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Where was I on this glorious late summer afternoon? Where else but Jarvis Stadium in Ansonia for the first Ansonia Football Challenge and Firemen’s BBQ competition?

Based on my experience, the stir that Stratford Public Schools created for pulling out of this fest ultimately didn’t amount to a hill of beans (which is too bad, because those at least could have been used in the chili.)

Aside from all the bugs that invaded the complex early, this turned out to be a nice relaxing event, to which would have gladly have taken my family. Ansonia’s youth football teams and cheerleaders played around; the live band rocked, the ice cream bus kept everyone cool, and the pulled pork sandwiches and ribs were to die for.

The only things missing were hay rides and Ferris wheels.

I’m certain the Bunnell and Central people would have approved. But I guess we’ll never know.

Oh, and by the way, there just happened to be a football scrimmage going on on the other side of the complex. Some people didn’t even bother with the entertainment and made a beeline for the stands. They were too busy trying to get a sneak peek at these perennial powerhouses.

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Bunnell’s sudden (and, from the administration’s point of view, unexplained) withdrawal from the Ansonia football scrimmage wasn’t the only high school football news on Friday.

While that piece of interesting, but relatively unimportant news flooded the internet wires, here are some significantly more important tidbits you might have missed:

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By a vote of 14-5, SCC football coaches have elected to join the rest of the state and add overtime to its league football games.

The only hurdle left is a ratifying vote by the league’s athletic directors at their monthly meeting Wednesday morning. That, says SCC commish Al Carbone, merely should be a formality. “I’m very confident it will pass,” Carbone said Friday.

The SCC had three ties last season and 29 during its previous 14 years (it is celebrating its 15th year, hence the new league logos). The SCC and the Nutmeg League were the only two Connecticut leagues, and just a handful across the Northeast, not to use some form of overtime rules.

For leagues who decide to adopt overtime, the CIAC mandates the use of the same Kansas Overtime system used in the state playoffs. Teams alternate possessions, then alternate the order of possession for every overtime; they get four downs to score from the 10-yard line in every overtime; they must go for two if the game goes to a third overtime.

“I think it is very good thing for our league because every football game should have a winner” Carbone said. “It will add a lot more excitement and it aligns us with everyone else in this state. The excitement of overtime is pretty good experience for our kids and coaches, too.”

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Bunnell has pulled out of the Ansonia Football Challenge scrimmage, event organizer John Coughlin said Friday.

Coughlin said Bunnell principal Dudley Orr called to cancel on Thursday night. Coughlin, the secretary of the Ansonia KO Club, said there was “a little bit of an issue,” which led to Bunnell’s decision, but did not wish to discuss the school’s reasoning.

Update: Sources close to Ansonia’s side said Bunnell’s administration became concerned when it learned alcohol would be served in a tent at the fireman’s barbeque cookoff next on the practice fields next to Jarvis Stadium, where the scrimmages would be held. Though organizers agreed to eliminate the sale of alcohol, Bunnell’s administration went ahead and pulled the team from the event anyway.

“We’re very disappointed,” said Coughlin, 37.

UPDATE (2:26 p.m.): Orr was unavailable for comment at 1:21 p.m. He has yet to return a phone message left by the Connecticut Post.

Bunnell, which is assisted by Ansonia resident and Recreation Director Jeff Coppola, originally moved its Sept. 3 scrimmage with Central up to Saturday take part in the charity event at Ansonia’s Nolan Field complex.

While the scrimmages are being played, food will be sold and a barbeque cooking contest sponsored by the Ansonia fire department held on the practice fields next door.

With Bunnell dropping out, Central also will not attend. West Haven and Ansonia will play their scrimmage as scheduled.

A $5 donation at the door and all other proceeds from the event will go to the Mead School Breakfast Program, the City of Ansonia’s Recreation Department and the Valley YMCA’s youth programs, Coughlin said. A portion will also be given to West Haven’s football program for their participation, he added.

Sean Patrick Bowley

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vs.
vs.

I finally got a chance Thursday to edit the footage taken from Wednesday’s scrimmages, Bunnell at Staples in the afternoon and Masuk at Shelton in the evening.

Again, it’s not exactly NFL films and its hard to identify most of the players. But remember, I’m just a guy with a pocket recorder and a dream.

Besides, you get the point.

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OK, so this movie-making business ain’t so easy.

After a solid debut, I took the pod-camera out for another spin Tuesday afternoon (when am I gonna start writing stories? Patience, my pet. Patience.) and I’m sorry to say this vignette looks as if it was shot by Señor Spielbergo, Steven Spielberg‘s, Mexican. non-union equivalent from The Simpsons season six episode, A Star is Burns.

While Ben Talbott of Birdseye Sports didn’t show up with one of his $5,000 hi-def dealies to give me lens envy, Hamden coach Scott Benoit has his own videographer there to do the job. Plus, I ran out of double-A batteries mid-scrimmage and had to pop over to Walgreens for more.

And, with the pod’s limited range I either need plays to come my way or I’ll get nothing and like it. The one time I was in prime position at the back of the end zone, the thing konked out just as Hamden tailback Jordan Teague ran straight at me an scored on a short touchdown.

(sigh)

Flummoxed, I just threw this together and called it an afternoon.

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OK, so on Monday I sauntered down to Trumbull and after a week filled with Pilot Pen tennis, I finally got my football fix. But, I’ll admit, this trip was more about my education than yours. That is to say I was more concerned about learning how to become a videographer than being a reporter.

So here’s the first live blog video of the season (hooray!). And (ta da!) It’s a cute little vignette produced, directed and edited by yours truly using my puny PureDigital camcorder.

Hey, for a mere sports writer who has absolutely no help, it’s not bad for a first try at video production. Imagine what I could do with some time and some real equipment a la Ben Talbott at Birdseye Sports.

(Incidentally, if I really wanted to put together wham-bang production, I could have spent a few more hours and added some voice over. But we’ll save that for another day.)

As for the scrimmage: Yes, I was able to take a few notes on the scrimmage, which was won rather handily by Trumbull (about five touchdowns to Stratford’s two or three). Here they are, in a nutshell:

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On cue, Staples’ assistant Jack McFarland has filled our void, chiming in with the Staples Wreckers 2008 Kickoff Video.

It’s mostly footage from the last three years or so combined. Nothing insightful. But, I’ll tell ya, it sure pumped me up for some football!!!!

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This blog knows it isn’t anything without its fans. And today — while I’m trying to keep my mind on football while covering the James-Blake-Less Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament — here’s a shout out to former Connecticut Post reporter Sean Barker.

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It’s here. It’s finally here.

After more than nine months of waiting, the weightlifting competitions, the linemen camps, those exotic 7-on-7 passing leagues and a bunch of other offseason garbage that included several players from the defending Class LL champion Greenwich football team (which was deftly covered by the Greenwich Citizen sports editor Scott Ferarri in this Aug. 7 story) its finally time to grab the water buckets, push out the tackling sleds, the orange cones and old tires (unless you’re one of those special-interest clods from the North Haven-based Environment and Human Health Inc. group attempting to abolish field turf) and hit the fields…

It’s football time.

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