SPB's High School Football

For much more intriguing playoff scenarios, we take you to the SWC which completes its regular season Wednesday night. There are four spots up for grabs for five combatants. Here’s where everybody stands as of Tuesday morning:

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SCC Commish Al Carbone has spoken (via email): The (expanded) SCC boys basketball tournament is set.

We’re not fans of the expanded tournament, now in its second year, which incorporates all state-tournament qualifiers.

Then again, we’re also not crazy about the SCC’s clunky division set-up, which winds up pitting SCC teams against the same eight opponents twice (division x2 and crossovers x2), so you end up with very limited schedules and arguably skewed results. The expanded playoff fixes this somewhat. So it is what it is.

Anyway, here’s the standings and schedule for the tournament, which begins Thursday night at 6:30 at the gyms of the higher seeds:

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In keeping with this new feature, here’s how the CIAC football committee’s playoff proposal would have looked in 2007, which was a much more intriguing year around these parts than 2008.

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In order to better understand the CIAC football committee’s playoff proposal, which was submitted to the CIAC’s board of control for review this week, it’s important to understand what past seasons would have looked like.

So we’re going to go back the last few years and show you.

The important thing to remember is that the regular season would now end two weeks before Thanksgiving (in last year’s case, after Week 10, in other seasons after Week 9), with quarterfinal games played the Thursday or Friday before.

Personally, I think we have far, far, far too many divisions, especially under this new proposal. If the CIAC is indeed going to move on this, I’d recommend they bump down to four divisions. We crown more state champions than Texas. It’s ridiculous.

I’ll keep saying that until they rid us of two divisions or until I pass out.

Until then, here’s what the playoffs would have looked like last year:

And, as always, we look forward to your thoughts…

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Fairfield Prep has hired defensive coordinator Bill Pinto as its next football coach. Pinto, who came to the program in 2001, replaces Rich Magdon, who retired after 15 years.

Pinto, 40, is a Trumbull graduate who has 17 years of coaching experience, first at Barlow and then at Fairfield Prep.

A statement by the school said Prep Athletic Director Bob Harris and Principal Dr. Robert Perrotta underscored that the new coach must exemplify and maintain the Jesuit philosophy and mission which requires developing the student athlete as a whole person, in body, mind and spirit.

And Pinto concurred. “One of my main goals is if I can teach them a little about football and a lot about life while fulfilling the Jesuit mission, I will have done my job,” he said.

Here’s the list of postponements due to Tuesday’s winter snowstorm.

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Former Central star Keith Carlos is apparently having second thoughts about Temple.

According to Central assistant Peter Cox, the two-year junior college star receiver at Lackawanna (Pa.), who had a full scholarship to play for the Owls, is reneging on his verbal commitment to explore an opportunity with the University of Florida.

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The CIAC football committee voted Monday to submit its proposal to expand the football playoff system for the 2009 season.

The proposal, which will add a quarterfinal round the week before Thanksgiving, must be ratified by the organization’s Board of Control to take effect.

Before taking a final vote, however, the CIAC said it will survey superintendents, administrators, athletic directors and coaches from the organization’s 142 member schools to “determine their level of support for the proposed format.”

“Final action will not be taken until all constituent groups have had ample time to respond to the proposal,” the CIAC said in a statement Tuesday.

The new system would expand participation from 24 teams to 48. It would end the regular season in Week 9 and begin with quarterfinal round in Week 10. Traditional Thanksgiving games will be played in the 11th week. Semifinal and championship games will continue the Tuesday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.