Montrell Dobbs (278 yards) slices through Derby/O'Brien Tech's defense in Friday's wild 33-32 victory at Jarvis Stadium.
If you thought Week 6 was nuts, let’s try to recap Week 7.
Derby/O'Brien Tech QB Ray Kreiger throws a pass in the first half of Ansonia's 33-32 victory Friday.
And this is just Friday night.
(ahem)
Ansonia beats Derby/O’Brien Tech 33-32 in one of the craziest (half) games I’ve witnessed.
Derby/O’Brien Tech, which was given virtually no shot by anyone outside of its own hamlet, came in throwing haymakers behind Ray Kreiger, Jake Tomczak and Rashawn Hendricks. The Red Raiders had Ansonia up against the ropes at halftime 26-13, yet Ansonia… refused… to die. Montrell Dobbs runs 50 times for 278 yards, scores and then punches in the winning a 2-point conversion run with 2:18 remaining, a play that coach Tom Brockett attributed to his team’s weak kicking game, rather than a bold move.
Derby needed one more haymaker, but got one from Ansonia freshman Arkeel Newsome instead, a pickoff at the 10 that ended the game, basically lifted Ansonia into the NVL title game and — and — punched its Class S playoff tickets.
I said Derby needed the upset to revive the rivalry. Well, Derby didn’t win, but the rivalry is revived with an extraordinary effort, a wild ending and gutsy efforts on both sides.
That was one game.
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Hand rolls previously unbeaten West Haven, 35-13.
More extraordinary efforts, this time coming from a team that basically looked lost in a 38-14 loss to Notre Dame-West Haven a few weeks ago.
It was the Westies that looked lost this time. Zach Miller completed 15 of 22 passes for 249 yards and four touchdowns, three of which to Alec Pacelli (6 catches 141 yards). The Westies got down 21-0, scores on fourth down with seconds left in the first half, only to let Hand march right back down the field and score again. It was 28-7 at halftime.
That was ballgame.
Chris Daniel catches a pass for McMahon in its 21-12 victory over Ridgefield Friday, Oct. 29, 2010.
How about this one: McMahon topples Ridgefield 21-12
Probably the shocker of the night, in fact. Ridgefield gets one touchdown following a McMahon turnover, and a field goal, and that’s it. Otherwise, the game was all McMahon. Damien Vega throws two touchdown passes and safety Marc Lugo picks off two passes and Ridgefield’s FCIAC championship hopes are all but dashed.
As for its state playoff hopes, well, the second loss drops Ridgefield into a large group of Class LL schools on the bubble. They’re in 12th place (as of Saturday morning) and still three weeks of football left.
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What else, what else…
Well, I took the fans’ suggestion and jetted over to Masuk-Bethel. As I feared, it was no contest. Joe Diaz returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and Masuk beats another team by a 45-0 spot. (As promised, I was gone by 28-0 in the second, off to Ansonia-Derby).
This was a pretty key game for Masuk actually because of what happened at Bowen field in New Haven. Xavier, No. 1 Xavier, scored just one long touchdown pass, got a field goal and then leaned heavily on its defense to stop Hillhouse from pulling off the upset.
The Academics scored to pull within 9-6, then had the ball at the Xavier 20 with 30 seconds remaining. An incompletion in the end zone, a stop, a sack and then another incompletion (video at right), and Xavier survived 9-6 in a head scratching score that could sway votes (but how many?) someone else’s way.
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What else, what else…?
Naji Rucker runs the ball for Central in its 33-16 victory over Stamford, Oct. 29, 2010.
Shabashe McIntosh and Central beat Stamford to keep its state hopes alive. …Pomperaug’s state playoff hopes are looking rosier with its fifth straight victory. …Kyle Vignone helps Farifield Prep wins its first SCC Division I game since 2008 with a victory over Hamden …
Here’s the roundup from Friday night and lookit some of these, wild, wild scores, especially in the SCC.
Law 49, Branford 35 (congrats to Law for Win No. 1) … And, no this wasn’t a basketball game: Notre Dame-WH 55, Wilbur Cross 42 … North Haven outlasts Trinity Catholic, which was playing without coach Peter Stokes. Stokes was hospitalized with a heart problem, but we understand he kept in touch with his team throughout the night and is expected to make a nice recovery. …Brookfield killed Stratford by a rather shocking 49-7 score. …Naugatuck beat Kennedy 36-13 to keep pace with Ansonia as we head toward Thanksgiving. …But Woodland also won, setting up a showdown between the Greyhounds and Hawks for the NVL Copper Division title.
Lots more to come on this Saturday.
We already have one final, Staples defeats winless Ludlowe 35-10 in an intriguing game that saw Staples QB Chet Pajolek go down on one of Staples’ first possessions (and miss the remainder of the game), and saw Ludlowe on the Staples 1-yard line trailing 7-3 early.
But Tyler Jacobs put on a show, making four of Staples’ seven interceptions (one for a touchdown) and the Wreckers ultimately put this one away.
Here’s your Infinite Live Scoring Blog for today.
Hey, SPB…it’s RAY Kreiger.
He’s a hell of an athlete.
@Remmy – Whoops. Thanks
No prob.
That video clip says it all. Wow.
Got to see Staples sleepwalk and stumble over lowly Ludlowe followed by NC race past Wilton. Granted Staples’ QB got hurt but Staples looked more like a freight train than a race car, vice versa of NC. To be truly dominant, which neither team is, you need to be a little of both.
For example, you can’t run on Staples but you can throw underneath on them all day… if you have the time. You can tell the d-line is well-coached by the way no matter who they rotate in they adjust their gaps, find seams, and put pressure on the QB who more often than not panics and throws the ball up for grabs. When the Ludlowe QB did have time, he completed many of his passes for big chunks, picking on one corner so much that the safety had a field day cutting over for numerous ints. Even in nickel on second and third down Staples looked to be playing a cover-4 which fast teams don’t do unless playing prevent late in games.
NC’s o-line did a good job today giving Milano plenty of time to find Macari over the middle for huge gains. NC can score in an instant. As I’ve said before, if Staples has a kid who can burn you deep, I’ve not seen it. They didn’t even pretend to use their wideouts for a reverse, end-around, etc. just blocking. NC OTOH is not a team that gives you confidence they can mount a seven minute drive late in the game to milk the clock like Staples. NC also is vulnerable to a good running game whereas Staples stuffs the run all day long. Both Staples and NC need to scrap their special teams and start over. I was always taught speed on special teams stops big plays. Hello, anyone listening?
@Scott – Nice analysis
Staples was playing with a number of injuries besides the QB, Kelly, and Burke. Scott, Burke and Kelly are Staples’ burners. Kelly should be back soon and Burke might be back for the playoffs, or so I hear.
i dont care who is hurt..its scary when its ludlowe you are stumbling against. nc looked like nc today, but they need to win a big one ie. greewich for me to hop on their bandwagon. staples better get healthy because trumbull is going to blow into town no matter what the record and give the wreckers all they can handle. kind of a boring week of games, but kudos to mcmahon on a big win over dormant ridgefield. i still see staples playing darien for fciacs. should be a good game because both team offenses are sub-par, but they have fantastic defenses. no matter the outcome of that game darien still loses to nc on thanks giving by 2 scores or more, at least if they play the nc i saw yesterday against a good wilton team.
I recall last year all eyes being on Staples when they lost their #1 QB prior to taking on Ludlowe where they also stumbled badly, and we all thought (hoped?) their season was over. No matter how probable #1 returning, you know Staples is going to give #2 many more reps than normal and, like last year, figure out how best to utilize him. Against Ludlowe Staples was able to switch to Wildcat but they seemed to have only a handful of plays. I expect that to change. Staples and NC are very similar in that they adjust their schemes to the kids, not vice versa. A kid isn’t going to be the #2 QB on Staples as a Freshman if he’s not immensely talented. No excuses next week for them against a Wilton team where NC exposed all their weaknesses!
Not many teams wouldn’t “stumble” when playing with a freshman QB in an option offense. Explain how Staples’ offense is “sub-par” please.
New Canaan must win out in order to qualify for the state tournament. Then they might still need some help. It won’t be easy (Greenwich Central and Darien} NC gets very little bonus points this year because they will play three teams that won’t get a single win. Acutally Bassick should beat Harding so thats 10 bonus points. Milano can throw the ball-he is much better than I thought-five interceptions in his last two games though.
Wilton will give Staples a game for a half before the wreckers team speed takes over.
Congratulations to Derby for a spirited effort against a very good Ansonia team. This was a good wake-up call for the Chargers.
Don’t look now but NDWH is not out of the CLASS L race,even with three losses. Ditto Greenwich with two.
Since I have been following high school football the most underacheiving team has to be Ridgefield. What gives with that team. Ditto Norwalk.
Staples is lucky they don’t play the regular season schedule NC does. Staples is also lucky they are not in the stacked Class L with the state’s best team, Masuk, like NC is. Xavier can’t move the ball, and would lose to Masuk by 3 TD’s.
Slick Rick,
Staples is good and can play with anybody. Xavier is too one dimentional to win a state title. Masuk is the most balanced team in the state. A team like New CAnaan is not as talented as Masuk but they could score with Masuk and give them some trouble.
Darien is undefeated and under the radar. no one ever talks about them. Possible LL semi-final Xavier vs. Staples
West Haven vs. Glastonbury
L semi=final Masuk vs New Canaan
Darien vs. Hand or Bunnell
i like the Class L match-ups the best.
The sky is falling! Staples gave up first downs to Ludlowe!Pack up your families and move to Monroe!
Let’s see, they lost their starting QB with the score at 0-0. They brought in a freshman and rang up 35 points. Their defense gave up a whopping 3 points and had 8-9 turnovers. Their safety / RB dominated the game and is a force. Their d-line / LB’s proved impossible to run against. oh yeah, their coaching staff is not too bad either.
There are a 4-6 really good teams in the state. Staples seems to be part of that pack.
Joe Willie, you forgot to add “against a winless team”. What if that were Trumbull, or even Wilton? As NC can attest, sometimes your wake up call comes a point too late. Staples was fortunate it was Ludlowe. Yes, though, for sure Staples is one of the 4-6 best teams in the state (#2 is a fair ranking IMO) even though obviously a work in progress which you know with that coaching staff is going to keep getting better once they figure out how to solve the problems we all know about.
Joe Willie…and what exactly happened to Staples in its biggest game last year? LOSS! Can’t wait to see this team tested. I know its not their fault, but their scheduoe is a joke….it has been for the last 2 years. If they played in Class L this year, no way would they win a state title.
In looking at the top LL teams right now, I think we’re headed for some shake-ups…
#3 Hall has two of their toughest opponents coming up, Windsor and Conard. Both teams are 5-2, but they are both solid teams and Windsor’s schedule is much tougher than Hall’s. Hall could very well end up 8-2…
jeb has West Haven in the LL semi-finals, yet they are currently only ranked 9th and they will probably lose to Xavier next week. This should knock them out of the playoff picture entirely…
Look for Southington to lose to Cheshire in their final regular season game and drop out of the playoff picture. Cheshire has got to be the best 3-4 team in the state. They’ve lost very close games to very good teams…
Xavier and Glastonbury ‘should’ win their remaining three games. I don’t know enough about the rest of the top LL teams to comment on them.
My thoughts on Class L:
Masuk wins out, #1 seed
Wethersfield could lose to Maloney, but you can pencil in to playoffs.
Darien goes 9-1 at worst in games that count, you can pencil them in.
Hand won’t lose again, pencil them in.
Naugatuck: could conceivably lose to both Woodland and Ansonia. I wouldn’t pencil them in yet.
Bristol Eastern won’t lose. Could be a weak high seed.
So that’s five teams in, six if Naugy beats Woodland this week.
After that, less is clear. Everyone else is fighting it out for 2-3 spots.
I think two of Jeb’s semifinal teams (Bunnell and New Canaan) may not even go to the playoffs, particularly Bunnell. It is quite possible all teams with 2 losses now, lose again. If that is the case, ND-WH would leapfrog all of them although they would still probably be on the outside looking in.
Curly, in 2009 in a tough class LL there were five 9-1 teams at the top. Staples, at 10-0, beat three of them (including Central that crushed NC) and lost to the fourth in OT. They also beat seven-win Greenwich, six-win Ludlowe, and five-win Trumbull. And they did this despite losing their multi-year #1 QB and having numerous kids playing with casts on.
Anyone seen both Hand and Masuk . What are your thoughts on that match up .
@HPD. Go to http://www.gogreenknights.com (Notre Dame’s broadcast website), click “Replay TV-Footbal”, then “Friday, October 15, 2010. Notre Dame 38, Hand 14″ to see Hand on video. They are certainly beatable.
I still think Notre Dame-WH would score more points on Masuk then anyone else in Class L, but they have shot themselves in the foot too mmany times to get the chance.
I have seen both. On Paper Masuk should win but there is something about the Hand team that I just like. They don’t make mistakes, they scheme well with smart kids to execute it and I think they will hang around in that game should it come to fruition. I could be 100% wrong but something just tells me I’m not.