September 23, 2009 at 3:37 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
Nobody said playing and coaching on a high school football team was easy. Sometimes we forget all the blood, sweat and tears (to coin a phrase) that go into getting 40-or-so young men to work together as one.
That’s why a nights like Thursday at Sacred Heart University are so special… maybe not for us arm-chair quarterbacks, but for all of the football players and coaches involved.
Oxford, which only began its program two years ago and went 0-11 in its first foray into the highly competitive world of high school football, finally got to see the fruits of its labor.
The Wolverines defeated Notre Dame-Fairfield 20-6 in front of a delirious crowd of supporters who made the trek down from their proud Valley town, a town that was once subservient to Seymour and Monroe when it came to football.
Below is the final 16-or-so minutes of Oxford’s glorious first victory. All the scoring had been done, at this point. Mike Giordano ran for a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter and Deven Diaz ripped off a 90-yard run early in the third.
The Wolverines needed to somehow keep the clock moving and then keep talented Notre Dame, particularly quarterback Collin Finnucan from staging a comeback.
It was an intense 16 minutes. Oxford moved the sticks for first downs over the third and fourth quarters. But Notre Dame’s defense stood up and got the ball back to Finnucan, who gamely led the Lancers back down the field in hopes of pulling within one touchdown with time to spare.
Here’s how the game ended, and how the Oxford football program celebrated with coach and Oxford native Joe Stochmal
Voters: Marc Allard (Norwich Bulletin), Bob Barton (CT H.S. Football Record Book), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam Acorn), Don Boyle (Sporting News CT), Jim Bransfield (Middletown Press), Johnny Burnham (Bristol Press), Bryant Carpenter (Meriden Record-Journal), Henry Chisholm (Connecticut Post), Ray Curren (Elm City Newspapers), Garrett Dale (Torrington Register Citizen), George DeMaio (WELI Radio), Gerry deSimas (Collinsville Publishing Co.), Bill Donovan (WXLM 104.7 FM), John Goralski (Southington Observer), Dave Greenleaf (CCC website), Mike Guerrera (Southington Citizen), John Holt (WFSB Channel 3), Mark Jaffee (Waterbury Republican), Larry Kelley (Times Community Newspapers), Greg Lederer (Cheshire Herald), Ken Lipshez (New Britain Herald), Andrew Lovell (New Britain Herald), Robert Mayer (Berlin/Plainville/Southington Citizen), Tim Parry (FCIAC Football Blog), Sean Patrick Bowley (Connecticut Post), Pat Pickens (Fairfield Citizen-News), Ryan Pipke (New Britain Herald), Mike Pucci (New Haven Register), Jesse Quinlan (Greenwich Time), Paul Rosano (Meriden Record-Journal), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Steve Sellers (Shore Publishing Newspapers), Mike Suppe (Hersam Acorn Newspapers), Peter Vander Veer (Elm City Newspapers), Tom Yantz (Hartford Courant), Rich Zalusky (Willimantic Chronicle), Jimmy Zanor (Shore Line Newspapers)
September 21, 2009 at 8:53 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
And here’s the second of four Week 1 high school football videos for your perusal: It’s the first quarter of Central’s 53-28 victory over Ludlowe on Thursday evening, a quarter Hilltoppers led 26-0 thanks to the efforts of QB Christon Gill, back Dominick Luckey, receiver Shabashie McIntosh an all those big, swarming linemen.
As you can see, Ludlowe had trouble stopping Gill and was hit with a couple of bad breaks, to boot. Starting QB Rob Ferarra (No. 12, shown briefly) suffered a hip pointer and left during the first quarter. …An interception stopped one Ludlowe drive and then a tipped pass wound up in the hands of McIntosh for another TD. …Finally, a crushing hit leads to a fumble that David Rhoden takes all the way for… well, watch and you’ll see.
We left after the first quarter, with Central comfortably in front 26-0, to catch a few of the region’s 7 p.m. games.
September 21, 2009 at 8:36 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
Ned Griffen of The Day of New London did what all of these other polls should do: Debut the week after the season starts and we acutally get a feel for some of these things. I’d say, maybe even wait another week.
But no matter, here it is:
The Day of New London Top 10 state coaches football poll
First-place votes in parentheses, record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis and last season’s final ranking:
Team…………………………………..Points…..Last year 1. New Canaan 1-0 (9)…………………372………..1
2. Hamden 1-0 (3)……………………..354……….NR
3. Greenwich 1-0……………………….272………NR
4. Ansonia 1-0 (1)………………………266………NR
5. Staples 1-0…………………………….231………NR
6. Shelton 1-0……………………………214………NR
7. Notre Dame-WH 1-0……………….198………NR
8. Masuk 1-0…………………………….167……….3
9. Glastonbury 1-0…………………….159……….2
10. New Britain 1-0…………………….141……..NR
Also receiving votes: Cheshire (1-0), 107; Southington (1-0), 99; Cromwell (1-0), 95; Montville (1-0), 81; Wilbur Cross-New Haven (1-0), 76; New London (1-0), 75; Ridgefield (1-0), 63; Simsbury (1-0), 51; Berlin (1-0), 38; Tie, Pomperaug-Southbury (1-0) and St. Joseph-Trumbull (1-0), 37; Ledyard (0-0), 35; Hyde-New Haven (1-0), 31; Tie, Bridgeport Central (1-0) and West Haven (0-1), 24; Newtown (1-0), 22; Trumbull (1-0), 14; Danbury (1-0), 11; Tie, East Lyme (1-0) and Windham (1-0), 7.
The following coaches voted: Scott Benoit, Hamden; Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; Chuck Drury, Pomperaug; Steve Filippone, Hand; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Bill Mella, Southington; John Murphy, Masuk; Marce Petroccio, Staples; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden.
…A good list, but it looks like after the top two, the coaches are just as confused as the rest of us.
September 21, 2009 at 8:00 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
And we finally begin our transition from Week 1 to Week 2 as the fine folks at the New Haven Register (now that they’ve decided to be good boys and share with the rest of the kids) release their Top 10 media poll.
Got this a few hours ago, we were embargoed until right now.
So here it is…
Top 10 State Media High School Football poll
Team…………………………………….Points…….Last…….Class 1. New Canaan (1-0) (16)……………..638……….1………MM
2. Hamden (1-0) (5)……………………608……….2……….LL
3. Masuk (1-0)…………………………..477……….3………..L
4. New Britain (1-0)……………………446……….6……….LL
5. Shelton (1-0)…………………………401……….4……….LL
6. Greenwich (1-0)…………………….396……….8………..LL
7. Ansonia (1-0)……………………….374……….10………..S
8. Montville (1-0)……………………..343……….7………..SS
9. Notre Dame-WH (1-0)…………….273……….NR……….L
10. Cromwell (1-0)…………………….254……….NR……….S Dropped out: Seymour (5), Hand (9).
First-place votes in parentheses after record. Others receiving votes: Staples (1-0), 204; Glastonbury (1) (1-0), 197; Pomperaug (1-0), 159; Cheshire (1-0), 156; New London (1-0), 135; Wilbur Cross (1-0), 78; Berlin (1-0), 76; Ridgefield (1-0), 73; Ledyard (0-0), 66; Southington (1-0), 61; Naugatuck (1-0), 55; St. Joseph (1-0), 28; Hand (0-1), 25; Torrington (1-0), 20; Seymour (0-1), 18; Trumbull (1-0), 16; Newtown (1-0), 9; Simsbury (1-0), 8; East Lyme (1-0), West Haven (0-1) and Wolcott (1-0), 7. The following voted: Marc Allard, Norwich Bulletin; Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam-Acorn; Sean Patrick Bowley, Connecticut Post; Don Boyle, SportingNewsCT.com; Bryant Carpenter, Meriden-Record Journal; Henry Chisholm, Connecticut Post; Garrett Dale, Register Citizen; George DeMaio, WELI; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Matt Doran, Norwalk Hour; 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; Paul Nichols, Middletown Press; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Jimmy Zanor, Shore Line Newspapers.
Quick thoughts:
New Canaan still No. 1. OK, so nobody hopped on the “Hamden is No. 1 bandwagon” with me. They will, though. They will.
Patience, Green Dragons. Patience.
Speaking of which, I really don’t like voters who rank the previous year’s No. 1 as this year’s No. 1. C’mon guys, that’s too easy.
Put yourself out there, huh? Put your vast high school football knowlege to the test. Make some predictions huh?
If you really think New Canaan is going to run the table and win a fourth straight title, knock yourself out. But if you don’t, then it’s kind of a stretch to say they’re No. 1, right?
(sigh). Anyway.
Gone are Hand and Seymour. In come my Elite 8 no. 7 Notre Dame-WH (impresive showing, boys) and Cromwell.
New Britain hops all the way from No. 6 to 4 and knocks my Elite 8 No. 3 Shelton down a peg. My Elite 8 No. 2 Greenwich Cardinals take a rightful leap up the ladder, following their rout of Norwalk.
Montville drops, but only a spot while the Ansonia Chargers take a three step climb to No. 7.
Sounds about right.
My Elite 8 No. 4 Staples inches closer to the Top 10. I think they’re gonna need a more dominant effort than they showed vs. Trinity Catholic (only 14-6 lead until the end) to make any more moves.
But still little love for the Wilbur Cross Governors after that shocking blowout over Xavier… at Palmer Field.
Patience, Govs. Patience.
And, I’m still not feeling it from Masuk at No. 3 right now. Probably the aforementioned “New Canaan Syndrome” hard at working.
Saw Pomperaug the other night against Stratford and, right now, I have a hard time thinking Masuk’s that much better. Masuk, after all, is still a pretty young team. Pomperaug’s loaded with vets.
Patience, Pomperaug. Patience.
I’m sure we’ll see a lot more jump on the Chuck Drury bandwagon if his boys can dominate Brookfield this weekend.
Everything else seems to fall somewhat into line, except …Torrington? Who voted Torrington? Love Dan Dunaj, but I can pick maybe six NVL teams that you should rank higher than Torrington at this point.
Ah, well whatever. I’ve been grossly wrong before and I’ll be grossly wrong again. …Someday.
September 21, 2009 at 5:02 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
Finally, after a pretty long and eventful weekend that really put a dent in my work schedule (don’t ask), I’ve finally managed to make headway on the four videos I shot at the recent games.
The first of the bunch is Stratford-Pomperaug, which the Panthers won, 43-0.
I got there just after Pomeraug’s Ben Crick returned a fumble for a touchdown to make it 21-0. Though I missed the big first quarter, I did manage to catch the suddenly mighty looking Panthers put this game away; first with a virtual goal line stand, and then with a few more long touchdowns and an interception from Crick.
I left the game after a field goal made the score 37-0 at the half.
We’ll have more videos up for Central-Ludlowe, Oxford-Notre Dame (Ffld.) and from Ansonia-Hillhouse later this week. Keep checking back.
(ALSO: The latest state polls will be released tonight, so be sure to come back here between 6:45 and 8 p.m. tonight.)
In the meantime, check out why a few voters will be making room for the Panthers this week and beyond. Read the game story from Emmett Spillane Jr. here
Think back to four days ago, when we were all just champing at the bit to get this season started, while we were boldly throwing our thoughts around like boulders, trying to hurl our convictions about who was good and who was not through the flimsy arguments of others.
Take a look back at what we all thought about and expected from the players, the coaches, the teams; what we thought about the polls and the leagues and the matchups.
Think hard now. What did we learn in Week 1?
Get it out there while you’re waiting for college football to start today. Think back at what you thought and what you said and then compare that to what happened over the last three days.
Yes, this is a quiz.
The only rule (outside of being responsible and civil) is that you must begin your replies like this: “I learned…”
OK, children, gather ’round.
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