As is usually the case when the postseason state tournaments and championship meets take place, during this past fall season the FCIAC yet again had significant success as it won nine championships and had a solid .571 winning percentage in the eight combined fall sports.
The Greenwich and St. Joseph football teams, Staples field hockey team, Ridgefield girls soccer team, Greenwich girls swimming and diving team, Danbury girls cross country team and Staples boys cross country team were all state championship teams.
The conference had a combined 56-42 record for a .571 winning percentage in the five sports – football, boys soccer, girls soccer, girls volleyball and field hockey – in which teams play against each other.
In the sports of girls swimming and diving, boys cross country and girls cross country, the format is teams accumulate points. The least amount of points determine the cross country champions and the most amount of points win the swimming and diving team championships.
The Danbury girls’ cross country team and Greenwich girls swimming and diving team each won Class LL and State Open championships and the Staples boys cross country team won the Class LL crown.
The fall sports season ended on Dec. 8 when Greenwich won the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Football Playoffs with a 34-0 victory over New Canaan and St. Joseph won the CIAC Class M Football Playoffs with a 70-18 victory over Berlin.
They both went 3-0 in their respective playoffs and the conference had a combined 8-2 record in football as New Canaan went 2-1 and three-time defending state Class LL champion Darien was eliminated in the first round.
The CIAC Class LL girls soccer tournament was one in which the FCIAC was rather impressive with a 17-10 combined record for a .630 winning percentage.
Defending champion Ridgefield and Staples both advanced to the championship match to set up a rematch of the 2017 final and Ridgefield’s Tigers defended their title with a 1-0 victory.
Staples went 4-0 in the CIAC Class L field hockey tournament, culminating with the second-seeded Wreckers shutting out top-seeded Cheshire, 2-0, for their third shutout victory of the playoffs. They outscored their foes by an 8-1 margin.
Darien went 2-1 in that tourney as the Blue Wave scored the only goal of the tournament which was scored against Staples in the Wreckers’ 2-1 semifinal victory over Darien in overtime. The eight teams from the FCIAC in that Class L tourney had a combined 9-7 record.
The conference had a 15-12 combined record in girls’ volleyball as 10 conference teams combined to go 13-11 in the Class LL tournament while St. Joseph was 2-1 in the Class M tourney.
Darien was seeded 12th in Class LL and the Blue Wave advanced to the championship match and lost, 3-1, to 10th-seeded Amity by the very close scores of 27-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22.
The FCIAC had 11 teams in the CIAC Class LL boys soccer tournament and a combined 7-11 record. Greenwich and Danbury both made the deepest run, advancing to the quarterfinals and finishing with 2-1 records.
Six FCIAC teams were eliminated in the first round, including two against fellow conference teams. There were no FCIAC teams in either the Class L, Class M or Class S state boys’ soccer tournaments.