Greenwich HS defeated Fordham Prep 43-25 on Wednesday, pulling away late after Fordham battled to keep it close.

Repeat Connecticut state champs Greenwich (nine years straight), did well to hold on against a tough Fordham team.

“This was a great start to the season,” GHS Head Coach Joe Kelly told Greenwich Time. “We always like to start against a tough team like these guys. They gave us a tough match and now we know what we need to work on. This is exactly what we needed to begin the year with, as we start our campaign toward the nationals.”

“This year we are looking like a very strong team,” said Patrick McTiernan, one of the Cards’ five senior captains. “We want to do something that Greenwich has never done before in the past — win nationals. As this game showed, we have a few things to work on, but we should have a good shot.”

McTiernan scored three tries. DJ Brown, Kevin Iobbi, Connor Weigold, and Zhaire House all touched down for Greenwich. But last in the first half the score was only 12-11.

Iobbi said the team was rusty, but they started to put it together late.

Greenwich is now looking ahead to facing their longtime rivals Xavier, winning Connecticut, and competing successfully at nationals.

For Fordham Prep, the team is coming off a bittersweet season which saw them win the NYS Division I Tier II Championship, but fall just short of qualifying for the Tier I Cup playoffs due to point differential.

This year, Fordham Prep will be looking to have a statement year and contend with the two conference powerhouses Xavier and Pelham. They return ten starters from 2016. Along with that group of experienced players, Fordham will be expecting big things from their rising players to fill the gaps in their lineup following a successful 2016 JV season.

Fordham enters the 2017 season having seen coach Neil McMillan leave. To fill the void, the team has found Dylan Fawsitt, former player at Life University and the Ohio Pro Team, and Harry Benes. With two new faces at the helm, Fordham Prep will look to build on the structure they have forged throughout the years, and will be looking to prop Aidan Donnelly and flyhalf Aidan McGrath are fixing to have strong years.

In addition to trying to move up in Rugby NY, Fordham Prep will be taking to tour Fordham Prep is looking for additional challenges with an overseas tour. All of that is designed to see them break through and make a splash on the national level.

-- Additional Reporting Conor O'Brien