’t quite execute to get the game-winner.

As they had all weekend, Red took points when they were on offer. Knight was again accurate off the tee early-on, but Southeast flyhalf Harrison Tu’isila (Belmont Abbey) answered a few minutes later. Both teams looked to get ascendency in the scrum—the Independents might have won that battle, but it was close and Southeast didn’t really struggle there. As a result neither team could really run away with it when they forced mistakes.

With flyhalf Bobby Voth (Boston College, in his 4th year with the team) running the attack smoothly and using his attackers, especially Filimone Mannu.

Bobby Walker (Northeastern) scored a well-constructed try to get New England up 10-3 with Knight’s conversion (the man just wasn’t missing kicks) As halftime approached Knight added a penalty, and then, moments later, the Independents punished another Southeast penalty. This time they ran the lineout and hooker Hamish Yeldman (Dartmouth) touched it down. Conversion good and it was 20-3.

That looked like the Bears were out of it. But on the stroke of halftime Ainsworth scored yet another try for the Southeast and that gave his side some much-needed hope. At the same time, the New England team seemed to go into a bit of a shell.

Down 20-8, the Bears went to work. Clemson freshman Max Wyckoff zipped in to make it a one-score game at 20-13. Knight answered with a penalty, but the Southeast had more to say. No. 8 Vallance was instrumental again, and his try, and Tu’isila’s conversion suddenly made it 23-20.

Time was ticking away, and the tension was high. Both teams got a lecture about barking at the referee, and they got back to business. The Southeast was able to get the ball and work their way down the field. They got a knock-on advantage, but kept going because time might have been up. They then got a penalty, and perhaps could have opted for the kick at goal, but the penalty was at the side of the field and a fair distance away. It would have been a tough kick. They took the lineout, and when New England snatched the ball, the Independents were able to get it into touch to hold on 23-20.

This was perhaps the best NCR All-Star event as the teams were all fairly well put-together, and we didn’t have regions where there were few D1 programs, which bring more experience and some additional reaction speed. At the same time, some teams found that recovery from game-to-game is a tough thing. The Bison, for sure, saw what happens when you ball-out in on game and realize there’s 120 minutes of rugby to go.

The NRL (rugby league) tie-in was an interesting one. We’ll see if that gets the NRL Las Vegas event any additional talent and exposure, which is what they’re looking for.

And while we did get blowouts, the bracket and consolation format usually means the final day is a little closer. Three of the four Sunday games were within a try.