Archive for October, 2011

Notre Dame-WH at Shelton & Weston at Newtown (The Movies!)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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Time to grab the goodies and dim the lights for the final two highlight videos of Week 3. This should tide you over for a few hours before we publish a Wednesday night edition of the Guide to the Games as we bull straight ahead into Week 4.

Notre Dame-WH 28, Shelton 0

First, Notre Dame-West Haven’s 28-0 victory over Shelton at Finn Stadium.

Like many of the games played last Friday, this game was postponed due to lightning. Notre Dame’s offense moved the ball for most of the first half, but Shelton’s defense managed to hold. The only score was Eamon DeTorro‘s interception return touchdown for a 7-0 Notre Dame halftime lead.

The highlights pick up in the second half after a 70-minute lightning delay (giving me time to get there from across the Housatonic River). Undaunted, Notre Dame’s offense got in gear and scored three touchdowns while the defense held the Gaels (2-1) to 98 yards of total offense and, more important, off the scoreboard.

Amihr Bess ran for 131 yards and a score, Javon Grey had 105 yards and set up a score. As you’ll hear from Notre Dame coach Tom Marcucci, the win was a needed boost for the Green Knights. Notre Dame improved to 2-1 heading into Friday night’s clash vs. intracity rival West Haven (3-0).

WATCH

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Newtown 41, Weston 7

Next, we present first-half highlights from Newtown’s 41-7 victory over Weston the following day. This game never got played Friday night because of the thunder, rain and lightning.

The next day, Newtown unleashed some thunder and lightning of its own. “Thunder” Lou Fenaroli ran for 189 yards and four touchdowns while “Lightning” Dan Hebert returned a punt 85 yards for a score and intercepted two passes as the Hawks took advantage of seven Weston turnovers to win their third straight game.

Weston, which upset Brookfield 21-20 the week before, couldn’t get back sophomore back Dan Rogers or its offense moving against Newtown’s front. Not that the Trojans (2-1) didn’t have their chances. They pulled within 14-7 on a 65-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter.

But as the turnovers piled up, Newtown kept piling it on. The coup de grace was a fumbled exchange on the first series of the second half. Newtown recovered just 10 yards from the goal line and then scored to make it 27-7. Ballgame.

Newtown (3-0) travels to Southbury on Thursday, where it will face 3-0 Pomperaug in the biggest SWC game to date.

WATCH

Weekly Links: Ned talks Xavier, Duffy talks Masuk, IBD talks Boeing and video clips

Tuesday, October 4, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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The Day's Ned Griffen (at left, if you didn't know)

The Lonesome Polecat: The Day’s Ned Griffen catches up with Xavier

The hardest working writer in all of football took a trip to Middletown to check the Game of the Year of the Week, Cheshire at Xavier.

Among the discussions, Xavier’s new offensive coordinator and its suddenly not-so-impotent offense. There’s also a note about the last time Greenwich allowed more than 50 points in a game

(Hint: It’s been a long, long time).

Brookfield QB Boeing Brown


School Sports Stars Tackle Recruitment Game Online

Brookfield quarterback Boeing Brown is the cover boy on this article from Investors Business Daily. Yes, IBD.

We’re as shocked as anyone, but the story is definitely apropos. It’s about how recruits use various social media outlets — Facebook, Twitter, what have you — to help boost exposure to college football programs.

Brown has certainly been proactive in that department, perhaps more than any high school football player I’ve ever seen.

ADDED/UPDATED: Berks Catholic cancels Stamford trip… without telling Stamford

Late add from down Stamford-way, the planned Oct. 21 meeting between Stamford and Berks Catholic (Pa.) is apparently off. Berks Catholic booked a home date with Imhotep Charter of Philadelphia that same day. It only came to Stamford coach Bryan Hocter‘s attention because he just happened to randomly check out Berks’ schedule. Stamford AD Pete Samperi got in touch with the Berks Catholic coach, who told Samperi he made informed his principal of the change, but not his athletic director.

Samperi:

“I’m really upset now I was counting on the team as our 10th game. It makes a big deal in the standings, for the whole state, not just us. Now we are basically short a game and I’m waiting to hear from the CIAC what to do.”

The answer is, most likely, nothing. Stamford’s out of luck just two weeks from the scheduled date. It will probably be ruled a no-contest and the Black Knights will be stuck with just nine games.

This comes not long after Trumbull’s out-of-state game with Catholic Memorial (Mass.) was canceled after the lights went out in the second quarter of their Week 1 meeting. That, too, was ruled a no-contest.

Ah, the strange but true stories of bye week. Anybody wanna join the FCIAC as the 20th team? They’ll be your best friend.

Duffy: Masuk No. 2 again

Nothing we didn’t cover here, just a little more in depth from the News-Times’ Kevin Duffy. He starts with a cute story about New Milford coach Chuck Lynch‘s daughter and her take on the SWC juggernaut. He also chimes in on the fickle pollsters.

Around the SWC: Vote for SWC Player of the Week

More Duffy as he takes a closer look at the SWC. You can also vote for your SWC football player of the week.

Newsome wins CTPost Male Athlete of the Week

401 yards rushing, 5 touchdowns? No shock here.

NVL Football Blogguys on Week 4

Kyle and Remmy, your favorite semi-non-newspaper bloggers (semi, because Kyle freelances for the Republican-American) have been posting weekly video previews of the NVL season. If copious amounts of NVL news and analysis isn’t your thing, at least tune in to see what threads our boys are wearing this week. Very chic.

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Video: Fairfield Prep vs. Wilbur Cross and Rich Magdon ceremony

Fairfield Prep’s media department was hard at work this week compiling a video from last weekend’s victory over Wilbur Cross at Alumni Field. Lots of atmosphere captured, particularly the ceremony to honor former coach Rich Magdon for his decades of service to the Fairfield Prep program.

The dedication portion of the video begins at the 4:46 mark.

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Birdseysports Play of the Week

Of friends from Birdseye Sports covered the Darien-St. Joseph game. This week’s highlight is Peter Gesualdi’s acrobatic touchdown leap that gave Darien a 28-7 lead in the second quarter.

Included is yet another catch phrase, Oh my God, I don’t…. Yes! Yes! which, frankly, doesn’t ring as much as ‘Ain’t No Way.’

Keep trying Effusive-Fans-on-BirdsEye-Sports-videos. Keep trying.

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New London at Greenwich… THE MOVIE!

Our coworkers at the Greenwich Time have attempted to get some extra game highlights to help out yours truly. The equipment is limiting, but staff writer Scott Ericson did a fine job of capturing many of the touchdowns in Greenwich’s 51-33 loss to New London. So we helped him out by packaging all the highlights and postgame interviews onto an official video.

And, finally a couple of more football notebooks from elsewhere around the state:

NHR: Sheehan proving its doubters wrong

Despite just 31 players on its roster, Sheehan of Wallingford is 2-1.

ADD: Also curious quote from Woodland coach Tim Shea on about the NVL mindset before the Woodland-Law game.

“All week some of the other NVL coaches were e-mailing me, telling me to show what our league is made of. …”

Really?

Record-Journal’s Tuesday morning quarterback: It’s getting late early for Meriden teams

Story on the struggling Platt and Maloney football teams, plus notes from around here.

Hartford Courant: State and area rankings

The Courant’s state and area rankings. Funny how the state rankings includes just two of their local teams.

The Elite 8 for Week 4

Monday, October 3, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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None of the Top 8 from last week lost, but we do have some movement based on performances and results around the region.

TRENDING UP

ANSONIA — Arkeel Newsome is awesome, no doubt. Perhaps the state’s best tailback. His anticipation and field vision are without peer, and enable him to turn big gainers into long touchdowns. There’s a reason why his path to the end zone is so wide open. Seven, actually:  Tyler Williams, Matt Hall, Arkadiusz Osiecki Kaszuba, Dylan Vano, Hakeem Martin; Dennis Danley and Jake LaRovera. They’re Ansonia’s bone-crushing offensive line, fullback and tight end. The Chargers slide into the No. 2 spot behind Masuk. Next up: vs. Holy Cross, Friday, 7

BUNNELL — To anyone thinking it’s all Bryan Castelot hucking deep passes to Jared Vazquez and Jawad Chisholm, David Camille torched Oxford’s defense with over 200 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Moving a spot up to No. 4. Next up: at Weston, Thursday, 3:45 p.m.

NOTRE DAME-WH – The Green Knights looked out of sorts vs. Xavier and may have lost them style points. In retrospect, Xavier isn’t exactly the Little Sisters of the Poor. Since then Notre Dame has won two straight, including an impressive 28-0 victory over Shelton Friday night. ND’s defense is strong — it accounted for the team’s only score vs. Xavier and the first score of the Shelton game — and backs Amhir Bess and Javon Grey are beasts when they get into the open field. ND can really make a statement on Friday night vs. you-know-who. Next up: vs. West Haven, Friday, 7

TRENDING DOWN

NEW CANAAN — The Rams keep winning, which is all coach Lou Marinelli can ask for. But have the last two opponents exploited some weaknesses? New Canaan has also been prone to penalties. It’s growing pains, we’re sure, after losing a few veterans from last year. Luckily, QB Matt Milano is a gamer and programs always seem to win the close ones. But someone’s bound to make the Rams pay… Like, maybe these guys:  Next up: at McMahon, Thursday, 6:30

WEST HAVEN — Let’s get this out of the way: Hamden clearly isn’t the easy out it was last season. West Haven found that out the hard way. After building a 10-point halftime lead on Friday night, the Westies saw it melt and then almost slip away. But QB Nick Nieves and Co. dealt with the adversity well with a quick-strike touchdown with just a minute remaining. Character win, for sure. But Notre Dame-WH won’t be so kind. Up Next: at Notre Dame-WH, Friday, 7.

SHELTON — I only caught the second half, but the Gaels could do nothing offensively against Notre Dame’s front. Considering that and that Shelton struggled to put away Sheehan and Wilbur Cross means it will drop from this list’s honorable mention for the time being. The Gaels will have to work to get back, but the signs aren’t encouraging. Next Up: at Hamden, Thursday, 7.

WESTON — Played one of its best games under the Joe Lato regime a week ago. Followed that up with a turnover-plagued clunker at Newtown. They’re 2-1 and still worth watching, but for now, they’ll drop from mention. Doesn’t figure to get any easier this week. Next up: vs. Bunnell, Thursday, 3:45 p.m.

STAYING PUT

MASUK We really wish they could play Xavier. Provided that they win their respective state championships, how’s New Year’s Day at West Haven sound? Next up: Barlow, Friday, 3 p.m. … NORWALK did was was expected by routing Westhill. They’re close. They’re very, very close. Next up: at Trinity Catholic, Friday, 3 p.m. … STAPLES Guess the McMahon game wasn’t a repeat of last year. It was much, much better. Enjoy the week off, Wreckers. Next up: Bye week. … POMPERAUG Didn’t learn much from its overwhelming win over Immaculate. We’ll find out plenty over the next two weeks. Next up: vs. Newtown, Thursday, 7. … NEWTOWN Overshadowed a bit by some of the league’s big names, but Dan Hebert is as good as players come.  Next up: at Pomperaug, Thursday, 7. … DARIEN Same goes for Wave junior Peter Gesualdi. By the way, this week’s matchup looks like a good one. Next up: at Danbury, Thursday, 6:30. … TRUMBULL Any word on QB Brendan Moore? The Eagles could use him. Next up: vs. Greenwich, Thursday, 6. … GREENWICH Any word on QB Liam O’Neil? The Cardinals could use him. Next up: at Trumbull, Thursday, 6. …WILTON Turns out the first three games of the season was just a warmup. We think Ridgefield is a bigger measuring stick. Next up: vs. Ridgefield, Thursday, 6. … RIDGEFIELD Nice win vs. Stamford. Looking better every day. Next up: at Wilton, Thursday, Thursday, 6.

State Polls Week 4: Flip flop, flip flop

Monday, October 3, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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Here we go again.

Xavier recaptured the top spot in the NHR Media Poll today, returning to the top for the first time since Week 1. The Falcons defeated Cheshire 42-20 and snatched two first-place votes away from Masuk and claimed the top spot by a measly two points.

Masuk 50-pointed Stratford, scoring 42 points in a quarter and a half, but lose two 1st-place votes.

Crazy stuff. Until something drastic happens, get used to the flip flopping. It’s going to happen all year.

Elsewhere, Ansonia leapfrogged New Canaan. New London jumped three spots to No. 9. Windsor jumped two to No. 8 and Bunnell joins the poll at No. 10. Cheshire, which was No. 8, falls out after its 42-20 loss to Xavier.

Updated with the CSWA and Day Coaches polls. And look who got a first-place vote in the Day. (Hint, it’s not Masuk or Xavier.)

NHR

Rank Team (1st Place) Record Points Last
1. Xavier (13) 3-0 724 2
2. Masuk (12) 3-0 722 1
3. Ansonia 3-0 590 4
4. New Canaan 3-0 548 3
5. Hand 3-0 532 5
6. New London 2-0 469 9
7. Staples 3-0 426 6
8. Windsor 3-0 374 10
9. West Haven 3-0 326 7
10. Bunnell 3-0 282 NR

Others receiving votes: Trumbull (2-0), 224; North Haven (3-0), 194; Cheshire (2-1), 192; Middletown (3-0), 168; Darien (3-0), 148; Pomperaug (3-0), 101; Berlin (3-0), 58; Montville (3-0), 50; Conard (3-0), 49; Norwalk (3-0), 40; Norwich Free Academy (2-0), 37; Southington (3-0), 35; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (3-0), 24; Naugatuck (3-0) and Northwest Catholic (2-0), 19; Cromwell (3-0), 14; Holy Cross (3-0), 10.
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 (6) 3-0 376 1
2. Masuk (6) 3-0 368 2
3. Ansonia 3-0 301 3
4. Hand 3-0 292 4
5. New Canaan 3-0 272 6
6. New London (1) 2-0 232 T10
7. Windsor 3-0 213 8
8. Staples 3-0 192 7
9. Bunnell 3-0 156 9
10. Cheshire 2-1 121 T4

Also receiving votes: West Haven (3-0), 116 points; North Haven (3-0), 96; Pomperaug-Southbury (3-0), 74; Conard-West Hartford (3-0), 53; Montville (3-0), 52; Berlin (3-0), 49; Tie, Newtown (3-0) and Trumbull (2-0), 45; Middletown (3-0), 39; Darien (3-0), 34; Naugatuck (3-0), 28; Northwest Catholic-West Hartford (2-0), 26; Ledyard (2-0), 25; Holy Cross-Waterbury (3-0), 20; Norwich Free Academy (2-0), 18; Cromwell (3-0), 17; Southington (3-0), 10; Bloomfield (2-0), 9; Hartford Public (3-0), 8; Hall-West Hartford (3-0), Norwalk (3-0), Notre Dame-West Haven (2-1) and Wilton (3-0), 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 (19) 3-0 452 1
2. Masuk (12) 3-0 446 2
3. Ansonia 3-0 374 4
4. New Canaan 3-0 359 3
5. Hand 3-0 315 %6
6. New London 2-0 298 9
7. Staples 3-0 261 5
8. Windsor 3-0 240 8
9. West Haven 3-0 151 10
10. Bunnell 3-0 120 NR

Also Receiving Votes: Trumbull 2-0 108; Cheshire 2-1 106; North Haven 3-0 103; Middletown 3-0 72; Conard 3-0 57; Pomperaug 3-0 46; Montville 3-0 39; Darien 3-0 33; Berlin 3-0 30; Northwest Catholic 2-0 23; Norwich Free Academy 2-0 19; Valley Regional/Old Lyme 3-0 19; Southington 3-0 14; Farmington 3-0 7; Cromwell 3-0 6; Glastonbury 2-1 4; Naugatuck 3-0 4; Norwalk 3-0 4; Notre Dame-West Haven 2-1 4; Newtown 3-0 3; Hall 3-0 2; Coventry/Windham Tech 2-0 1
Voters: Marc Allard (Norwich Bulletin), Brian Barreto (NVL Blog), Bob Barton (CT H.S. Football Record Book), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam Acorn), Don Boyle (Sporting News CT), 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), Dave Greenleaf (Bristol Press), Mike Guerrera (Southington Citizen), John Holt (WFSB Channel 3), 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), Rich Zalusky (Willimantic Chronicle), Jimmy Zanor (Shore Line Times)

The ‘Death Panel’ has spoken: Murphy exonerated in ‘Score Management’ violation

Monday, October 3, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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Masuk coach John Murphy

Masuk coach John Murphy confirmed Monday he will not be suspended for violating the CIAC’s ‘score management policy’ in Friday night’s 56-0 victory over Stratford.

Coaches are put under review by a committee, pending reports from game officials and the two opposing coaches, when a team defeats an opponent by more than 50 points.

Murphy said he pulled starters with approximately 3 minutes remaining in the first half and ran the ball exclusively in the second half.

From the CIAC:

After a review of reports received from both schools involved and the game officials in regards to Masuk High School’s 56-0 varsity football victory over Stratford High School on Friday, it has been determined that the proper sportsmanship protocols were followed, and that there was no violation of the CIAC Score Management policy by the winning school’s head coach. Due to this fact the review committee will not take any action against Masuk High School in regards to Friday’s game.

That’s a Wrap Week 3: Status Quo (kinda)

Monday, October 3, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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Staples James Fruscaiante leaps up to catch a ball for a touchdown in Saturday's 24-21 victory over McMahon. Photo: Christian Abraham / Connecticut Post

They almost pulled it off.

New Canaan's Louis Hagopian muscles through the defense with help from Nick Pelli as New Canaan defeated Fairfield Warde 28-14 Friday night. Photo: Shelley Cryan

Fairfield Warde on Friday night, then McMahon and Hamden on Saturday night almost gave us the shakeup we were looking for.

But their established opponents, New Canaan, Staples and West Haven, respectively, pulled off wild, come-from-behind victories to keep the status quo in the region. New Canaan beat Warde 28-14 in a Friday thriller. Staples topped McMahon 24-21 on a last-second field goal.

While chaos rained [sic] upon the region Friday night, everything seemed to tidy up nicely, if not bizarrely, on Saturday.

Watching Derby and Ansonia play their second half at Shelton’s Finn Stadium riled up a few old-timers, I’m sure, but it did nothing to stop Ansonia from burying Derby 55-19. …Fairfield Prep kept its foot on the gas and defeated Wilbur Cross 35-18. …Hillhouse pulled away from Foran 50-26 [this and more from the Saturday Roundup].

Of all the teams forced to suspend play and return to the field Saturday, Hamden was the only one that looked rejuvenated by the day off. Down 24-14, the Dragons rallied to take a 31-24 lead behind quarterback Tim Dube, only to see if disappear quickly thanks to a 66-yard TD pass from Nick Nieves to Tahir Manning with just seconds remaining. Almost, Hamden. Almost.

In the SWC, it was a pretty tame week. We saw Newtown and Pomperaug both won handily and moved to 3-0 heading into Thursday’s mega SWC matchup. Bunnell is 3-0 after rolling Oxford, 55-20, behind a huge day from David Camille.

Casey Cochran broke the state record for touchdowns and Masuk broke score management against Stratford, 56-0. If the information we have is correct, coach John Murphy will not be suspended. Brandon Schmidt helped Bethel win a shootout vs. New Fairfield. The Wildcats are 2-1 along with Weston in the SWC. Brookfield (over Notre Dame-Fairfield), New Milford (over Barlow) also got their first wins of the season.

Darien's Peter Gesualdi sails over St. Joseph's Jon Prutting to score a touchdown during Saturday's game at Dalling Field. Photo: Autumn Driscoll

In the FCIAC on Saturday, Norwalk (yes, Norwalk), Wilton (yes, Wilton) and Darien joined New Canaan and Staples as the league’s remaining 3-0 teams. Ridgefield dumped Stamford, Danbury crushed Central, and Trinity Catholic took care of Harding to reach get to 2-1.  Trumbull, meanwhile, is 2-0 heading into a big game at home vs. 2-1 Greenwich.

The Cardinals played, perhaps, the craziest game of Week 3, falling to New London 51-33. Kyle McKinnon torched Greenwich for 236 yards and three touchdowns. New quarterback Rob Key threw for 302 yards three touchdowns. The game also featured three interception return TDs, including (officially) a 99-yarder Greenwich’s Ryan Kelly scored from five yards deep in the opposing end zone.

[You can see highlights from that game here: second half | first half. We'll have a full version later.]

What does it say about New London? What does it say about Greenwich? (over 500 yards of total offense? Bananas.)

Quick notes, provided by Dave Ruden of The Advocate: Trinity RB/DB  Shaquan Howsie is done for the year, as is Fairfield Warde WR Kevin Krug. Both suffered knee injuries in week two.

All and all, some interesting results, if not completely shocking. Are there some pretenders among the 3-0 teams. We’ll try to break it down in the coming days.

TOP PERFORMERS

  • Arkeel Newsome, Ansonia — 401 yards, 4 TD rushing, 1 TD receiving vs. Derby
  • James Harrington, Danbury — 225 yards, 4 TD rushing vs. Central
  • David Camille, Bunnell — 201 yards, 5 TD vs. Oxford
  • Connor Shanahan, New Milford — 263 yards, 3 TD passing
  • John Shannon, Bullard-Havens — 230 yards, 4 TD rushing vs. Wolcott Tech
  • Matt Aspinwall, Foran — 23-41, 315 yards, 2 TD passing vs. Hillhouse.
  • Lou Fenaroli, Newtown — 189 yards, 4 TDs rushing vs. Weston
  • Peter Gesualdi, Darien — 2 TDs, 2 INT vs St. Joseph
  • Delshawn Wilson, Norwalk — 14 of 16, 191 yards, 3 TDs passing vs. Westhill
  • Dan Hebert, Newtown — 85-yard punt return TD, 2 INT vs. Weston
  • Casey Cochran, Masuk — 185 yards, 2 TDs, became state’s all-time leader in career passing touchdowns (86) vs. Stratford

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“I’ve been a head coach a long time and I’ve never seen a play just not count.”  –Barlow coach Rob Tynan, believing officials during a 28-9 loss to New Milford incorrectly moved chains during a play. The ensuing argument lasted approximately 10 minutes.

“You can’t take us lightly anymore.” – Norwalk quarterback Delshawn Wilson.

“The kids were fired up to be home. I saw passion that we didn’t see before.” – Fairfield Prep coach Tom Shea

“It was Ansonia football weather. We wanted to get down and pound the ball. We wanted to get muddy. It was awesome.” – Dylan Vano, Ansonia lineman

“Even when we’re not blocking people, he runs them over. It’s a real nice thunder-and-lightning combination we have with (Fenaroli) and (Dan) Hebert.” – Newtown coach Steve George

“We just wanted it a lot. No one wanted to go home with a loss. It just wasn’t going to happen.” – Jack Massie, Staples QB

“We’ve got to walk out of here with our head held high and realize that we can play with a team like this. I knew we could. The kids knew we could. It hurts.” – A.J. Albano, McMahon coach

TWEET OF THE WEEK

This from @CTFootballLive, otherwise known as Bay on this space, responding to an update from @CurrenSCC at the Xavier-Cheshire game. Cheshire was down 14-0 at the time this came over:

GAMES TO WATCH WEEK 4

Remember, short week for most teams. A good portion of the schedule will be played Thursday night.

  • Bunnell at Weston, Thursday, 3:45 p.m. – The honeymoon’s over for Weston as Air Castelot comes to town.
  • Ridgefield at Wilton, Thursday, 6 — OK, now we get to see what Wilton’s really all about.
  • Greenwich at Trumbull, Thursday, 6 — The jury remains out on both of these FCIAC contenders. Don’t look now, but this might be Greenwich’s highest hurdle until the FCIAC title game.
  • Newtown at Pomperaug, Thursday, 7 – Huge matchup in the SWC title race. Lou Fenaroli and the Hawks take on Eric Beatty and the Panthers in a clash of 3-0 teams.
  • Hand at Cheshire, Thursday, 7 — Hand finally gets to play an opponent of its caliber. Cheshire still licking its wounds from last week’s 42-20 loss to Xavier.
  • West Haven at Notre Dame-WH, Friday, 7 – Notre Dame’s rounding back into form after its 28-0 victory over Shelton. The Westies were just lucky to survive Hamden.
  • Holy Cross at Ansonia, Friday, 7 — Possible preview of the NVL title game?
  • Norwalk at Trinity Catholic, Friday, 7 – The big game before the big game. Can the Bears actually get to 4-0 heading into Week 5′s game vs. New Canaan?

ANSONIA AT DERBY … THE MOVIE!

We’ll leave you with the first-half carnage from Derby’s DeFilippo Field from Friday night. I’ve gotta say the last momest of the first half looked like the opening scene of ‘The Last Boy Scout.’ We didn’t shoot the second half at Shelton (camera troubles… I wonder why), but we got post-game interviews. Enjoy.

Week 3 Friday: Biblical Proportions

Saturday, October 1, 2011 by:Sean Patrick Bowley
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Fans at DeFilippo Field in Derby run for cover as a thunderstorm unleashes a deluge of rain late in the first half of Ansonia-Derby. The game, like many others, was postponed and resume tomorrow. Photo by Christian Abraham

The first sign of trouble came well before anyone really kicked off Week 3.

A Tweet, simply, from our pals at the Greenwich Time, all the way at the other end of the state:

It didn’t sound too ominous. Games all across Connecticut kicked off without a second thought.

Ansonia's Arkeel Newsome busts loose for big yardage in Friday's 36-20 postponed game vs. Derby.

But anyone with a smartphone tuned to a weather website (as I did) knew better. A short time later, the carnage made its way across the state like a tidal wave. Reports of thunder, lightning and rain … so much rain. Ominous weather updates in New Canaan (“nasty storm clouds brewing”), then Newtown (“sky is pitch black here”), then Waterbury (“lightning delay at Municipal”) all came across the feed. Then, “stands cleared 5 minutes before biblical storm arrived”). Games were quickly postponed, even the ones that had started.

Meanwhile, in Derby we saw a storm of another kind. Storm Arkeel.

Ansonia’s super sophomore Arkeel Newsome ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run on Ansonia’s first play and then added two more during a deluge of 36 Ansonia points. By the time the rain — buckets of it that cleared the packed stands at DeFilippo Field — finally hit the Valley, Newsome had amassed 200+ yards rushing.

The Chargers and Red Raiders played the last minutes of a 36-12 halftime in a monsoon. The last score was a short TD pass from Ansonia’s Elliott Chudwick to Jake LaRovera (clip at right).  I gamely stayed outside to capture footage, and by the time I’d retreated to the press box, I looked like I’d jumped in a pool. The game didn’t last long after that. Postponed, like so many others, to Saturday.

He wasn’t the only one. New London’s Kyle McKinnon, meanwhile, was putting on a show down in Greenwich in a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad game that saw the Whalers defeat the Cardinals 51-33. You can watch game highlights here.

They also finished down in New Canaan, where the Rams scored 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter to rally past Fairfield Warde, 28-14. They finished in Shelton, where Notre Dame scored 21 points in the second half to beat the Gaels 28-0. They finished at Fairfield Ludlowe, where Trumbull routed the Falcons. The rain didn’t get to Middletown, where Xavier moved up and down the field to down Cheshire 42-20 in the “Game of the Year of the Week,” according to Ned of the Day.

Video highlights from Cheshire-Xavier

And, of course, they finished an onslaught at Stratford, where Casey Cochran broke the career TD passing record and Masuk broke ‘score management’ with a 56-0 win over the Red Devils. Masuk’s John Murphy says he did everything he could to keep score down in our Roundup | Friday’s postponements/results.

So this is where we stand on Saturday. Games. Games. And more games on tap today and tonight. So don’t turn that dial.

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