Newtown senior Kyle O'Connor tries to escape a tackle by Masuk junior Lenny Bonina during football game at Masuk. Wednesday, Nov. 25 2009
Bullard-Havens' Lorens Wilson dives over teammate Taurus Keys to score a touchdown in the second half of Wednesday night's contest against Bassick at Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport.
Despite the best efforts of Bassick and the St. Joseph assistant-coach cheering section in (what was that 308), Lorens Wilson and Bullard-Havens defeated Bassick 22-13 at Kennedy Stadium. They’re just bonuses away from the playoffs. [Read all about it]
Despite the best efforts of the gritty Oxford senior class, Ben Crick and Pomperaug raced away from a 7-point halftime lead to a 34-15 victory at Arum Field. They’re the top seed in Class L (say whut? more on that later). [Read all about it]
Despite the best efforts from Immaculate, Brody Brandstatter (chipped helmet and all) and the Lancers scored one TD and held on to win to Superintendent’s Trophy. [Read all about it]
Despite the best efforts of undermanned Seymour, Jack Debaise and Woodland capped a 7-3 season with a wild 55-32 victory. [Read all about it]
And despite the best efforts of Newtown… well, the best efforts of Newtown would up handing Masuk its worst loss of the season, 36-22, and possibly — quite possibly — ended their season. Read all about it!
Wow.
What a way to kick off the 2009 Thanksgiving Day Slate.
And we’re not done yet… we get 10 times the action, 10 times the fun and 100 times the intrigue in just a few more hours.
But first, some playoff business to attend to:
Here’s who’s coming to dinner and who could be stuffed:
CLASS LL — They’re in: Glastonbury. (No. 1 if Staples loses, No. 2 otherwise). Must win: Staples, Cheshire, Xavier. Win and a prayer: Central, Ridgefield… Hamden
CLASS L — They’re in: No. 1 Pomperaug, Conard, Simsbury. Must win: Notre Dame-WH. Pray: Masuk (needs Hamden to beat ND — in which they’d go to Pomperaug for the semifinals — or they’re cooked)
Notre Dame of Fairfield's #42 Brody Brandstatter, right, looks to avoid Immaculate players, during football action at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. on Wednesday Nov. 25, 2009.
CLASS MM — They’re in: Vinal Tech/Coginchaug. Must win: New Canaan (still kosher with a loss. Only two bonus games from clinching), East Lyme, St. Paul Co-op, Darien.
CLASS M — They’re in: New London (No. 1 with a win), Avon (No. 1 with NL loss); Berlin (locked in at No. 3). Must win: Bethel. Win and pray: Coventry/Windham Tech (needs Bethel to lose); Branford (needs Bethel and Coventry to lose); Watertown (needs everybody to lose, basically).
CLASS SS — They’re in: Montville. Must win: Holy Cross (needs just two wins from Ansonia, Torrington and St. Paul to clinch); Wolcott (qualifies if St. Joseph loses). Win and a prayer: St. Joseph (they’ll be in great shape if Wolcott loses, in which they’re in; or if Capital Prep loses to Prince Tech and Tourtellotte lose to Woodstock Academy. Then the Cadets need just two of these teams to win: Warde, Norwalk, Darien, Crosby — hope that Wednesday night mass paid off, guys. Just prayer: Bullard-Havens (if Trumbull or Holy Cross wins, start scheduling your playoff practices. If Wolcott and St. Joseph win… you’re going to need Capital Prep to win — and then pray ONE of these teams lose: Warde, Norwalk, Darien or Crosby. That would give the Tigers at least 1230 points, and St. Joseph will be stuck at 1220.
Remember: If St. Joseph (which can max out at 1230) ties with Bullard-Havens, they clinch.
St. Joseph’s chances look pretty good.
CLASS S — They’re in: Bloomfield, Hyde, Northwest Catholic. Must win: Ansonia Prayer: Prince Tech (needs Ansonia to lose); Cromwell (they need Ansonia and Prince Tech to lose).
Should be a tremendous Thanksgiving Day. Get your abacuses ready.
To Masuk…Tough luck boys, but that’s what you get when you build your record on beating up on smaller schools…Once you finally played a school your size (Pomperaug) you got beat soundly, and once you played the only team on your weak schdule who was bigger than you (Newtown), you lost again…LOL…You have nothing, except how to to beat smaller schools…No way do you belong going anywhere but home now…Try getting a somewhat competitive schedule for a change…
I had a chance to attend the Newtown Masuk game a watched near the Newtown sideline…Coach George shoul be commended on an outstanding job. Masuk obviously needed to change the batteries in their Buetooth Technology for their QB…..The one thing that was most discouraging was having to listen to an irate Newtown family ridiculing the coach because he did not get #77 in the game. You folks should be embarrased and ashamed of your actions. It was a sad display by parents abd family who know nothing about teamwork nor judging what talent really is. You play because you earn it not because you are a senior… Again Good job Steve George!!
wow ghs grandpa you are classless. laughing at high school kids who play their hearts out?????? Masuk is a young program that gives all the credit and respect in the world to their opponents. They of course do not make their schedule perhaps you forgot that in your senial old age.
I agree with the Rad’s Newtown/Masuk point of view. Newtown came to play and they were not to be denied. Did Masuk even scout any of Newtown’s previous games? They should have known what players Newtown relied on. Totally outplayed from the kickoff. Game plan, running game, passing game, defense, special teams, desire – advantage Newtown.
that bluetooth doesnt have anything to do with ex-coach cochrane being on cell phone all game does it?i would have loved to hear that conversation at halftime between murphy and cochrane
who does he talk to on that thing anyway????
Hey Fry,
I wouldn’t laugh at any kids who I know play their hearts out…I was just laughing at the whole scenerio…Masuk rises to #1 or #2 in their division without playing a team even their class size…When they do, they lost to both, Pomperaug Class L, and Newtown class LL…Whoever makes the schedule, should be at fault…I thought it was unfair that a team like Conard who played 4 class L teams, and 4 class LL teams, and beat them all and went undefeated could of possibly been kept out of the states…I don’t care if some of those bigger schools had lousy records, they were still bigger…There is a flaw in the point system, and it was really exposed when Masuk lost to a school their own size and one bigger, and the only ones they beat were smaller than them…I hope things change next year…BTW, I’ve been living in Monroe now for the last 15 years, and really have nothing against Masuk…And also BTW, it’s spellled senile, and I’m not quite there yet…LOL
put one and one together——-hmmmmmmmmmm
If people would judge a teams schedule/results against an opponents program status rather than the enrollment of a school,you would get a better assessment of teams performance.If I go to a Notre Dame
game ,I do not think they will have a tougher time against LL schools Amity and Naugatuck than they would a MM school like Hand.
I cannot fault many persons views as it is the norm to think larger schools are better.This is a problem partially caused by media and the current playoff system which gives bonuses to smaller enrollment schools when they defeat larger enrollment schools.Also the same mentality that allows a S team to play a LL team in the regular season but sees it unfair to match up different enrollment schools in the post season.In a good many cases smaller enrollment teams are as good as larger enrollment programs.
the argument is the larger schools have more participants to choose from———–how good would shelton be if there was a huntington high?how good would west haven be if there wasnt a ndwh?combine the new haven,waterbury,and bridgeport schools and how good would they be ?derby combined with obtech and…………….well maybe not
I agree with you cuoz…As I’ve blogged before, student enrollment isn’t everything or anything really…Some schools just have a tradition of getting a much higher percentage of their best athletes to come out for the football team above any other sport…Also, and I wish it wasn’t so, but there are many schools who do not have the recources, and facilities, to offer a lot of choices in athletics…Does every school have a pool, or easy access to one to have a swim team?..How about access to ice time at a rink for a hockey team (that’s not cheap)?…The schools that have the resources to offer many sports choices that coincide with the football schedule are usually the ones with wealthier residents…A sorry fact of life in America, still…But, it also serves to siphon away good/great athletes, that the football coaches would love to have, into other sports…I’m just hoping for the day when CIAC can have a 32 team “Big Dance” bracket where all the best teams regardless of student body size can play each other for the “crown” of undisputed state champs…I haven’t studied the new format for next year enough to know if that does it..Probably not…And that’s my point…I’m not convinced that a school with a smaller student body can’t beat a big school in football, because of tradition, and a much higher percentage of the best athletes playing football rather than spread out amongst the other sport choices that overlap the same time of year…
Hey Grandpa – You make no sense. Newtown and Pompy play the same schedule.
Newtown lost to New Fairfield.
Hey big guy…That was my point…A smaller school CAN beat a bigger school, but only if they PLAY each other…Masuk, and Pomperaug beat all the smaller schools, but in my opinion didn’t play enough schools of their same size or larger…Not their fault, as I understand it they don’t have input into the schedule making…
As for making no sense, I’m often accused of that…LOL