It’s been a relatively busy week in offseason high school football.
First, the 10th Governor’s Cup between Rhode Island and Connecticut all-star teams, kicks off Saturday night at Southington’s Fontana Field. The Hall of Fame Classic comes two weeks after. Pomperaug elevated Dave Roach to head football coach. And a bunch of teams culminated spring practice with their annual (color)-(color) scrimmages. Also, we know the 2011 playoff divisions.
Here’s a run-down of the stories published locally over the last week or so.
Pomperaug names Roach new head football coach
This caught no one by surprise. From the moment we heard coach Chuck Drury might be stepping down to join his son Michael at Southington, Roach’s name was the first from everybody’s lips. He’s a teacher, he’s an alum, he was a no-brainer for a school trying to suppress transitional chaos stemming from the first significant regime change in 35 years.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be major changes in Southbury. Philosophical, organizational and tactical tweaks aside, there have been rampant whispers that other coaches from Pomperaug’s staff will be jumping ship shortly. Like we’ve said, what looked like a bona fide contender could be indistinguishable from 2010.
Ansonia moves up to Class M and other (less significant) CIAC football division shuffling
The official packet hasn’t been released, but the 2011 CIAC playoff classes are set. This was a separate post from late last week, but worth mentioning again in case you missed it. Check your team’s CIAC playoff division.
We have updated this slightly since the original post. Derby’s placement dropped from Class M to Class S over the weekend, presumably its loss of the O’Brien Tech enrollment hadn’t been counted.
Spring Game Updates
The Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time and Danbury News-Times published a variety of spring reports from their immediate coverage areas last week.
- Stamford eager to prove its back and here to stay – Stamford Advocate
- White Warriors beat Blue Blazers in McMahon scrimmage - Stamford Advocate
- Spring practice kicks into gear for Danbury football – News-Times
- Milano sets the tone for New Canaan- Stamford Advocate
- Norwalks Ireland lays the groundwork in first camp – Stamford Advocate
- Massie becoming the man for Staples – Stamford Advocate
- Trinity Catholic works on building chemistry - Stamford Advocate
- Greenwich shows promise in Red and White Game - Greenwich Time
VIDEOS: Action from the 2011 Red and White game – “Extra Time” sports blog - Meanwhile, off the Hearst CT grid, the NVL Football Blog has been busy checking out the NVL spring practices.
All-Star Season
As mentioned, the Governor’s Cup all-star game between Connecticut and Rhode Island kicks off Saturday, June 25 at 4:30. The game is being held at Southington’s Fontana Field due to field renovations at the game’s traditional spot at Rentschler Field. Tickets are $8.
The all-star committees from Rhode Island and Connecticut, along with the YouthFootball Coaches Association will be holding a free youth football clinic at 1 p.m. before the game. Registration is at noon.
To purchase tickets contact John Fontana, P.O. Box 632, Southington, CT 06489 or call 860-628-4122, fax 860-628-7652 or e-mail: jfontana01@snet.net. For additional information go to www.cthssports.com.
Here is the Connecticut roster for the Governor’s Cup
Two weeks later is the New Haven-Fairfield County Hall of Fame Classic at West Haven’s Ken Strong Stadium.
The rosters for the Hall of Fame Football Classic are listed here. Game time is Friday, July 8, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7. Visit www.newhavenfootballfoundation.com for more information.
From upstate:
An absolutely wonderful Father’s Day column from Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant on the subject of Fermi football coach Bill Beeler: Shooting Makes Fermi Coach, Manchester Officer Beler Appreicate Father’s Day More.
Beeler, if you recall, was shot in the shoulder during a hostage standoff in Manchester a month ago. He’s recovering with spirits flying. Great to hear. Great read.
Notebook
Notre Dame-Fairfield released some news on a pair of their athletes, Nigel Beckford and Theo Tumba, earning MVP honors in their respective classes at the National Underclassman Scouting Combine in Hartford. Click here for more details.
Add: League changes
A quick glance at the Connecticut football leagues shows that the CCC has realigned its monstrous conference again into more of an SCC model. The league goes one further than the SCC, with three divisions split into east and west. Division I has 10 teams (5 each); Division II has 12 teams (6 each) and Division III has 10 teams (5 each).
No other changes are listed (yet).
Camp Listing
From July 15-17, Jack Cochran’s ‘The Program’ football camps will be hosting a several summer clinics. The Friday Night Lights QB-WR Academy; the Dwight Freeney D-Line, pass rush academy; the Andrew Pinnock running back adcademy and the All-American linebacker academy. Go to http://www.theprogram1.com for more details or contact Jack Cochran at (860) 748-8899 or cochranjack@att.net.
Anything else?
Thanks to @BriUConn on Twitter for correcting me on the day of the Gov cup. It’s Saturday afternoon.
Did anyone go to the Shelton game. Who is their new announcer? He was great. First game that I enjoyed listening to since their other announcer passed away a few years back. Smart move.
any updates on how New Canana, Darien or Greenwich looked, from people who went and aren’t bias?
Pomp has a lot of athletic kids coming back and should do well-despite the coaching changes.
Is Croce staying at Pomperaug? I remember a few months back there were rumors about him going to Sacred Heart.
I just recently heard that Pomp will be losing their QB to a prep school,if thats the case they just went from a top tier team to a mediocre team overnight. Why would the father do that for the kids senior year? and he’s a coach on top of it,doesnt make any sense
The Croces leaving Pomp is not going to hurt that program, it’s what best for both them and the team.
Speaking of SWC QBs, what is going on with Masuk’s Cochran? He was a Jr. last year, is he headed to JC or college because of his age?
How could you say that losing their best player in the QB that it isn’t going to hurt the program? The coach I could see,I miss the ” hammer” anyway
He’s is one of several very good football players on that team, don’t think he is the best player though.
Croce is 95% staying at Pomp this year. My feeling is that he is looking for other options where he can be the head guy. After all, he didn’t get the Pomp HC job.
His kid, Kellen, will not be playing for Pomp this year, I am told.
Kellen will be going to gunnery for his senior year but nobody is sure if coach croce will stay
Sounds like sour grapes to me from the croce perspective, anyone who witnessed his play calling at both holy cross and pomperaug will tell you that he had his two kid’s best interests at heart more than that of the teams as a whole. As a pomperaug fan we can rest assured that he won’t cost us any games in an attempt to showcase the talents of his child. Panther pride will sustain just fine without his middling tactics
Very well said Perspective
You people bashing Coach Croce about the best interest of his sons over the team are so far off its not even funny. The older son Mike probably would have had every record in the book if they threw the ball more( he averaged 13 passes a game for his career),and the younger son probably should have played more as a soph but didn’t even get into the state playoff games. He has gotten a lot of kids into college and cares about the kids as individuals and I know as a former player of his he would do anything to help me and has. You guys sound like disgruntled people,he has done nothing but win wherever he has gone. Also its my understanding that coach Croce never even applied to be the head coach at Pomp,maybe you should check your facts before you write stuff down
Then who in your opinion is the “best player” on Pomperaugs team next year? It’s definitely the QB
Mr. Perspective, I challenge you to give concrete examples of games that were lost due to the alleged play calling in the best interest of Coach Croce’s two sons. I imagine you really can not come up with any. From what I recall, Holy Cross won a state championship – only losing one game to Ansonia (in the pouring rain/wind). Last year, PHS had a decent team that only lost to a powerhouse Masuk team and very good Brookfield team. The previous season, their only loss was in the state finals. Don’t post non-sense without backing it up – makes you sound like a disgruntled parent and god knows there are enough of them at PHS.
If you haven’t signed up already, be sure to sign up for the Big Skill Clinic at New Canaan High School on July 9th. For more info, check out bigskillclinic.com.