SPB's High School Football

The state championship games are indeed just 24 hours away. Now that we’ve made our humble picks (and this time we picked them all), what about you?

And, while we’re at it, who fill finish your No. 1 in your picks?

Whaddya got for us?

CLASS LL
No. 1 Glastonbury (12-0) vs. No. 3 Cheshire (10-2), 2 p.m.
at Willowbrook Park, New Britain, 2 p.m.

CLASS L
No. 1 Masuk (11-1) vs. No. 3 Newington (10-2)
at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven, 7 p.m.

CLASS MM
No. 1 New Canaan (12-0) vs. No. 3 Darien (11-1)
at McDougall Stadium, Trumbull, 2 p.m.

CLASS M
No. 1 Brookfield (11-1) vs. No. 2 Ledyard (10-2)
at Municipal Stadium, Waterbury, 2 p.m.

CLASS SS
No. 1 New London (11-1) vs. No. 2 Seymour (11-1)
at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven, 2 p.m.

CLASS S
No. 2 Ansonia (12-1) vs. No. 1 Cromwell (11-1)
at McDougall Stadium, Trumbull, 7 p.m.

Read more here on the Connecticut Post Football Page

A school bus carrying members of the Masuk football team has been in an accident on Route 111 near the Route 25 intersection in Trumbull.
The accident occurred some time before 5 p.m. Masuk coach John Murphy didn’t give many details when reached by phone at 5:08, but said his players were being taken to the hospital for examination and would have more details later.
The accident was being covered live on WTNH Channel 8 on the 5:30 news broadcast. A gray pickup truck appeared to have broadsided a school bus on Monroe Turnpike near Trefoil Drive. WTNH reported that there were 37 students on the bus.
It was not known how many buses the team was taking, or if anybody was seriously hurt.
Chris Everone, West Haven’s field manager, said a representative from the coaching staff alerted him to the incident.
“Their coach told me everybody was OK, but they would not be coming down tonight,” Everone said.
Traffic appeared backed up for miles around the interchange.
Masuk’s football team is scheduled to play Newington in the Class L championship game Saturday night at West Haven.

Update: Masuk coach John Murphy said the players involved were examined at the scene and were unharmed.

The driver of the pickup was reportedly in critical condition.

SPB

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The CIAC pairings have been announced and the CIAC looked like it was scrambling for sites this season because Southern Connecticut State backed out earlier this season. A Boyle Stadium rematch of Darien-New Canaan was ultimately nixed, apparently, because of money issues.

Cheshire coach Mark Ecke, at the CIAC luncheon today, made it known he wasn’t happy with the CIAC football committee’s decision to ship his team to New Britain, a CCC town, to play Glastonbury, a CCC school… on a grass field no less.

And Brookfield is headed to Waterbury, which has a new field but virtually no seating at Municipal Stadium.

Oh, and four of the six games are being played in the afternoon at the same time: LL, MM, M and SS. That leaves Ansonia-Cromwell and Masuk-Newington as the only nightcaps.

Other than that, people seemed pretty pleased. More later. Here are your sites.

CLASS LL
No. 1 Glastonbury (12-0) vs. No. 3 Cheshire (10-2), 2 p.m.
at Willowbrook Park, New Britain, 2 p.m. Driving Directions.

CLASS L
No. 1 Masuk (11-1) vs. No. 3 Newington (10-2)
at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven, 7 p.m. Driving Directions.

CLASS MM
No. 1 New Canaan (12-0) vs. No. 3 Darien (11-1)
at McDougall Stadium, Trumbull, 2 p.m. Driving Directions.

CLASS M
No. 1 Brookfield (11-1) vs. No. 2 Ledyard (10-2)
at Municipal Stadium, Waterbury, 2 p.m. Driving Directions.

CLASS SS
No. 1 New London (11-1) vs. No. 2 Seymour (11-1)
at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven, 2 p.m. Driving Directions.

CLASS S
No. 2 Ansonia (12-1) vs. No. 1 Cromwell (11-1)
at McDougall Stadium, Trumbull, 7 p.m. Driving Directions

Just like that, we go from Thanksgiving straight to Tuesday’s semifinals and now… we have reached the final day in the 2008 Connecticut high school football season.

The state championship match ups are set. Lots of new faces. Plenty of old faces. Overall, it’s a tremendous field… especially the rematch between You-know-who.

All sites and times will be posted Wednesday morning before noon on the CIAC site here.

And here’s how it all went down…

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Jobs.

Lots and lots and lots of vacant jobs suddenly out there. …Just waiting to be filled by the next great thing or the next plodding caretaker (depends on who your school hires .

I can’t remember a time when we had so many football jobs open, or about to be open.

Let’s take a look:

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And here’s the “other” poll.

Unfortunately it’s the one I vote in. …late as usual.

Quick hits: Just thinking here, but perhaps it’s time some of us started taking a hard look at Glastonbury as the No. 1 team in the state. In the meantime… this poll sits about right. New London’s might be a tad too high and, perhaps so is Seymour at this point.

Team (rec)(first)…………………..Points…….Last
1. New Canaan (11-0) (16)…………620……….1
2. Hillhouse (11-0) (5)……………….582……….2
3. Glastonbury (11-0)……………….540……….4
4. Ansonia (11-1)……………………482………..5
5. Darien (10-1)……………………..474………..3
6. Seymour (10-1)………………….379………..7
7. Masuk (10-1)…………………….366………..8
8. New London (10-1)……………..288………..9
9. Cheshire (9-2)……………………277……….10
10. Brookfield (10-1)……………….249………NR

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Here’s a run down of all the state the state coaches poll, which arrived in my mailbox courtesy of The Day of New London.

Darien took a nasty fall. So did Hamden. (Both unnecessarily, I thought.)

And who’s voting Cheney Tech?

Speaking of which: A certain “state” newspaper picked the CSC champs in an upset over Ledyard this week. Now, I’ll be the first to say Cheney is not your typical CSC team (remember, Cheney Tech used to co-op with East Catholic).

But… still.

Cheney’s biggest win is 42-12 over East Catholic (3-8). The next biggest win? 20-15 … over 1-10 RHAM.

Ledyard beat New London, 27-6

On to the poll.

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It’s FINALLY state playoff time and (reading some of the comments on the previous entry) it looks like some of you are way ahead of me.

OK, so read over all of our hastily-thrown-together items below, and then give us who you think will win the 2008 state semifinals: State Semifinal Capsules

We only picked the regional games, unfortunately for all of those reading from beyond Southwest Connecticut. But feel free to pick the non-regional games as well.

Read more here on the Connecticut Post Football Page

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