SPB's High School Football

One more time.

The Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate and Danbury News-Times staff will be all over the final two state championship games with the live scoring blog. Just click on the window below to follow all of the live Twitter updates from from all of the finals. We’ll also be moderating in-game discussions.

Sean Patrick Bowley, Henry Chisholm and Tim Parry will be at the Staples-Cheshire Class LL championship game. Tom Renner and Dan S. Cohen will be at the Bethel-Berlin Class  M championship.

Here’s the schedule of the games:

CIAC FOOTBALL FINALS

TODAY

Class LL – No. 3 Cheshire (10-1) vs. No. 1 Staples (12-0) at Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven, 2 (broadcast on sportingnewsct.com and it might be on espnradio1300.com)
Class M – No. 4 Bethel (9-2) vs. No. 3 Berlin (9-2) at Municipal Stadium, Waterbury, 2 (broadcast on sportingnewsct.com)

They’re state champions.

The Hogs defeated Montville 14-3 Saturday at rainy and windy Ken Strong Stadium to win their first title in 19 years and their 9th overall.

Notre Dame held off Pomperaug in a 28-21 thriller at snowy Finn Stadium in Shelton to win its third title and first since 2001.

New Canaan shut down East Lyme, 28-0 for its fourth-straight title and eighth under coach Lou Marinelli.

And beyond Shangri-La, we had Hyde taking down Northwest Catholic 21-0 for its fourth title this decade.

For those of you scoring at home, that’s FCIAC 5-0, SCC 3-1, SWC 2-1, Pequot 2-1, ECC 2-3, CCC 2-5, NVL 0-3, CSC 0-1 in the playoffs.

I smell a trend.

Meanwhile, Staples goes for No. 1 when it takes on Cheshire in the Class LL final today at 2 in West Haven. Bethel goes for an improbable state title when it takes on Berlin today at 2 in Waterbury.

Here are the recaps, provided by the CIAC. Videos and highlights later.

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The CIAC has announced that tonight’s Class LL Staples vs. Cheshire and Class M Berlin vs. Bethel games have been postponed to Sunday at 2 p.m.

The sites and times are pending field conditions, update to be posted by 9 a.m. on the CIAC site (casciac.org) Sunday afternoon.

The Bethel-Berlin game will likely be held at Waterbury, unless the region gets significant amounts of snow today, media director Matt Fischer said. If needed, the Bethel game will be moved to West Haven Sunday night.

All of the four afternoon games will go on as scheduled.

Welcome back to our popular live scoring blog for the final time this football season. Our crack staff and our dedicated fans will be sending live scoring updates and commentary from all six state championship sites.

As you should know by now, click the window below to see our updates, photos and, of course breaking news items. We’ll try to answer questions as we go along. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy.

Good luck to all of the state championship participants.

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St. Joseph's Tyler Matakevich runs the ball during the Cadets' victory over Trumbull on Thanksgiving. St. Joseph takes on Montville in the Class SS championship game today at 2 p.m. at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven.

Good morning.

Today we end the 2009 high school football season.

Welcome to Super Saturday.

Championship Saturday.

Six of our 12 contestants today will walk off the field lords over their Connecticut high school football weight class.

It’s an absolutely incredible day and this one is shaping up to be one of the best we’ve had.

No time to dilly-dally, here’s the skinny on all of the CIAC football games tap for all of you out there and those following at home. Links to stories, information, radio broadcasts, live scoring feeds.

Everything.

So let’s get to it:

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Quick tidbits from today.

First, The Hour of Norwalk reported last night that Joe Santa Lucia was fired as head coach of the Senators after a 21-30 record, including three straight 3-win seasons.

“We thought the program was going in the wrong direction and we needed to make a change,” McMahon athletic director Joe Maddafari told The Hour, which also quoted Santa Lucia saying he was forced out.

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Staples quarterback Keith Gelman hands off to Matt Kelly in the Wreckers' 31-28 victory over Xavier in the state semifinals Tuesday.

It’s a couple of days late, but here’s the highlight reel from the Staples-Xavier Class LL semifinal game at Wilton.

The video picks up late in the second quarter (the footage was dicey for much of the game’s first quarter) with Staples leading 14-0 on a Matt Kelly run on the game’s first series, and, following an interception, a quick strike from quarterback Keith Gelman to Brendan Rankowitz.

You’ll see Xavier’s Julian Hayes score the Falcons’ first touchdown toward the end of the first half and then you’ll see the explosive second half: another Hayes TD run, Kelly’s 54-yard counter, Hayes’ 3-yard scoring run and then Kelly’s 2-yard score to make it 28-21, Staples early in the fourth.

You’ll see the Wreckers having all kinds of trouble stopping Hayes, but not quarterback Alex Pace. The Wreckers chased him down to end a potential scoring drive and, later, Rob Gau‘s critical pick that set up Santiago Cuartas‘ 34-yard field goal, his state-record 12th of the season. (That’s MSG’s Mike Quick heard in the background — these guys love horning in on my videos  — giving play-by-play to Jimmy Cavallo on his cell phone.

And, of course, you’ll see all the interviews.

Quick aside: Here’s a column on the game from the viewpoint of veteran reporter Jim Bransfield of the Middletown Press. Jimmy’s been around long enough. He doesn’t mince words. He had some high, high praise of the Staples Wreckers. I’m actually kind of blown away.

Say this: Xavier hadn’t seen a back as good as Matt Kelly all year. Say this, too: Xavier hadn’t seen a receiver as good as Brendan Rankowitz. Finally say this: Xavier hadn’t seen a quarterback as good as Keith Gelman.

And this from an SCC town, for you folks scoring at home (and I know you are).

Back to us: Yeah, our video is three days late, but we’re busy trying to preview the finals. We don’t have big time videographers running around out there. So just enjoy the look back and get ready for a heckuva championship game. SCC vs. FCIAC Round 4 — the Final Round (FCIAC leads, 2-1).

48 hours until we kick off state championship Saturday. It’s time to give us your say on who will win the six state championship games.

Though its mild and sunny as of this writing on a Thursday afternoon, it sounds like the weather will take a turn toward winter this weekend: rain and even a little bit of snow. It’s not as bad as previous forecasts, but gloomy nonetheless.

Anyway, with that in mind, it’s time to give us your thoughts on the state championship games.

Pick the winners. Then give us your thoughts on who the No. 1-ranked team will be when it’s all over. Will it be Staples if the Wreckers beat Cheshire on Saturday and finish 13-0. Will it be Pomperaug if the Panthers beat Notre Dame and finish 13-0? Can Notre Dame or maybe even Cheshire, claim the top spot if they both win on Saturday? Anybody else?

What do you think?

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