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After a tense first-half, it appears nothing has changed since Ansonia and Derby last clashed on a football field.

Ansonia and, more to the point, Montrell Dobbs and his offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, erased an early deficit and won the first meeting of these border rivals since 2003 convincingly — pretty much the way most Ansonia teams dominated the last few years of the rivalry.

A couple thousand showed up to Lou DeFilippo Field and watched Dobbs run for 193 yards on 32 carries and score four touchdowns. Derby led early on D’Ron Conyers‘ 11-yard touchdown run and, later, tied the game with an electric return by Jake Tomczack.

But Ansonia took a 21-14 lead a few minutes later and, just when it seemed as if the Red Raiders would get the equalizer just before halftime, Ansonia’s defense stiffened and then Dobbs went untouched to block Luis Casco‘s late field goal attempt to keep the Chargers in front by seven at the break.

From there, it was all Ansonia. The Chargers tacked on a field goal to begin the third quarter and then pulled away with two more scores from Dobbs and a late 53-yard run by Bobby Kinnebrew.

Afterward, the players, who beat the stuffing out of each other for four quarters tonight, suddenly became friends again as they went through their postgame handshakes, which is what this rivalry is all about. Friendly neighbors off the field, fierce rivals on it while their parents and townspeople screamed at each other in the stands. These two programs aren’t at their height right now, but still, this was a great night for Valley Football.

But now everybody will go their separate ways until next year’s big game (hopefully one that’s at least a bit closer). Ansonia wins big and keeps its slim playoff hopes alive, Derby/O’Brien Tech, which is right at home here in the NVL by the way, drops to 3-4 with its third-straight loss.

Watch all of the big plays from the game here as we wind down what has so far been relatively tame Week 7:

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From the moment the Naugatuck Valley League finally said, ‘We do,’ and approved the marriage with its long lost step child, the anticipation for this moment has been palpable. You could just taste the impending venom and bile on your tongue.

Every resident from Pulaski Highway, to Main Street, across the Naugatuck River, to Pershing Drive and up to Wakelee Avenue  who bleeds Ansonia blue have been wringing their hands for this day. Every longtime resident from Sodom Lane, Sentinel Hill Road, across Derby Ave., Water St. and Elizabeth St. and up to Hawthorne Ave, who wished aloud that true football Fridays would return to their small city, are being stirred from a long slumber.

Forget those unmemorable and disinterested games against far off and uninspiring football towns like Guilford, North Haven, Wallingford and, yeah, maybe even Milford. Forget the new games against far off and uninspiring football towns like Waterbury, Torrington, Watertown and Wolcott.

For the first time in six years, Division Street is once again a Connecticut landmark. It has once again become The Battle Front.

For the first time in six years, we reopen the storybook.

For the first time in six years, Ansonia will play Derby in football.

Just six years?

Feels like a lifetime.

And, perhaps, in some ways it really is. Times have changed so much since the last time these century-old rivals met on a football field. Maybe not Ansonia so much. The Chargers, after all, have won plenty of games and state championships since the these two last met.

Derby?  Well, there has been a sense that the demographics and flavor of the town have changed dramatically over the last decade, maybe more. The old neighborhoods aren’t thriving with generations as they once were.

The small school’s football team, which hasn’t had a winning season since 1996, has been weighed down — even smothered within an inch of its life — by its bad marriage to that megaconference of alien schools for the last 15 years. It co-oped with O’Brien Tech in hopes of replenishing dwindling numbers, yet still couldn’t find its way.

But the prodigal NVL, which virtually terminated the rivalry when it added Woodland to the mix six years ago and had consistently rebuffed efforts to include this proud Valley town, finally came to its senses and accepted it into its family.

You can feel it now.

Derby is beginning to win football games again and, no surprise, it finally feels like football season here again.

Ansonia is crossing Division Street to do battle. It’s time to gear up and go to war.

Understood, we are a ways off before this game — which used to draw upwards of 5,000 – 10,000 people in the later years (and many more before that) — will again inspire the revered tones of its alumni. But you have to start somewhere and, with enough effort and time, it will begin to script its own lore. That’s the hope, at least. Times change, towns change and people change. Derby-Ansonia will never be what it was.

But at least it finally is again.

…Full disclosure here:

I’ve never seen a Derby-Ansonia football game. Not once.

I grew up just a mile or so from the Ansonia border in Woodbridge. As far as football goes, I might as well have grown up in Alaska.

As it stands now, I can count the big games I’ve attended at DeFillippo Field on two fingers.

One was the Shelton-Derby Silver Turkey Bowl in 1999 when I was a pup reporter for the New Haven Register. I remember being in awe of the the atmosphere at this beautiful field.

The other DeFillippo game also included Shelton, but not Derby. It was the Shelton vs. West Haven in 2003. In fact, I”ve seen, maybe, five Derby football games in my time — all while covering the SCC for Elm City Newspapers. I can’t recall covering a Derby game since coming to the Connecticut Post in 2004 — incidentally, the first year we didn’t get Derby-Ansonia.

So this is going to be a treat for me, as it probably will for many fellow writers and fans, not to mention many of the the players and their families, who have never seen this close encounter.

True Valley football games — and I’m talking about your Seymours, Naugatucks, Ansonias — can be a treat if the conditions are right. But, lately, the big time True Valley games have been so rare, they’ve felt more like exhibits in a museum. I’m hoping that this revival can rekindle that certified True Valley feel.

Because, honestly, there’s nothing like vintage valley football.

Go get ‘em, boys.

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While you were all busy voting on our players of the week on the main site (what? you haven’t done it? Well get busy: http://connpost.com/highschoolfootball) I finally got a chance to cut together highlights from Saturday’s big performance from — yes, I’ll say it — the state’s No. 1 football team.

New Canaan and quarterback Turner Baty sliced and diced St. Joseph, 35-25, on a soggy day at Dunning Stadium. Baty, the California transplant, threw for over 300 yards for the second consecutive week as the starter. He hit seven different receivers, three for touchdowns. No matter what St. Joseph threw at them, the Rams stayed poised. They had an answer for everything.

Fourth and long? No problem. Penalty backed them up to the 9-yard line? Zip, zip, zip right back down the field for a score. Cody Newton caught six balls for 160 yards. Kevin Macari caught a bunch of passes, too — including a 43-yard touchdown — with a cast on his hand.

While the New Canaan defense had its hands full with big fullback Tyler Matakevich, its defense were able to largely contain QB Joe Della Vecchia and his receiving corps enough to where Matakevich’s big gains were the only real offense of the afternoon. New Canaan returned an early fumble for a score and, in the second half, picked off a pair of passes, which turned into quick strikes from Baty and a 35-12 lead after three quarters.

The Cadets appeared to get burned by a couple non-calls. One was what one reporter called an obvious fumble in the second quarter (impossible to tell in this video), and the other was a called incomplete pass that most on the sidelines believed should have been ruled intentional grounding. I look at it again and it’s clearly a fumble.

While New Canaan quickly took advantage of their good karma with touchdowns. St. Joseph couldn’t create its own fortune on this afternoon. New Canaan showed it’s a worthy No. 1 pick right now. They travel to Greenwich in two weeks, then Central before the FCIAC championship game.

Quick mea culpa here: I had a tough time getting to New Canaan from New Haven in time for kickoff. I took too much time leaving home and the rain turned the Merritt Parkway into a messin spots.  I missed most of the first quarter scoring. Because of camera issues and the buckets of water that soaked my bones, I also missed half of St. Joseph’s brief fourth-quarter comeback attempt — particularly Pat Mulligan’s awesome 60-yard fumble recovery return for a touchdown.

Also included is the climax of the touching Pete Demmerle jersey retirement ceremony at halftime. Demmerle, an all-state player at New Canaan and later an All-American at Notre Dame, died in 2007 at age 53 from an awful, awful disease called ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The memory of his great days at New Canaan, and the rest of his life are ensured to live forever.

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And, finally, we bring you the Elite 8 power rankings for Southwest Connecticut, where, frankly the best football is played year-in, year-out.

I had a real, real, real tough time sifting through my memory, basing what I’ve seen, heard and what I know about our fair region’s top teams, and then matching that up against Friday’s wild proceedings to produce this week’s rankings.

There was, however, no doubt as to my No. 1. New Canaan dissected St. Joseph efficiently and — dare I say — ruthlessly on a rainy afternoon at Dunning Stadium (video highlights, especially for you non-Cablevision subscribers, will be upcoming tomorrow. Sorry I haven’t had much of a chance. Hopefully the Central-Greenwich highlight reel whet the appetite some).

Before we get to the rest of the list, just a quick word on those of you who don’t know: The Elite 8 rankings are strictly southwest Connecticut, which is to say the Connecticut Post’s coverage area for football. This means all of the SWC, all of the FCIAC, the lower-NVL (Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Woodland), the southwest CSC teams (Platt Tech, Bullard Havens, Abbott Tech), and the Western SCC: Fairfield Prep, Shelton, Amity, Milford schools, West Haven, Notre Dame-WH, New Haven schools and Hamden. The Green Dragons and Wilbur Cross are as far east as we go. So no Cheshire, no Wallingford, no Shoreline and no Xavier.

I’d like to include the entire SCC, but we cover 50 schools already, which is already pushing coverage on a Friday night.

Anyway, here’s the quick rundown of the Elite 8 heading into Week 7.

1. New Canaan – Finally got to see the Rams play, and a big game at that. Turner Baty throws an excellent ball and his receivers — especially Cody Newton, who is fly paper every time the Rams are in a tough spot — are fantastic. The lines are tough, the defense is strong. This is a confident group, which understands the best is yet to come. Not too many flaws here… if any at all. They’re No. 1, partially by default given the teams ahead of them going down. Staples and Pomperaug were options, but this was an easy decision.

2. Pomperaug – Probably the surprise of the list, especially since they vault over Staples. I’ve seen Pomperaug twice. Both times they dismantled their SWC opponent. In week 1 they blitzed Stratford and in Week 3 they hammered Bethel–a team that has subsequently handled almost everyone  else on its schedule. Pomperaug has one the the best defenses I’ve seen and some of the best collection of players I’ve seen. They’d give anyone in this list a battle, and then some.

3. Staples – Perhaps I’d like them more with Brandon Pacilio still under center. But this is remains a very strong team without him. We’ll learn more about Staples in the next few weeks as new QB Keith Gelman cuts his varsity teeth at QB. Staples’ defense, one of the best I’ve seen this year, should give him ample time to grow.

4. Notre Dame-WH – I dabbled in ranking this wrecking crew higher. They have some of the SCC’s best playmakers and, frankly, frittered away that Week 2 game against Xavier. Since then, they’ve been on a big-time roll. Their blitz of Wilbur Cross last week was, perhaps, the most impressive performance of the week. This is a team that’s only motivated itself after falling to Xavier. I like the Green Knights more and more each week.

5. Hamden – My former No. 1 Green Dragons… what to say? That game was theirs for the taking last week, but Xavier seems to have exposed some cracks in their armor. The offense really hasn’t exploded the way we thought. Jordan Teague‘s ankle injury hasn’t helped (then again he still ran for over 100 yards against Xavier) and the passing game can be suspect at times.  The defense, however, is outstanding. It did everything it could in last week’s game. It can’t play any better. The SCC Division I is a brutal, unforgiving league. I’ll take Hamden’s 5-1 resume over most.

No. 6 Greenwich – The Cardinals have been impressive in all but a game. Last week’s performance against Central was one of their worst I’ve seen in a long time:  Misthrown balls, critical turnovers and a sudden inability to stop the run. Yet, after all that, the Cardinals still were in a position to win — or at least tie — the game. Central just played better. There are some flaws to fix, but I’m going to give the Cardinals a pass for now. Central was their third straight road game and, perhaps, were preoccupied over what Central couldn’t do against Trumbull (a team it handled rather easily) to think about what Central could do to them. Greenwich losses are rare, they may not be as good as New Canaan at this point, but they’re still pretty darn good.

No. 7 Masuk – I thought Masuk would have a much easier time with Stratford and, for awhile, they did until Stratford tied up what was once a 21-0 game. Remember, this is still a very young bunch and it’s going to make some errors. But when push came to shove, Masuk showed it knows how to respond to a challenge. The run game has probably been the team’s most impressive weapon thus far (Colin Markus is going to be a good player for a long time). Masuk may have run more, especially if Anthony Giaimo‘s injury keeps him out for an extended period. The defense has been prone to giving up real estate, but their second-half performance vs. Stratford was a step in the right direction.

No. 8 Central — Where to rank the suddenly resurgent Hilltoppers. They clearly deserve to get in here  because they clearly showed they stack up with anyone. There were some moments against Greenwich that made you scratch your head over how the Hilltoppers could have lost to Trumbull so decisively. Maybe they really need to feature Christon Gill more as a runner than a passer and get him into an open field? That 9-play, third-quarter drive on the ground that gave Central the lead against Greenwich was a thing of beauty. You just don’t see teams push Greenwich around like that. The defense can be very good. Still, the Trumbull loss is still fresh in our heads. We’d like to see Central go toe-to-toe with New Canaan before they can make a real dent in the rankings.

So, there you go… one man’s thoughts on where our regional teams stand heading into Week 7. Again, tough call on how to rank them.  As we’ve seen, nothing is certain. We can guarantee this: there will more shakeups in the weeks ahead.