More poll madness this week.
While Masuk remained No. 1 in the traditional state media poll. Xavier leap-frogged the Panthers according to the ever-changing roster of CSWA voters. Xavier maintained the top spot in the Day Coaches’ poll.
Xaver No. 2 in anything probably is the last thing Cheshire wants.
If you didn’t notice last week, reigning No. 1 Falcons are playing with a chips on their shoulders. Xavier hosts the Rams in this week’s “Game of the Year” in the SCC. Batten down the hatches.
I have my choice. Both teams have their merits and demerits. You can go either way. But I’ll be watching that Cheshire-Xavier game very closely. Expect to see another media shift back to Middletown if Xavier crushes Cheshire the same way it crushed Notre Dame-West Haven and Foran.
Or… maybe you shouldn’t expect it. Expect nothing, actually. Just sit back and enjoy.
Also, man, North Haven holds off Hamden and it gets dumped like a bad date from the Top 10. Tough crowd, tough crowd.
Anyway. Onto the polls.
NHR
| Rank | Team (1st Place) | Record | Points | Last |
| 1. | Masuk (14) | 1-0 | 726 | 1 |
| 2. | Xavier (11) | 1-0 | 718 | 2 |
| 3. | New Canaan | 1-0 | 590 | 3 |
| 4. | Ansonia | 1-0 | 564 | 4 |
| 5. | Hand | 1-0 | 490 | 5 |
| 6. | Staples | 1-0 | 472 | 6 |
| 7. | West Haven | 1-0 | 382 | 8 |
| 8. | Cheshire | 1-0 | 372 | 10 |
| 9. | New London | 1-0 | 327 | 7 |
| 10. | Windsor | 1-0 | 300 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Bunnell (2-0), 277; North Haven (2-0), 237; Trumbull (1-0), 197; Middletown (2-0), 110; Glastonbury (2-0), 108; Darien (2-0), 93; Pomperaug (2-0), 68; Southington (2-0), 42; Montville (2-0), 41; Norwich Free Academy (1-0) and Shelton (2-0), 40; Berlin (2-0), 35; Conard (2-0), 33; Norwalk (2-0), 31; Cromwell (2-0), 26; Greenwich (2-0), 24; Naugatuck (2-0), 18; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (2-0), 15; Northwest Catholic (2-0), 12.
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, MSG Varsity; Kevin Duffy, Danbury News-Times; Tom Evans, Norwalk Hour; Noah Finz, WTNH-8; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; John Holt, WFSB-3; Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American; Ken Lipshez, Patch/West Hartford News; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Dave Phillips, Shore Line Newspapers; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Mike Wollschlager, New Haven Register; Jimmy Zanor, Shore Line Newspapers.
DAY COACHES
| Rank | Team (1st Place) | Record | Points | Last |
| 1. | Xavier (8) | 2-0 | 378 | 1 |
| 2. | Masuk (5) | 2-0 | 366 | 2 |
| 3. | Ansonia | 2-0 | 302 | 3 |
| 4. | Cheshire | 2-0 | 280 | 5 |
| 5. | Hand | 2-0 | 280 | 4 |
| 6. | New Canaan | 2-0 | 271 | 6 |
| 7. | Staples | 2-0 | 207 | 7 |
| 8. | Windsor | 2-0 | 178 | 8 |
| 9. | Bunnell | 2-0 | 143 | T9 |
| T10.
T10. |
New London
West Haven |
1-0
2-0 |
125
125 |
T9
NR |
Also receiving votes: North Haven (2-0), 93 points; Greenwich (2-0), 71; Glastonbury (2-0), 70; Pomperaug-Southbury (2-0), 65; Montville (2-0), 49; Berlin (2-0), 43; Trumbull (1-0), 34; Shelton (2-0), 29; Northwest Catholic-West Hartford (2-0), 28; Naugatuck (2-0), 27; Middletown (2-0), 25; Darien (2-0), 24; Tie, Cromwell (2-0) and Holy Cross-Waterbury (2-0), 19; Bloomfield (2-0), 18; Southington (2-0), 17; Norwich Free Academy (1-0), 14; Ledyard (2-0), 8; Hall-West Hartford (2-0), 7.
The following coaches voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Craig Bruno, Bunnell-Stratford; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Rob Fleeting, Windsor; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Sean Marinan, Xavier-Middletown; John Murphy, Masuk-Monroe; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden.
CSWA
| Rank | Team (1st Place) | Record | Points | Last |
| 1. | Xavier (17) | 2-0 | 435 | 2 |
| 2. | Masuk (13) | 2-0 | 433 | 1 |
| 3. | New Canaan | 2-0 | 375 | 3 |
| 4. | Ansonia | 2-0 | 331 | 4 |
| 5. | Staples | 2-0 | 273 | 5 |
| 6. | Cheshire | 2-0 | 256 | 8 |
| T6. | Hand | 2-0 | 256 | 6 |
| 8. | Windsor | 2-0 | 202 | 10 |
| 9. | New London | 1-0 | 182 | 7 |
| 10. | West Haven | 2-0 | 131 | NR |
Also Receiving Votes: North Haven 2-0 128; Trumbull 1-0 113; Bunnell 2-0 90; Glastonbury 2-0 54; Middletown 2-0 53; Greenwich 2-0 39; Darien 2-0 37; Berlin 2-0 32; Valley Regional/Old Lyme 2-0 29; Pomperaug 2-0 27; Montville 2-0 25; Northwest Catholic 2-0 16; Norwich Free Academy 1-0 14; Conard 2-0 13; Bloomfield 2-0 10; Shelton 2-0 10; Southington 2-0 7; Cromwell 2-0 6; Norwalk 2-0 6; Hall 2-0 3; Ledyard 2-0 3; Naugatuck 2-0 3; Capital Prep/Classical Magnet 2-0 2; Farmington 2-0 2; Coventry/Windham Tech 2-0 1; St. Joseph 0-2 1; Torrington 1-1 1; Wilton 2-0 1
Voters: Brian Barreto (NVL Blog), Bob Barton (CT H.S. Football Record Book), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam Acorn), Jim Bransfield (Middletown Press), Kyle Brennan (Waterbury Republican-American), George DeMaio (WELI Radio), Gerry deSimas (Collinsville Publishing Co.), Bill Donovan (WXLM 980 AM), Mark Fijalkowski (CT Sports Network), Ted Glanzer (The Granbys Patch), John Goralski (Southington Observer), Dave Greenleaf (Bristol Press), Mike Guerrera (Southington Citizen), Larry Kelley (SE Conn Patch), Bob Lazzari (Valley Times), Greg Lederer (Cheshire Herald), Ken Lipshez (Farmington/W. Hartford Patch), Robert Mayer (Berlin Patch), Eric Montgomery (Minuteman Newspapers), Sean Patrick Bowley (Connecticut Post), Dave Phillips (Shoreline Newspapers), Pat Pickens (Fairfield Citizen-News), Mike Pucci (New Haven Register), Paul Rosano (Meriden Record-Journal), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Mike Suppe (Hersam Acorn Newspapers), Peter Vander Veer (Hersam Acorn Newspapers), Tom Yantz (Hartford Courant), Rich Zalusky (Willimantic Chronicle), Jimmy Zanor (Shore Line Times)
Masuk will end the year ranked #1 in every poll.
” Lets just all relax. The SCC (State Champions Conference) is clearly the best conference for football. Every year, if you make it through it, the best rises to the top. Each week there will be 2 – 3 ranked teams from the SCC in the Top Ten. How many SWC teams are ranked in the polls? FCIAC teams? Really, is there need for discussion? As for the best team in the state, Xavier of course. Now lets play football week to week (againest REAL teams aka SCC teams) and watch Xavier being Xavier. Just saying…….. “
@ X MAN, SCC best league no doubt, Masuk best team no doubt! The fact that you guys are playing in waht I consider the matchup of two top five teams in the state is a testament to the SCC, however why dont you guys beat an extremely formidable Cheshire squad this week before you keep chirping, cuz the Rams played you guys about straight up last year and they are much improved.
@perspective, Straight up? Three scores called back for “holding”. Really?
The swc has some good strong teams looking to get at the Masuk machine. Pomperaug, Newtown and Bunnell are all playing blowout football led by very good passing games and strong offensive lines. Yes Masuk is the team to beat, but the only real challenge in the regular season will come on Nov. 2 when they face off against Pomp at masuk , that is weather permitting of course. Casey is a marked man as well as he should be. I would not be surprised if he dosnt get injured before the play-offs. I don’t think the Masuk offensive line is as good as it could be this season. I also think that the defensive line is lacking on their pass rush and weak defensive ends. So until the panther vs panther game on Nov. 2 Masuk still rules !
The X-Men have a tougher ride to the play-offs than the Masuk Panthers is true and is the reason they should be ranked # 1 in the state. The X-Men have some class as a team , they could blowout their weaker competition by 50 pts. ,but unlike Masuk they put in the jv and let them take over the gameplay. They don’t have to embarrass their opponents just to stroke the coaches and a few players egos. That is why the X- Men deserve to be # 1. R-MAC
XAVIER SHOULD BE RANKED 1 SIMPLY ON STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE.
So let me just say i am a masuk alumni, and please dont see this as me being bias but you guys are blind in my opinion. All respect towards Xavier. R-mac you know nothing, Murphy puts his JV into games sometimes even before half time, he used to do this prior to the 50 point rule. Dont go talking disrespectful to a team calling them classless when you obviously dont know details.
Last year everyone talked smack about masuk having no real competition, yet in play offs they dominated everyone who wasnt SWC. Xavier controlled alot of games to but a few games they barely made it by. as far as harder schedule? have some respect for the teams in the SWC. brookfield, pomp, newtown, bunnel, they are contenders every year. and can hang around other FCIAC and SCC teams. Xavier is undefeated, and every year have a great team, as does masuk.
Masuk blows games out and hasnt been challenged by ANYONE but themselves since last year. And yeah 3 calls on holding that cost masuk but how many teams can make mistakes and still come out WAY ahead.
who cares about what divisions take up state polls. disrespecting a team is classless. until masuk actually loses a game or barely beats a team, they should be number one. games are won by outscoring opponents. its the other teams job to stop them. you cant take away facts, if xavier blew great teams out as well then id be defending them, but no one but new canann kept a close game to masuk, but after that half masuk literally owned them on both sides of the ball.