St. Joseph's Joe Della Vecchia tries to fend off a tackle by Wilton's Rob Keers, bottom, and Mark Peidmont during the second half of their football game Saturday September 25, 2010 at St. Joseph's Dalling Field in Trumbull.
We returned to normal, somewhat, in Week 2.
Masuk's 32, Colin Markus, makes his way upfield as Poperaug trys to tackle during the football game at Southbury Sept. 24, 2010.
Staples put a cap on the groundswell of Norwalk intrigue (at least momentarily).
Masuk sent a message to the rest of the SWC (Frankly, not that anyone needed reminding).
Greenwich isn’t feeling very well.
Bethel’s demise has been exaggerated (by me). As has Newtown’s rise (also by me). And we just might have a new No. 2 contender for the SWC Heavyweight Crown: Hello, Bunnell.
The progressive SCC’s conservative crossover week is a pointless endeavor (SCC1 9, SCC2 1 — by a combined score of 274-97. Only North Haven struck a blow for the IIs with its 13-2 victory over Hamden. Law put up the most fight in a losing cause, hanging with James Ward and Wilbur Cross before falling 4).
And finally, I ask the proponents of the 50-point policy to meet me at Camera 3:
Hello. Xavier-Foran coaches and referees agreed to use a running clock in the second half of their game. It took 20 minutes, everybody got playing time, doesn’t seem like any body got hurt. Now, I know Dave Cadelina is clandestinely protesting the policy with these antics, but isn’t a second-half running clock after, say, 35-0 in the third quarter, better than seeing Central punt and take knees on first down, like it has done in its first two two games? Thanks.
So let’s take a quick, league-by-league, look at Week 2:
In the SWC… Masuk put on show, much to the chagrin of the good folks in Southbury. Yes, Casey Cochran threw 5 TDs to a variety of receivers and showed he’s going to be a stud in this league with two TDs (one called back) and a flat pass he took 25-or-so yards, breaking seven or eight Pomperaug tackles in the process.
But Masuk’s defense, to me at least, was the star of this production. Jon Testani picked off two passes and let another slip through his grasp (with nothing but green in front of him), Anthony Calabrese had a fumble recovery and DB
Weston's Eddie Hutchins is brought down by Notre Dame Fairfield's Bill Stimple during the first half of the football game at Weston on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010.
Shawn Flynn, DL Matt Duignan and Co. pounded Pomperaug up front and in the open field. Defense is what makes Masuk one of the top 3 teams in the state. Now, if only they could cut down on the penalties.
Up in Bethel, I got word that the Wildcats were none too pleased with their entry in ‘The Guide.’ Hey, look, they’re still riddled with injuries — four or five regular starters were out — lending me to think Newtown, our Elite 8 No. 8, had enough to get in and out with a victory.
Wrong. Bethel unleashed FB/LB Brian Birdsell and Brandon Schmidt on Newtown. Schimidt, the QB, scored twice including the winner with 34 seconds left. Birdsell had three TDs and was a terror on defense with at least one sack. “They really beat us up up front,” Newtown coach Steve George said. “They were blowing us off the ball.”
It’s back to the drawing board for Newtown. Bethel seems like it’ll have plenty to say in this league.
But, for now, our new No. 2 is Bunnell, which hammered Bethel the week before and then hammered Barlow last week. Bunnell faces Masuk on October 15. Get your tickets now.
Elsewhere: It looks like Brookfield is going to move more toward using QB Boeing Brown. The tall sophomore took the majority of snaps in Brookfield’s rout of Immaculate. The move will free up do-everything senior Brian Kelly… Bunnell looked like the Bunnell of old vs. Barlow, scoring 22 points in the first quarter and rolling to a 55-19 victory. …Stratford is 2-0, needing a field goal to beat New Milford. …For the second-straight week Oxford dominated, this time beating up on New Fairfield 55-21. All nine Oxford TDs came from no less than 45 yards out. Nick D’Onofrio scored on two kickoff returns and finished with four TDs. …Oxford faces Stratford next week in a litmus test of unbeaten SWC teams. …Weston is 2-0 for the first time since…when? The Zito/Bennewicz years? But they had to survive a tremendous effort from ND-Fairfield up-and-comer Nigel Beckford, who carried 15 times for 187 yards and three TDs from 52, 27, 83 yards away. Eddie Hutchins of Weston had an exceptional day, with 163 yards rushing and two TDs. …Weston takes its 2-0 record to Brookfield to prove its worth.
IN THE FCIAC… Staples dashed any Norwalk upset hopes thanks to Tyler Jacobs‘ marvelous evening: punt return TD, three interceptions. Staples is clearly still Staples, with a great defense and an offense that inexorably bleeds you to death with strategic touchdowns.
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Football action between Staples and Norwalk High School in Norwalk, Conn. on Friday September 24, 2010. Staples #24 Tyler Jacobs tries to slip free from Norwalk's #6 Anthony Ferraro.
So Staples is Staples, but Greenwich doesn’t seem like it’s Greenwich. The Cardinals were one play away from going to OT against Stamford, a team that was ripped apart by Ridgefield just the week before. Joel Arroyo saved the Cardinals’ bacon — which was already crisp — with a clutch pick on Stamford’s final drive of the game. Greenwich is 1-1, but that result had people scratching their heads.
Another head-scratcher was New Canaan’s 13-8 lead at halftime over Trinity Catholic. Had many of us wondering just how good this New Canaan edition was. Trinity played well, but its top back Mike Rivas was in and out with a lower-leg injury. And, still, New Canaan just couldn’t seem to get anything going.
Then the second half started. The Rams scored on almost every possession — 35 points — and rolled to the 48-8 victory. OK. So all’s well there.
All’s not well in Trumbull, where St. Joseph was stunned by hungry Wilton 27-7. Anybody who watched the Cadets’ victory over Crosby could smell something wasn’t right. They’re still searching for a tailback and, with LB Kevin Izzo done for the year, the young defense was hurting.
So in came Wilton, backs to the wall with a sloppy loss to Trumbull. Behind QB Sean Carroll, the Warriors played flawless while exposing every St. Joseph flaw in the process. By the end of the game, St. Joseph was done trying to add a cosmetic score, and took a knee. QB Joe Della Vecchia and injured FB/LB Tyler Matakevich sat on the bench well after this was over.
The season’s far from over, but with a trip to tough Darien on Saturday, and then New Canaan two weeks after, St. Joseph’s season is at a critical mass. “It’s an uphill battle for us now,” coach Joe Della Vecchia said. And there’s still no word on if Matakevich will be able to return any time soon.
Elsewhere: Trumbull made short work of Westhill, even without injured back Frankie Gaines. (He’s out with a leg injury) …Central, which plays Trumbull in two weeks, needed just a half to take care of Bassick, and then went to great lengths not to scorein the second half. …There was no looking ahead for Ridgefield, which hammered Ludlowe to set up Friday’s FCIAC Central Division battle at Tiger Hollow (Get your tickets now). …Ludlowe has now been outscored 96-6 to start the year. …Darien beat Danbury 25-13, but it was far from easy. The Hatters outgained Darien 149-124 in the first half, but Wave defense came up big and held Danbury scoreless twice inside the 10. A couple big offensive plays, and Darien was up 25-0 in the fourth quarter. Oughta be a battle down in Trumbull this week: St. Joseph at Darien.
IN THE SCC… It was crossover week, as we mentioned. Lots of ho-hum blowout losses, exceptions being North Haven’s victory over Hamden, Cheshire’s 26-6 win over Hillhouse, in which the Rams led 10-6 at halftime and pulled away late, and Law’s 48-27 loss to Wilbur Cross.We’ll have video of that game shortly. Law traded blows with Cross all game, but just never could stop back James Ward, who scored five TDs — two rushing, two receiving, one kickoff. Down 36-21 at halftime, Law was looking to pull within one score early in the third, but QB Ryan Fallaguerra had a pass picked off inside the Cross red zone. That was pretty much that.
Finally, Fairfield Prep snapped a 13-game losing streak with a non-conference victory over Griswold. Congrats. Back to the grind next week, boys.
Speaking of Crossovers, Ray Curren has a good chat with ‘The Commish’ in his regular SCC Column. Ray comes to the sames conclusions as I. This seems like a waste of time. The SCC took a bold step with its realignment a few years back — one that a few leagues (cough — FCIAC! — cough) would do well to follow. But there are plenty of good counterpoints form The Commish. There’s no satisfactory solution unless we tell everyone in the state that we’re going to scrap league format and schedule exclusively by class.
At least the SCC’s other seven or eight weeks are highly competitive , which is more than we can say for the other leagues.
IN THE NVL… Everybody’s still going nuts over Nauguatuck, which slammed Torrington in a 48-21 victory. …Ansonia gave the ball to Montrell Dobbs, who went nuts (381 yards and 5 TDs) in a victory over Crosby. …Derby/O’Brien Tech’s Ray Kreiger scored three touchdowns, but the Red Raiders couldn’t stop Dave Coggins or QB Rohan Ifill (who accounted for six TDs, yikes) in a 38-20 loss to Sacred Heart (which is now 2-0). …League favorite Wolcott pounded Wilby. …Seymour played better vs. Watertown, taking an early 7-0 lead. But its overall struggles continued in a 26-7 loss. …Woodland (1-1) beat Kennedy, but only 21-6. …Holy Cross is 2-0 with a dominant win over St. Paul.GAME BALLS
SCC
James Ward, Wilbur Cross — 140 yards rushing, 2 TDs; 150 yards receiving, 2 TDs, kickoff return TD vs. LawNVL
Montrell Dobbs, Ansonia — 42 carries, 381 yds, 5 TDs vs. Crosby.SWC
Nick D’Onofrio, Oxford – Four touchdowns, including two kickoff return TDs vs. New FairfieldFCIAC
Tyler Jacobs, Staples – Punt return touchdown, three interceptions vs. Norwalk.
THIS WEEK’S PRIME TIME GAMESFRIDAY
Ansonia at Holy Cross, 7 p.m. — Are the Chargers contenders or pretenders in the NVL?
Xavier at Cheshire, 7 p.m. — Not our region, but the best game in the SCC.
Shelton at Notre Dame-WH, 7 p.m. — This is Shelton’s chance to really matter.
Staples at Ridgefield, 7 p.m. — Ridgefield’s been itching for a rematch all year.
Weston at Brookfield, 7 p.m. — Could Weston actually be for real?
SATURDAY
Stratford at Oxford, 1 p.m. — One of these teams will be 3-0.St. Joseph at Darien, 1:30 p.m. — Big game for Darien. Absolutely critical for St. Joseph.
Pomperaug at Bethel, 7 p.m. — Both teams’ seasons depend on this game.
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Note: The Darien at St. Joseph game was incorrectly listed. It has been corrected.
Bunnell finally getting some ink. Masuk-BHS should be fun to watch. Bunnell has multiple weapons this year and a solid O-line protecting QB Castelot. The D swarms the ball. The only thing saving a 50 point rule or a running clock agreement in the first 2 games is that the Bunnell JV’s play most of the 4th quarter. Keep up the good work Dawgs.
Agree on the mismatches in the SCC crossovers,but even with one or two crossovers each year the SCC still has the most balanced divisions of all Leagues.I would put the concern of the SCC crossovers at the bottom of my concerns until all other leagues attempt to balance their divisons to even remotely resemble the weekly competition in the SCC.If you have any doubts pick a random week and try to pick out the projected winners of that weeks games in all leagues.
FCIAC… how big is this Darien St. Joe’s game now? Darien has rolled past a mediocre to below average teams in Warde and Danbury, and St. Joe’s crushed, sloppily, a mediocre to below average Crosby team and then Wilton comes in to their place and knocks them off in week 2 of what was supposed to be the dream season for St. Joe’s… Saturday is big for both schools, St. Joe’s needs to win to stay in FCIAC contention, and Darien needs to win for the same reason, and if they do win, they basically walk into the FCIAC Championship game because of their schedule, (who made some of these schedules)
Greenwich, okay, baby steps.. a win is a win and they’ll take it, I’m sure as each week passes they’ll get healthier and healthier. (rumor has it they are going back to the Wing-T fully)
Staples is Staples. Hard to judge Ridgefield becuase their first 2 weeks were against mediocre to below average in Stamford and Ludlowe (Ludlowe is just plain terrible) and Staples some would say were tested becuase Trinity has some athletes and gave New Canaan a half, and also they gave Staples a half (it was 14-0 until Staples scored to make it 21 with no time remaining) Whoever wins controls their destiny for the FCIAC Championship as well.
New Canaan – sloppy first half, looked like 2 or 3 td’s were called back on them due to penalities… referees were terrible in this game, and I mean terrible… NC comes out in the second half and had a lot of luck early with the passing game but had some very nice long runs (O-Line for NC deserves all the credit) Noticed some injuries for NC as well, (their best RB didn’t play, and one of their starting wideouts was in a sling by halftime)
This should be an interesting week coming up for the FCIAC with 2 games in week 3 that could very well tell us a lot about that week 10 game at Boyle
@Pat- I agree this week showed us a lot in the FCIAC. St. Joe’s may have been alittle overhyped, or perhaps the loss of their all everything RB/LB Matakevich really hurt them more then we all thought it would. Darien St. Joe’s this week will be a very interesting game. It will be important for St. Joe’s to rebound in a big way if they have any hopes of remaining an FCIAC and class S contender. I think the Blue Tsunami will really give them all they can handle. Thats going to be a toss up game for me right now.
The intriguing game to come will be more Staples vs. Ridgefield. I saw ridgefield last week against Ludlowe, and they really looked like the real deal. Staples has yet to truely impress me yet. You were right until the final play fo the half vs. trinity catholic it was a game. I think trinity is going to finish off ok as long as Rivas is healthy. They made it a game against both NC and Staples in my opinion. Staples has showed they know how to play defense but they have also played sub-par offenses. Trinity still has some growing to do and Norwalk is really devoid an offense at the moment. I think Staples is going to have a very tough time vs. a good Ridgefield team.
Greenwich is in big trouble. Simply put they are not contenders and need to begin finding some kind of offense so that they can at least stay competitive. Wing T or Power I i dont think it will matter much for Greewich.
As far as New Canaan goes i think they will be fine for the next 3 or 4 weeks. They showed all of us that they are not a team that is going to be out coached but will have serious problems if they take to long to heat up against a good team. I think the thing New Canaan has going for them is that they have lots of different weapons. No real stars for them so far but everyone seems to be able to make plays. It will not matter for much though if they can not score early on people. I do not forsee a truely difficult test for them until either St. Joe’s or Central. Until then Rams must be considered one of the tops teams along with ridgefield, Darien and Staples.
Around the rest of the state mostly what everyone thought it would be excpet perhaps on the bethel newtown game. Good for you Bethel. Masuk is still the number one team in the state in my mind.
Besides all that it was a pretty unproductive week of football. But i cant wait to see Joe’s v. Darien and even more so Wreckers v. Tigers.
Darien and Ridgefield’s schedule is a joke so if thy both win this weekend that could be your FCIAC championship game. Staples schedule is not great either so u can pencil in the winner of the staples/Ridgefield game into the title game most likley. NC/Joes/ central and greenwich will all have a chance to outpoint the others due to better schedules but it also means they have to win those games each week. I have a hard time calling the FCIAC title game a real title game anymore when games like Darien/NC and Staples/Greenwich don’t factor into it. Central might be the best one out there due to size and speed which is impossible to prepare for. Why Staples and Ridgefield don’t play central, especially in a conference without divisions, is just ridiculous.
there are mismatches in the scc because half the teams stink
@Brian Agreed. Personally, I think conference championships are dinosaurs. There was a time they were relevant, like when the CIAC didn’t hold state playoffs. But now — especially now — with a three-round playoff system, their only use is to generate money.
There isn’t a balanced schedule, which makes the qualifiers suspect to begin with. They put unnecessary stress on a team competing for a state title (potentially 4 games in 2 weeks just to get to the title game).
Unnecessary. Time to get rid of them, divide the FCIAC into Division I, Division II. Crown champions based on regular-season records.
Bunnell is an outstanding football team and the Bunnell-Masuk game is intriguing, but I don’t see them giving Masuk a real scare because of the utter dominance of Masuk’s swarming defense. Right now, it is hard to imagine a better all-around team in the State than Masuk. Offensively, they can pass and run and their defense is equally adept at stopping the pass and the run. Add to that outstanding special teams and there’s nothing much left to discuss. Bunnell should, however, finish 9 – 1 in the SWC.
Bethel looked tough on offense against Newtown, but helpless on defense against the pass. Hopefully, they will have some more players back for the Pomperaug game – they will need them as Pomperaug is not as bad as they looked against Masuk. Newtown appears to be over-reliant on the pass. That strategy may work against a Bethel, but it won’t against better secondaries.
What’s going on in Oxford? 95 points in their first 2 games – it looks like that program is maturing in a hurry.
It’s still hard to figure where everyone lines up after Masuk and then Bunnell in part because of the dominating performances of those two teams.
Stratford still gets no love …i cant understand it (dont get me wrong they played awful against the green wave but that was a bad game) their way better than what they score had shown…When was the last time the devils went 2 and 0…High school fans you all will be surprise
We’ll find out plenty about Stratford this week. Big game with Oxford.
Lets see what the “Elite” Teams and the teams that receive “no love” or Underrated teams do next year when they play an 11 game schedule in the regular season.How about an Ansonia/Masuk game ??
Ray,
So there are no mismatches in the NVL because all the teams Stink?
Jacobs of Staples had 3 ints not 2. Also it would probably be good to include his rushing yards too (about 75?).
Typo. Good catch. Thanks.
I moved out of Ct for a few years is NVL still in existense.It was like watching Pop Warner.It was painful to watch
mite have to take ridgefield this week in the slight upset!!
All this hate for the NVL…
the non-violent league?
@ sean patrick are you going to attend the startford vs oxford game
high school fan-were you clamoring for a masuk-ansonia game the last 20 years?
how bout you old scc fans that sais derby would win 7 games every year in the nvl?
@ray brown — Y’know, I’m amazed. That’s actually a good point. People were saying that. Clearly, Derby has it somewhat easier now… No Week 4 showdowns at West Haven or vs. Fairfield Prep. But not completely.
dave k-how about the scc hiding its weaknesses in football by forming two divisions-what do you think they did that for
@ Ray Brown
No,I was not calling for an Ansonia/Masuk game the last 20 years.Although I would not have minded seeing that matchup the last 10 years or so.Ansonia as great as its program is needs to step outside the NVL WHEN opportunity presents itself .Please do not mention 2009 when they stepped outside the NVL to defeat a D 2 SCC team in a rebuilding year{5-5}Hillhouse.
2011 is an 11 game schedule and Ansonia will traditionally have another team of the decade.If that’s the case lets get together the Chargers and Panthers,no doubt both are going to be top 10 teams in preseason 2011 poll,as both schools cannot be more than 15 miles apart.
The SCC does it right when it divides up its Divisions.This tends for competitive games most of the year.If you doubt this I challenge you to pick winners of all SCC games in any given week,except crossover week,and I will pick all NVL game winners for that week also.
If the NVL Did their divisions correctly by power rankings their DI would consist of {And would play each other EVERY year}:
Ansonia
Naugatuck
Holy Cross
Woodland
Wolcott
Seymour{D 2 If program continues to falter}
How many years in a row did the best teams conveniently not play during the regular season ?
I can think of the Woodland /Holy Cross and Ansonia/Holy Cross games in the last 5 or so years.
SCC is arguably best league in state and not just in football.Also hockey basketball and baseball. NVL is at bottom of league strength so why pay ray brown any attention?Its ridiculous to even debate this issue with him.Hes sarcastic,rude,and wrong.
The FCIAC is on a rotating schedule every 3 years. All the schools schedules have to rotate since there are 19 teams in the league. That is why they dont play BC.
I used to live in the valley and have since moved to FCIAC territory and to be honest the NVL could not contend with the big boys of the FCIAC. NC, Ridgefield, Staples, St. Joes, Central, Greenwich, Darien, Trumbull. With exception of Darien and St. Joes, all these schools are LL. The NVL I believe only has Naugy as LL. This make a difference believe me. Granted the bottom of the FCIAC is weak but the bottom of the NVL is worse. Different game and speed down state. The NVL was solid at the top a few years ago with Ansonia and Seymour but Seymour now has taken big steps back and Ansonia is not what is was when they best New London a few years ago.
No debate here, FCIAC is the best league in the State. Look at the results. Staples LL runner up (did not play well, I was there), Riddefield 9-1 no playoffs, Central 9-1 no playoffs, New Canaan Champs, St. Joe Champs! Pretty impressive I would say.
Jeff, for the sake of debate, I will debate you. I’m looking at the results. The SCC won state titles in the largest two (and most difficult) classes last year, including one head-to-head against an FCIAC team, and were ranked #1-2 at the end of the year. They both had regular season losses. IMHO, the best two teams in the state this year are also in the SCC.
Ridgefield’s 9-1 record was not terribly impressive given they lost to the one good team they played. Would they have been 9-1 had they played an SCC Division I schedule? No thinking person would say yes.
I am not saying the SCC is hands down better top-to-bottomn (and yes Ray, the bottom is not good) but the fact is that the FCIAC’s rotating schedule pads records and provides an easier path to the playoffs than for an SCC Division I team.
@Roto
Ridgefield did come back from a 20 point deficit @ home vs Wilbur Cross to win by 1 in 2009.
Most likely they would have lost 3-5 games in the SCC Division 1 with probable losses to:
Notre Dame
Cheshire
Hamden
Xavier
West Haven
i never once stated that the nvl was a better football league than the fciac–it shouldnt be its schools are a lot smaller——but there werent too many teams a couple years back that would have scheduled a team like ansonia.i might be wrong but ansonia has more state titles than new caanan and masuk put together.you dont play league teams in the playoffs.as far as going outside the league—-again ansonia will play any body any time.theyre a little down this year but 2011 they return every player except one and have a powerful freshman team waiting.they will be back in the top 3 where they belong
Actually you are dead wrong… New Canaan (according to the Connecticut State Football Records Book) which I took the liberty to look at because thus far all of your agruements haven’t been backed up by anything but your bias opinion….
Ansonia is behind New Canaan in State Championships…. Stamford is number 2 and New Britain is number 1
New Canaan #3 and Ansonia #4
Can we all vote to kick ray brown off the island??? Anyone with me on this?
How long ago did Stamford and New Britian win all theses championships ? How many since coach Cochran left ? New Canaan is amazing but recently has beaten sub-par teams for their rings, a la Ansonia back in the day, according to you haters. Ansonia has and will continue to pile up the wins, stop the hate. Stamford and New Britian aren’t of their caliber, you’re off the island too.
@therealkramer. I’m pretty sure that’s a typo. If you look closely at that list you will see New Canaan listed again at #7 (below Hillhouse and Hand). I believe that is the correct place for New Canaan, since they have won 9 CIAC state titles and I don’t see any unofficial state titles listed for them in the record book.
@Roto – You beat me to the punch.
Looking at that state record book for state titles. … It looks like a typo, but then again maybe not.
NC is listed twice, and I think the second one is closer to being accurate. Scanning pre-1976 state champs, I don’t see New Canaan with any unofficial titles. According to CIAC records (casciac.org) They have 8 CIAC and 8 total.
However, the school (at http://www.ramfootball.com) lists 19 state championships. Believe they’re counting CIAC Merit Awards, which was the CIAC’s proxy for state championships. They typically chose three or more teams from each class. I believe the Record Book includes such awards in the total state titles won.
Personally, I don’t think Merit awards should be counted as a state championship, because they were awarded until 1980, four years into the CIAC’s playoff era. Then again, it’s a legitimate “title” I suppose.
Here’s what the New Canaan website lists as state titles (pre-CIAC tournament): 1971,1970, 1969, 1968, 1965, 1960, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1950
All of these teams (except one) were CIAC merit award winners.
In 1971 they finished 9-1 and No. 5 in the NHR poll — which was the only one run at the time. (Stamford No. 1)
In 1970 they finished 9-1 and No. 4 in the NHR poll — Stamford was No. 1
In 1969 they have a legit claim, finished 10-0, won the FCIAC championship (which was the only championship game of its kind back then) and finished No. 2 in the NHR poll — Derby was No. 1
In 1968 they have another legit claim, finished 10-0, won FCIAC championship, but finished No. 3 in the NHR poll. — That’s the year West Haven finished No. 1 with at team that’s widely recognized as one of the best teams in CT history.
In 1965, they were 7-2 but didn’t even finish in the top 10. — Rippowam was No. 1.
In 1960, they were 8-1. …This is one of the few years a state poll wasn’t compiled. Fairfield Prep won the Waskowitz Trophy, which was the state sports writers’ championship trophy.
In 1954, New Canaan was 5-1 in Class S and they won a Merit Award. Not ranked. — Notre Dame-WH was 9-0, voted No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 10, and won t he Waskowitz Trophy.
In 1953, New Canaan was 6-1 and received a Merit Award in Class S (with Putnam). Not ranked. — Stamford was No. 1 and the Waskowitz winner.
In 1952 … they were 4-3 and didn’t receive a Merit Award. Not ranked. I have no idea why this is listed. — Stamford was No. 1 and the Waskowitz winner.
In 1950 … they were 5-2-1 and won a Merit Award along with Putnam in Class S. Not ranked. — Stamford was no. 1 and the Waskowitz Winner
I’ll have to bring the Record Book guys in on this. Wondering how many other schools claim merit awards as state titles and if that was even legit. Who knows? I’m guessing it was standard form back then. There were lots of claims to state titles being thrown around, from what I’ve been told. But that was before my time.
Bob Barton from the New Haven Register could give us a definitive answer on these questions.
Prior to 1976, when the state championship games first took place, the CIAC would reward certain teams in different classifications (enrollments)with MERIT awards which would represent in their opinion who was worthy of State Championship recognition. As much as seven or eight teams a year received these awards and thus declared themselves STATE CHAMPS.
The New Haven Register also had awarded one high school team each year who they felt was deserving to be called state champion. The
State also had the “Washkowitz” trophy who they presented to who they felt was the best team. In reality you are talking about ten state champs each year that every school declared themselves STATE CHAMPIONS.
Once the games were actually played on the field Ansonia High School has won more State Tittles than anyone. ST. Joes, Cheshire, Daniel Hand, New Canaan, Greenwich, New London and Bloomfield have won numerous state tittles but not as many as Ansonia
@Frank Costanza — Right. What I said.
State Championships are impressive, but seem to come in streaks for some schools. What I find most impressive about Ansonia is that they just keep winning…year, after year, after year.
Winning percentage by decade:
1920′s #2 Ansonia .674 51-21-14
1930′s #4 Ansonia .634 48-25-13
1940′s #2 Ansonia .767 65-18-5
1950′s #2 Ansonia .640 58-32-3
1960′s What happpened?
1970′s #2 Ansonia .810 84-19-2
1980′s #1 Ansonia .866 97-15
1990′s #1 Ansonia .897 104-12-0
@Dr. Von Nostran
Very Impressive Indeed.You will also see that the 2 decades that Ansonia had their best winning percentage is when they moved into an NVL
League Schedule.I am not sure what year Ansonia moved into the NVL.Also remember Ansonia did not fare very well when they moved up in Class LL in the state playoffs in the late 1970′s.