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In case you missed it in last Sunday’s Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate, NewsTimes and Greenwich Time, we present the 2010 Hearst Connecticut Newspapers’ All-Star Football team.

Lots of tough choices to make with so many great players from our region. Here’s who we thought were the best of the best at each position.

Click on each section for a closer look at the all star bios.

Here’s to a great 2010 and hopes for an even better 2011.

Sean Patrick

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The All-FCIAC football teams have been announced.

Lots and lots and lots of players selected. They list first-team offense and defense, second-team offense and defense and then honorable mention for all three divisions.

Congratulations to all the kids.

It is, however, kind of excessive from my seat, as well as others’. Pat Pickens did the math and he counted 209 kids who were named all-FCIAC, which averages out to 11 players selected per team. Eighty-seven kids can say they’re first team.

Hey, if that’s how they want to roll…

2010 All-FCIAC East First Team Offense

2010 All-FCIAC East First Team Defense

FCIAC East Coach of the Year: Rob Trifone, Darien

2010 All-FCIAC East Second Team Offense

2010 All-FCIAC East Second Team Defense

2010 All-FCIAC East Honorable Mention

2010 All-FCIAC Central First Team Offense

2010 All-FCIAC Central First Team Defense

FCIAC Central Coach of the Year: Marce Petroccio, Staples

2010 All-FCIAC Central Second Team Offense

2010 All-FCIAC Central Second Team Defense

2010 All-FCIAC Central Honorable Mention

2010 All-FCIAC West First Team Offense

2010 All-FCIAC West First Team Defense

FCIAC West Coach of the Year: Bob Maffei, Trumbull

2010 All-FCIAC West Second Team Offense

2010 All-FCIAC West Second Team Defense

2010 All-FCIAC West Honorable Mention

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The votes have been cast, the decision made.

It’s Xavier.

By a nosehair.

The Falcons earned the No. 1 spot in the New Haven Register’s Top 10 Poll today, earning 14 first place votes and 700 points to beat Masuk in the court of public opinion.

Masuk received 10 first-place votes (including mine) and finished with 692 points.

First place votes are 30 points each. Second place votes are 28 each.

New Canaan, St. Joseph, Trumbull, Hillhouse, Glastonbury, Hand, Ansonia and Norwich Free Academy rounded out the Top 10.

In the other two polls … Xavier edged Masuk by a mere two points in the Day of New London Coaches Poll.

But Masuk did managed to salvage No. 1 the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance poll.

Here’s the final poll tallies.

NHR STATE MEDIA POLL

♦♦♦

Day of New London Coaches Poll

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CONNECTICUT SPORTS WRITERS ALLIANCE

♦♦♦

Colin Markus bulls through New Canaan during the Class L championship game Saturday. Masuk won 50-20 and was voted No. 2 in the state writers' poll.

Some final thoughts on this:

I voted for Masuk, No. 1. Because it was one of the most complete, most dominant, and flawless teams I’ve seen in this state during the 10 years I’ve been covering football here.

I saw Masuk seven times this season, and they amazed me every time.

Offense, defense, special teams. Opponents, including two of the FCIAC’s best teams, threw everything they had at the Panthers.  And the closest they could get was 23-20 at halftime in the

Class L championship game. None of Masuk’s second halves were even remotely close. What they might have lacked in size (compared to Xavier), they made up with speed, discipline and flat-out talent.

Masuk trailed just three times this season, only twice in the playoffs (early to Bristol Eastern). It racked up the most

yards, allowed the fewest points, and thoroughly demoralized teams with big plays on offense and defense.

Casey Cochran was the best QB in the state (with St. Joseph’s Joe Della Vecchia a close second). Few teams ever touched him, thanks to his offensive line. His receivers were some of the best in the state.

The defense was one of the best in the state, right up there with Xavier. They pressured, they swarmed, they created countless turnovers and actually contributed to Masuk’s 638 total points with at least one touchdown a game.

And then the special teams. Jon Testani kicked 54 touchbacks this year, pinning opponents at and around the 20-yard line each time. He kicked field goals and boomed punts. Joe Diaz was an incredible kick returner.

No team this year could leave a Masuk game and legitimately say they had a chance to win except, maybe, New Canaan. But Masuk had been bleeding the four-time defending state champions to death until Kevin Macari, one of the state’s top 5 football players, heroically put the dying team on his back. In the second half, after a couple of adjustments, Masuk continued its typical course.

Six sacks, three interceptions, negative-51 yards rushing (negative-2 if you discount the sacks), 29 total yards in the second half against one of the state’s best offenses.

And this was against New Canaan. Four-time defending state champion New Canaan.

You really had to see Masuk in person to gain an appreciation of how good the Panthers were.

I realized just how good it could be the day Masuk scrimmaged Shelton in the preseason. It wasn’t the result – which I believe was 1 score vs. 0. They were without RB Colin Markus and still adjusting the offense. The timing routes were off, Casey Cochran wasn’t on his game yet.

But it was the defense, coached by Chris Gueli … yow, was it good.

Once the season started, and you saw how this team hit and how it smothered opponents, how it scored almost at will — in all three phases of the game — and how put most teams away before the second half kickoff.

After watching teams from all over the SCC, SWC, NVL and FCIAC this season (40 games in all 42 teams) I soon realized nobody was touching this group. When the season was over and I looked back at the wreckage, I could say it was one of the most complete football teams I’ve seen in 10 years.

Xavier might have been just as good, but very different. It was a team that relied on its brute strength, intimidation and big plays to wear down all comers in the SCC — which I believe is the most competitive league in the state because of its proactive scheduling.

Xavier had a college-sized front, tough and aggressive linebackers and defensive backs and a brick walls linemen. It was old school, using its strength to just pound teams into submission. And when the Falcons needed a big play, they always seemed to get it.

Xavier won every week because no team it played could match it physically, and that made it a damn good football team.

My problem with Xavier is this: It far too often shot itself in the foot, many times not of the opponents’ doing, and let lesser teams hang around instead of running them out of the building, like they could have.

Still… I love the SCC, I think it’s the most competitive league in the state. Every week is a big game and teams in the SCC make each other better. Coming out of the SCC 10-0 and then winning a state championship is an impressive, impressive feat.

Their No. 1 ranking is well deserved.

I saw Xavier four times, I saw Masuk seven times.

Personally, putting the two teams together in my head I still think Masuk was better.

And that’s how I voted: Masuk, No. 1.

In my 10 years covering high school football, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions. Excellent teams are excellent teams. Any team that goes 13-0 and wins a state championship is an awesome team. And I also believe the league-vs.-league comparisons, while useful sometimes, can be misleading. It should never be X team plays in a better conference, therefore it’s better than Y.

In 2004, Branford came into the Class MM championship game as a heavy favorite over Pomperaug. There was no way, we said (me included), an SWC team could matchup with a battle-tested team from the SCC (Branford was Division II, but handily beat both Shelton and Fairfield Prep). I was wrong. Pomperaug 35, Branford 7.

In an even better example, in the 2006 Class L title game we all thought two-time defending state champion Staples, out of the mighty FCIAC and a team coming off a 24-7 beat down of West Haven in the semifinals, would wipe the floor with poor-little Bunnell out of the SWC – a team that just barely got into the state playoffs after losing to Stratford 40-8.

Wrong again: Bunnell 28, Staples 26

I learned a valuable lesson that evening at Ken Strong Stadium. Your premonitions are never as good as you think. They’re never as bad as you think. Great teams are great teams.

Masuk’s location in an too-often disregarded league killed them in the eyes of those beyond this region. Masuk was product of their schedule. They won big because the other teams were weak. They couldn’t possibly do that in the SCC or FCIAC.

A few SCC coaches said under their breath that Masuk wouldn’t amount to jack in their mighty league and couldn’t dominate the playoffs like they did the regular season. I actually had one SCC coach scoff at me when I said the Masuk would beat New Canaan by at least two touchdowns in the state title game.

“What?” he said. “No way. Not against New Canaan.”

We were both wrong: Masuk won by four touchdowns.

The next day, the same SCC coach apologized: “I was wrong. I’m awestruck.”

To be dismissive of Masuk solely because of where they come from is wrong, and in my opinion, ignorant unless you watched them, live and up close. What they did to two of the best teams in the FCIAC was incredible: Masuk 91, FCIAC 20.

And didn’t New Canaan just beat up the SCC’s second best team to get to the title game?

It wasn’t proof, just validation for me as I cast my final vote.

The bottom line is this: These were two excellent football teams. A majority of voters believe it was Xavier.

I disagreed. I think I’ve seen enough teams and enough games this year to have an educated opinion on the matter.

But of course, nobody’s really wrong. Nobody’s really right. There’s no clear-cut pick. Both teams won state championships Both were fabulous teams in their own way.

And, like the Ansonia-Greenwich debate from 2007 (I voted Ansonia), we’ll never know the answer.

So stand proud, hold that championship trophy high, and show off your rings for the rest of your lives.

No votes can take away your State Championship.

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Let the debate begin… or at least continue for a few more days.

Masuk shook off a dicey second quarter, in which it relinquished two long pass touchdowns to Kevin Macari and allowed 20 points,

and got back to work in the second half with a dominant effort — just 29 total offense allowed — and an eventual 50-20 victory over the four-time defending state champion New Canaan.

Here are more opinions on the state champions’ performance vs the once four-time defending champs.

Ruden: New Canaan gets hammered by Masuk

Elsberry: Defense does it for Masuk in second half

A few of the state voters attending last night’s Xavier-Trumbull Class LL final — won 24-13 by Xavier – anointed the Falcons the top team in the state, regardless of today’s finals. But will the majority follow their lead? That was the question last night and it remains the question right now, with the confetti still unsettled from Masuk’s victory.

We wonder what you think? Did Masuk do enough to snatch the top spot?

Columnist Kevin Duffy of the NewsTimes thinks so.

Meanwhile, in an even better story, St. Joseph survived a absolutely heroic effort by back Montrell Dobbs and won its second-consecutive state championship, 49-28.

The season’s over. But we’re far from done.

Videos and highlights from both our regional state championship games coming Sunday.

ADD Sunday: We’re just about ready to start adding videos. Masuk-New Canaan up first.

And, how’d I forget to put this to a vote?

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We start with the carnage up at Rentschler Field for the Class LL championship game.

Xavier, top-ranked and unbeaten Xavier, made a strong case for holding on to its No. 1 ranking with a thunderous 24-13 victory over Trumbull in the Class LL state championship game.

Mike Mastroianni ran for 279 yards and two touchdowns, Pat D’Amato and Kosi Broderick hooked up four times for 162 yards and a touchdown, and the Xavier defense held Trumbull to 26 yards rushing and intercepted three passes en route to its second straight championship.

Xavier’s offensive and defensive lines were the show. That’s all Trumbull could talk about afterward, leading to this great quote from Trumbull junior FB/RB Don Cherry (who had himself a fine day in defeat with 15 tackles and a touchdown), “”If you were out there you’d see that they move like robots. They all move in sync. It was tough dealing with those almost robotic linemen. …They were the best line we’ve seen all year.”

So Xavier stated it’s case emphatically, “I think we made a pretty good statement about that tonight,” coach Sean Marinan said.

He was joined by many (perhaps all) of the SCC aficionados and cheerleaders, who joined Xavier in wagging their index fingers into the air and in cyberspace.

Still three more to go, particularly the one game that may (or may not) have an effect on the No. 1 vote: The Class L championship game between New Canaan and Masuk. That kicks off at 3 p.m. today.

It’s preceded by the Class M final between Hillhouse and New London at 11 a.m. and proceeded by the Class S championship between St. Joseph and Ansonia at 7 p.m.

Live Blog is Below. Share with us your thoughts on all of Friday’s and Saturday’s action during and after the games.

Apologies for last night’s live broadcasts. I misspoke that the games would be shown on video feeds. Only audio was available (and even that apparently shorted out). I’m sure they’ll give it another shot. You can  listen to the games and watch the live blog here .

If that doesn’t work, you can also catch “The Coach” George DeMaio and Nick Aprea, who will take you through all of the remaining action on WELI 960-AM (weli.com).

Or you can watch the CIAC’s live stat tracker here: Class M | Class L | Class S

<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=0e4167a1bf” mce_href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=0e4167a1bf” >High School Football Live Scoring Updates</a>