The pre-tournament writers and coaches polls have been unveiled.
Still a relatively tight race between Masuk and Xavier for the No. 1 spot. Xavier holds the lead in the traditional writers (NHR) and the coaches polls.
The CSWA poll has the two teams tied at the top, fittingly I think.
There are quite a few scenarios fluttering about on how some teams might finish No. 1 after the state playoffs. How can Masuk surpass Xavier if Xavier wins the title? Is there any way somebody else (New Canaan or Hand?) can surpass both to claim the top spot.
Discuss all you want. Below are the state polls for Week 11.
♦♦♦♦
NHR STATE MEDIA POLL
|
Team
|
Record
|
Pts.
|
LAST
|
|
|
1
|
Xavier (14)
|
10-0
|
700
|
1
|
|
2
|
Masuk (9)
|
10-0
|
688
|
2
|
|
3
|
Berlin |
10-0
|
570 | 4 |
|
4
|
New Canaan
|
9-1
|
562
|
5 |
|
5
|
Hand
|
9-1
|
441
|
8 |
|
6
|
Norwich Free Academy | 10-0 |
438
|
7 |
|
7
|
Staples
|
9-1
|
407
|
9 |
|
8
|
Darien
|
10-1 |
380
|
3 |
|
9
|
Trumbull |
9-2
|
321
|
10
|
|
10
|
Glastonbury | 9-1 | 290 | NR |
| Other teams receiving votes: Naugatuck (9-1), 253; Ansonia (9-1), 226; West Haven (8-2), 192; Montville (9-1), 155; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (10-0), 131; North Haven (9-1), 91; New London (8-2), 70; Bristol Eastern (9-1) and Notre Dame-West Haven (7-3), 50; St. Joseph (7-3), 30; Windsor (8-2), 17; Southington (8-2), 11; Cheshire (5-5), 10; Brookfield (8-2) and Woodland (7-3), 8; Gilbert/NW Regional (8-2), Hyde (7-3), and Middletown (7-3), 7. | ||||
| The following voted:Marc Allard, Norwich Bulletin; Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam-Acorn; Sean Patrick Bowley, Connecticut Post; Don Boyle, Sporting News CT; Jim Bransfield, Middletown Press; Bryant Carpenter, Meriden-Record Journal; George DeMaio, WELI; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Matt Doran, Norwalk Hour; Kevin Duffy, Danbury News-Times; Noah Finz, WTNH-8; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; John Holt, WFSB-3; Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American; Ken Lipshez, Valley Publishing Co.; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Times; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate; John Silver, Manchester Journal Inquirer; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Jimmy Zanor, Shore Line Newspapers. | ||||
♦♦♦♦
CSWA WRITERS POLL
|
Team
|
Record
|
Pts.
|
LAST
|
|
|
T1
|
Masuk (12)
|
10-0
|
348 | 2 |
|
T1
|
Xavier (12)
|
10-0
|
348 | 1 |
|
3
|
Berlin |
10-0
|
301 | 4 |
|
4
|
New Canaan
|
9-1
|
278 | T6 |
|
5
|
Norwich Free Academy |
10-0
|
250 | T6 |
|
6
|
Hand | 9-1 | 203 | T8 |
|
7
|
Staples
|
9-1
|
1980 | T8 |
|
8
|
Darien
|
10-1 | 177 | 3 |
|
9
|
Trumbull |
9-2
|
151 | NR |
|
10
|
Glastonbury | 9-1 | 138 | NR |
| Other teams receiving votes: Naugatuck 9-1 127; Montville 9-1 101; Ansonia 9-1 78; West Haven 8-2 54; Valley Regional/Old Lyme 10-0 50; New London 8-2 27; North Haven 9-1 17; St. Joseph 7-3 14; Notre Dame-West Haven 7-3 7; Conard 8-2 6; Windsor 8-2 6; Bristol Eastern 9-1 4; Hall 8-2 3; Brookfield 8-2 1; Middletown 7-3 1 | ||||
| The following voted: Marc Allard (Norwich Bulletin), Bob Barton (CT H.S. Football Record Book), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam Acorn), Jim Bransfield (Middletown Press), Kyle Brennan (Waterbury Republican), Ray Curren (Elm City Newspapers), George DeMaio (WELI Radio), Gerry deSimas (Collinsville Publishing Co.), Bill Donovan (WXLM 980 AM), Mark Fijalkowski (CT Sports Network), Dave Greenleaf (CCC website), Mike Guerrera (Southington Citizen), John Holt (WFSB Channel 3), Larry Kelley (Patch.com), Bob Lazzari (Valley Times), Greg Lederer (Cheshire Herald), Ken Lipshez (Valley Publishing Co.), Sean Patrick Bowley (Connecticut Post), Dave Phillips (Shoreline Times), Mike Pucci (New Haven Register), Paul Rosano (Meriden Record-Journal), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Mike Suppe (Hersam Acorn Newspapers), Tom Yantz (Hartford Courant) | ||||
♦♦♦
DAY OF NEW LONDON COACHES POLL
|
Team
|
Record
|
Pts.
|
LAST
|
|
|
1
|
Xavier (9)
|
10-0
|
382
|
1
|
|
2
|
Masuk (4)
|
10-0
|
372
|
2
|
|
3
|
New Canaan
|
9-1
|
306
|
5 |
|
4
|
Berlin
|
10-0
|
300
|
4
|
|
5
|
Hand |
9-1
|
270
|
8 |
|
6
|
Norwich Free Academy
|
10-0 | 256 |
7
|
|
7
|
Staples
|
9-1
|
204
|
9 |
|
8
|
Trumbull
|
9-2 |
190
|
NR |
|
9
|
Naugatuck |
9-1
|
157
|
NR |
|
10
|
Darien |
10-1
|
151
|
3 |
| Other teams receiving votes: Glastonbury (9-1), 137 points; Montville (9-1), 128; North Haven (9-1), 106; West Haven (8-2), 83; Ansonia (9-1), 65; Bristol Eastern (9-1), 52; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (10-0), 49; Conard-West Hartford (8-2), 35; St. Joseph-Trumbull (7-3), 34; Wethersfield (9-1), 17; Notre Dame-West Haven (7-3), 10; Cheshire (5-5), 8; New London (8-2), 7. | ||||
| The following voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; Chuck Drury, Pomperaug-Southbury; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Sean Marinan, Xavier-Middletown; Sal Morello, Middletown; John Murphy, Masuk-Monroe; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden. | ||||
Xavier should have 2-3 losses. They will fall to the class L champion.
Masuk has been the most impressive football team in the state. They should finish the year #1 in every poll.
NC should be ranked higher!!!!!
Look for Ansonia to make a bold statement tonight. 46-12
I would expect argument between the two likely #1 ranking contenders to be long and intense (and very much loyalty/regionally driven as it is typically) during the next couple weeks to come. Most would agree that both Xavier and Masuk are in the the top tier to such a claim, followed by whomever wins LL or L if they are not the favorites Masuk and Xavier, followed closely by the darkhorse Berlin.
I look forward to hopefully reading some compelling points from peoples’ perspectives (crosses fingers). I believe I am with everyone (Sean included) in that I love seeing it all play out and having the fire stoked. I am hoping to see more fully thought out statements that take whomever survives these tests into account. Slandering what another quality team has accomplished is not a path to credibility, nor is making a statement that your team should simply be #1 hands down. The next steps on the descending staircase to ‘Opinions are Facts’ Purgatory are normally not too far behind (i.e. highly accomplished team stands in the way of the team you are rooting for, which equals the rival team sucks….Blah!!!).
@ SeanPB (& anyone else as well)- I have one last point as food for thought. Seeing as how we are in the playoffs, why not suspend the 50 point rule for the state tournament? I understand the rule and how it looks to maintain sportsmanship. I am of the opinion we can institute much better ways to accomplish this. When teams are playing in the post season, I am of the opinion that teams should be both accomplished and mature enough to take what the results of one game are. I think with something as important as the final state rankings on the line, it could remove one obstacle that currently can cloud the perception of the deserving teams.
Alright everyone, stay safe, warm and enjoy yourselves over the next couple weeks!
@NC RULES. Perhaps if they beat st joe’s they would be. But they are the highest ranked 1 loss team, be happy they stand where they are, which happens to be pretty high.
@ NC Rules – I laughed. Nicely done.
I know everyone hates the 50 point rule, but that equates to 7 touchdowns. That’s already quite a beating. My feeling is, at 50 points, your starters should be out of the game. Let the backups play the game though, without penalty for additional scores. If a JV player happens to break a tackle, or intercept a pass, he should be able to score. It’s sad that things like this need to legislated. JV players, no long passes, no trick plays….simple enough.
Even in the tournament there is no reason to beat a team by 60+ points. It accomplishes nothing.
To czar There is no statement To be made against Hyde. They arent very good.May be weakest team in any class
I happened to see the St. Joes vs New Canaan game. In truth both teams were awful. New Canaan committed four penalities in the first five minutes of the game. Both offenses sputtered for the first three quarters of the game. Only when NC felt they were going to lose they turned it on. St. Joes also turned it on. St. Joes clearly outplayed the Rams until the final four minutes. I have seen both teams play several times after that game and both are much improved.
@Scott
The 50 point rule should not be instituted in the playoffs.The CIAC and its playoff formula are responsible for setting up the games and should be held responsible for such mismatches.Either that or the playoff setups should be refined to minimize such contests.
SBP and some others are not in favor of an open division.By adding this division a true champion could be settled on the field of play.I am in the mind set of Little League Baseball where out of thousands of teams a single champion is crowned.
i agree hsff—no 50 point rule—–by the way i have a gut feeling that ansonia and naugy both come out flat tonite.also glastonbury is a very tough draw for staples and i smell upset in middletown.
@ NC RULES, Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
@ MasukRules
TOUCHE!