There must be a bug going around because I was miserable all day Monday, fever, congestion, cough… Hence why very little has been up on this site recently, including the podcast, which I couldn’t even begin to record on Monday. I’m feeling better now (Tuesday afternoon) so hopefully the podcast will be up Wednesday morning.
In the meantime, here are the coaches and state media polls.
Media Poll
1. Ansonia (2-0) (17)……………612……….1
2. Bunnell (2-0) (1)………………554……….2
3. New London (2-0) (2)……….550……….4
4. New Canaan (2-0) (1)……….504……….5
5. Masuk (2-0)……………………446……….6
6. Seymour (2-0)………………..379………..7
7. Staples (2-0)…………………..360……….8
8. Shelton (2-0)…………………..315……….9
9. Berlin (2-0)…………………….214……….10
10. Greenwich (1-1)…………….213……….3
Others receiving votes: Darien (2-0), 200; Hillhouse (2-0), 154; Hamden (2-0), 150; Southington (1-1), 122; New Britain (2-0), 117; Windham (1-0), 113; Cromwell (2-0), 96; Crosby (2-0), 42; Windsor (2-0), 38; Glastonbury (2-0), 32; Wilbur Cross (2-0), 27; Law (2-0) and Tolland (1-0), 26; Fairfield Prep (1-0), 25; East Lyme (2-0), 18; Notre Dame-West Haven (0-1), 8; Montville (2-0) and St. Bernard/Norwich Tech (2-0), 7.
The following voted: Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam-Acorn; Sean Patrick Bowley, Connecticut Post; Don Boyle, SportingNewsCT.com; Bryant Carpenter, Meriden-Record Journal; George DeMaio, WELI; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Matt Doran, Norwalk Hour; Scott Ferrari, Greenwich Citizen; Noah Finz, WTNH-8; Brian Girasoli, Norwich Bulletin; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; John Holt, WFSB-3; Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American; Ken Lipshez, The Herald of New Britain; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Jimmy Zanor, Shore Line Newspapers.
Coaches’ Poll
1. Ansonia (10) 2-0……….374……….1
2. New London (2) 2-0…..324……….3
3. Bunnell 2-0………………306………4
4. New Canaan 2-0…………300……..5
5. Masuk 2-0…………………254……..6
6. Seymour (1) 2-0…………219………7
7. Staples 2-0……………….190………8
8. Berlin 2-0…………………166………NR
9. Shelton 2-0……………..159………10
10. Hillhouse 2-0………….154………NR
Dropped out: Greenwich (2), Southington (9).
Also receiving votes: Southington (1-1), 153; Darien (2-0), 125; Hamden (2-0), 118; New Britain (2-0), 100; Greenwich (1-1), 72; Windsor (2-0), 65; Cromwell (2-0), 51; Windham (1-0), 46; Wilbur Cross-New Haven (2-0), 41; Crosby-Waterbury (2-0), 31; Fairfield Prep (1-0), 24; Cheshire (1-1), 16; Amity-Woodbridge (1-1), 12; Tie, Rocky Hill (2-0) and Weaver-Hartford (1-1), 10; Xavier-Middletown (1-1), 9; Tie, Glastonbury (2-0) and Hand-Madison (0-2), 7.
The following coaches voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; John DeCaprio, Notre Dame-West Haven; Chuck Drury, Pomperaug-Southbury; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Bill Mella, Southington; John Murphy, Masuk-Monroe; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden.
By the way, I am officially disowning the media poll this week.
Greenwich at No. 10 ahead of Darien is a joke. Berlin at No. 9 ahead of both those teams is even worse. Hillhouse getting snubbed from the whole thing is probably the worst of ‘em all.
I’m convinced this would have been much worse without me. I’m going to go back and erase all of my votes and see how this would have turned out. In the meantime: discuss.
how do you guys like shelton this year…… sleeper?
Hello Sean: Did you know that Masuk decided to take 4 straight “knees” after recovering a ND-Fairfield fumble at the ND one yard line shortly before halftime because they had a 41-0 lead? They were worried about the 50 point rule. Masuk ended up playing their 2nd and 3rd players in the second half just to make sure they did not win by 50 points. The Masuk 1st string defense has yet yield a point. As I said to you last year in an email after the first Bunnell loss, look out for Joe “The Toe” Haughton, my twin brother’s son, LB and FB in goal-line situations. He is a great kicker but they have a better kicker in Testani a sophomore.
Berlin plays Middletown this week. I wonder if they will be more impressive than Bunnell was in week one. The Masuk Panthers are clearly the favorites in the SWC after week two.
Here’s what it would have looked like if I didn’t vote:
1. Ansonia; 2. Bunnell; 3. New London; 4. New Canaan; 5. Masuk; 6. Seymour; 7. Staples; 8. Shelton; 9. Berlin; 10. Greenwich; 11. Darien; 12. Hamden (up from 13); 13. Hillhouse (down from 12); 14. Southington; 15. New Britain; 16. Windham; 17. Cromwell; 18. Crosby; 19. Glastonbury (up from 20); 20. Wilbur Cross (up from 21); 21. Windsor (down from 19).
…As you can see, there’s not much change which means my peers completely disagree with me. To any of them: Voting Greenwich above Darien is stupid.
I voted for Berlin, just nowhere near their official poll spot at No. 9, meaning there were plenty of voters out there who voted the Redcoats high. Greenwich stays above Darien, so there was clearly enough discrepancy to officially diss the Blue Wave.
Hillhouse actually drops a spot in the state poll without me, meaning they’re not getting much love at all. And this is a team that’s ranked No. 10 in the MSG Tri-state rankings. Yow.
Whatever. More proof that Polls are dumb.
I agree with you, SPB. The polls ARE dumb, especially this early in the season. We really need to see how these teams are doing after about 5-6 games with more tough opponents. I think we all just enjoy debating over them while we’re waiting for Friday night.
SPB – I forgot to mention this in my last post. Why are you so convinced that Berlin is overrated? I’m not a fan of Berlin or their coach, however, you cannot deny that they look very good this year. They do have a soft regular season schedule, but they killed Ledyard in their first game and they came very close in the championship game last year.
Greenwich ranked higher than Darien is a joke.
What a travesty. I hope these writers correct this in the next poll.
Try to follow this logic: Greenwich lost to a team that is (apparently) not even good enough to be in the Top 10, yet they stay in the Top 10 themselves. It makes your head hurt if you try to make sense of it.
Sure Masuk has won big these past two weeks, but who have they played. Fitch and ND-fld are not even close to as good Middletown and Pompuraug who both have very potient offenses and defenses to boot. So to say Masuk is a favorite in the SWC this early is crazy
Good question on Berlin. I’m not saying they’re not a good team, I would just never rank them at 2-0 higher than Greenwich at 1-1. Since I ranked Greenwich lower because of the loss, 2-0 teams I felt were still not as good as a one-loss Greenwich team were bumped, i.e. Berlin.
I’m sure that Staples is a good team however they do not merit their ranking in the polls just yet. They were fortunate to beat Brien McMahon and I feel what they have accompolished in the past years is the reason they are ranked so high. Greenwich should not be ahead of Darien. New London is the best team I have seen so far but I did not see Ansonia or Bunnell play. Shelton plays a great schedule and can deal the death blow to Daniel Hand in the states. Prep’s schedule is tough, Bunnell has two teams to worry about and Ansonia has one.
Well the poll speaks for itself. Its a joke and forever always will be none of these small area guys that only cover one or two teams have a clue of who the top teams in the state are so they just vote for whoever they are covering. By week 9 or ten it will work itself out but until then to me it will be irrelevant.
AnsoniaVinny’s Games of the Week
Cross at Amity
Cross seems to be strong and Amity coming off a tough loss to up and down Cheshire i think this will be an interesting one to watch. I go Cross!
Hamden at West Haven
Well Hamden had seemed to be a sleeping giant for a while now but i think they finally woke up. I take Hamden
Wolcott at Seymour
Wolcott has been a non factor for sometime now, but with a new coach and new confidence can they get the big win to turn that program around? I don’t think so yet. I take the CATS.
Danbury at New Canaan
Both teams have looked good so far and this would be a signature win for Danbury if they ban stop the rams offense which looks good. I’ll go NC Rams.
Hopefully the rain misses us for all the games but i’m sure it won’t cause im going to Shea Stadium to see the mets. Have fun all!
I agree that the polls are entirely arbitrary
They are all based on last year’s teams, and pre-season hype and media coverage. If an SCC team like Shelton, Prep, or hamden is undefeated by week 5 or 6, are they going to start passing teams on these weekly polls? If not, then these reporters and coaches who are voting for the teams they secretely are pulling for need to seriously rethink their job as an unbiased voter.
(Sean your not in this category, but you know more than anyone else that some of the coaches are good friends with other coaches and exchange votes for eachothers teams)
Ansonia Vinny, I will continue to laugh at your posts and predictions as long as you continue to use grammar and spelling that would not get by in a 2nd grade english class.
Pomperaug is a very potent 0-2 and Middletown is in a rebuilding year. Please stop attacking Masuk’s schedule when is much tougher than other SWC teams.
Why didn’t any SCC team win a state championship last year if they are so tough? Please give us all a break. It is a good conference. However, it is not as strong as it used to be. Also, the Shelton and Prep game last year might be the most overrated week three game ever.
If a few weeks from now Hillhouse and Hamden are both undefeated, will anyone put Hamden above the Acs? Hillhouse is looking great this year, no doubt, but Hamden plays a much stronger slate of teams. They don’t have any oppurtunity this season to take a week off with a team like Derby.
It’s hard to believe but I think some coaches and writers base their polling data on outcomes of scrimmages rather than actual games. A conrolled scrimmage means nothing and no one should be rewarded or penalized because of it. Just a sidenote, David Wright is an allstar and a terrific player, but his at bat last night, might be the biggest moment in the Mets season. You must put the ball in play with a runner on third base and no outs in the bottom of the ninth. Let’s go Mets.
Middletown is not in a rebuilding year. Their Q.B. got knocked out of the game vs. Bunnell and may be out for the season. Their schedule on paper before the season began is similar to everyone else in the S.W.C., with Bunnell playing Middletown and Newtown playing Shelton, etc.
Sorry Peter there is no spell check on here for me? Can i send my next post to you toedit it for me?
Can’t really tell how good Hillhouse is. That Hoboken team that the House beat lost by 30 points over the weekend.
MasukRules, what is your relation to Masuk Football? Are you a parent or ex-player.. or what?
MasukRules and Ray Brown are probably both secretly SPB.
You just do it stir up trouble don’t you Sean?
haha
Yes Ansoniavinny, that would highly benefit all of us. And yes, MasukRules. Please, your giving Masuk a bad name. I have a close relation to Masuk and I love them more than anything, but take a hike kid. Your probably some 8th grader that goes to the games with all of your Pop-Warner team and forget the score because your not watching. Keep Masuk out of your posts because your only making them look like a team with no class.
Please don’t compare Middletown to Shelton on a schedule. The Redcoats of Berlin are going to beat them this week and drop their record to 1-2.
They are rebuilding this year.
Again, Middletown doesn’t have their QB, and they were a playoff team a year ago, I believe. Please don’t compare Shelton to Ansonia or Greenwich. They are a good team but far from scary after losing so many seniors.
Peter, if you’re going to play grammar police you may want to check you own posts. (You’re = you are) ;)
middletown not having their qb is no excuse for the defense allowing probably 300 yards of rushing in the first half in the rain.
Fairfield Prep is a decent team. However, not a top twenty team. They are 1-1 and lost to an 0-2 team. Prep=Overrated!