Eight of the nine regional playoff teams (Clockwise from top left): Bethel's Brandon Schmidt; Masuk's Colin Markus; Newtown's Lou Fenaroli; Staples' Nick Kelly; Norwalk's Gil Arujo; Ridgefield's Connor Rowe; Ansonia's Arkeel Newsome; New Canaan's Matt Milano.
The Live Blog
NORTH vs. SOUTH
The early part of the last decade was good to the Central Connecticut Conference. Bloomfield and New Britain dominated (mostly under the tutelage of coach Jack Cochran), won six state championships from 2000-2005. By no means was it boss, but it was respectable.
But since 2004, pickings have been slim. Teams waving the CCC banner have gone 2-7 in state championship games and have done even worse in the earlier rounds.
In 2008, while Glastonbury was capping off a 13-0 championship season, Masuk crushed two CCC teams by a combined score of 106-35 and the league went 3-4.
In 2009, it got worse. The CCC sent six teams to the playoffs and went 3-5 even as new member Berlin, fresh over from the defunct Nutmeg league, won the Class M title. Simsbury and Conard were hammered by Pomperaug and Notre Dame-WH in Class L.
Despite expansion to 32 teams, the league bottomed out in the new playoff format in 2010. Glastonbury broke through to the semifinals with a 7-6 win over Staples, prompting then-Glastonbury coach Peter Pfeffer to famously state, “I don’t think they know anything about us. …We have football up here. So what ever happens down in Fairfield County should stay down in Fairfield county. That’s all I have to say.”
Meanwhile, Pfeffer’s league was collapsing around him. The CCC went 1-7 that quarterfinal night. No. 1 M seed Berlin was upset by Hillhouse 33-30. The other six teams lost by a combined score of 39-12. Glastonbury fell to Xavier 24-13 the following Saturday, eliminating the conference from title contention.
This year the CCC brings seven teams to the table, including high-flying Windsor in Class L, returners Glastonbury, Hall and Conard in Class LL and Berlin in M, Rocky Hill and Northwest Catholic in Class S.
Many of the large schools’ opponents once again go head-to-head with Southern Connecticut (a.k.a. Shangri-La): Top-seeded and 10-0 Windsor takes on No. 8 seed Notre Dame-WH of the SCC and everybody (NHR, The Day, us) seems to be picking ND to win; Hall hosts SWC runner-up Newtown; Conard hosts Norwalk of the FCIAC. Glastonbury faces the freight train we call Xavier, a northern team playing in a southern conference (we won’t count that one).
The smaller CCC teams face off against the Pequot and CSC. Berlin plays Cheney Tech; Northwest Catholic plays North Branford; Rocky Hill travels to Valley Regional/Old Lyme.
Suffice it to say, the games against NDWH, Newtown and Norwalk will be watched closely tonight. Will this be a big bounce-back year for the embattled CCC? Or will it be more of the same? Most observers are picking against them, this is their shot to turn it around.
Conversely, commissioner Al Carbone and the rest of the SCC mavens have a chance to make a big statement about their rule as the state’s best league. “S-C-C! …S-C-C! …S-C-C!” You hear it all the time, like a pie to the face for most regions.
With Xavier heavily favored in Class LL, NDWH, North Haven and Hand all in the Class L field alongside Masuk, Windsor, New Canaan and New London, the league has a great opportunity to plant its flag high above the mountain.
Your quarterfinal preview pages:
Class LL and Class L preview capsules | Class M and Class S preview capsules |
Ned Says: Xavier, Masuk, Ansonia, Holy Cross
LOCAL BEAT
Nine regional teams are involved in six games tonight.
Class LL
Ridgefield QB Connor Rowe
Ridgefield QB Connor Rowe
- No. 2 Staples hosts FCIAC rival and No. 8-seeded Ridgefield at Wilton – Listen Live: WWPT 90.3-FM
- No. 5 Norwalk goes to No. 4 Conard in West Hartford
- No. 6 Newtown will be across town at No. 3 Hall
- No. 8 Glastonbury is at defending champ and top-seeded Xavier in the fourth game.
Class L
- No. 8 Notre Dame-WH at No. 1 Windsor — Watch live: gogreenknights.com
- No. 3 Masuk hosts No. 6 North Haven at Trumbull
- No. 5 New Canaan goes all the way across the state to face No. 4 New London.
- No. 2 Hand hosts Coventry/Windham Tech at the balmy Surf Club in Madison tonight
Class M
No. 8 Bethel dives right into the the belly of the beast with a trip to legendary Jarvis Stadium to face 16-time state champion and No. 1-seeded Ansonia.
Also, out of our area, but on the radio/internet tonight:
- Class S: Northwest Catholic at North Branford — WELI 960-AM
- Class LL: Glastonbury at Xavier — WCNX 1710-AM
Of course, well have scores from all of the games across the state tonight with help from other media outlets and fans on the live blog.
Great work as usual Sean. Good luck to all.
Fair enough on CCC – that is why they play the game.
For tonight, WEST HARTFORD is the football capital of Connecticut has the two public high schools (Hall and Conard) are hosting first round games and Northwest Catholic is playing as well (w/in 1 point of also hosting game).
Go Warriors!!
BTW: Thank you for recognizing that Xavier is NOT a southern team and don’t forget all the great seasons posted by Cheshire. So long as you are ganging up with 3 conferences from the most populated part of the state at least we can have Xavier and Cheshire when comparing apples to oranges.
Pablo – Not saying the CCC isn’t capable, I’m saying they have a shot to redeem themselves in the eyes of us snooty southerners ;) If you haven’t noticed, lots of people picking against them (This is usually the part where the CCC goes 6-1 or something.)
Your reporting is genuine and fair. CCC owned CT before 2004 and since then Southern CT has surpassed the CCC. That said, I’m not sure it is fair to stack 3 conferecnes from the most populated part of the state up against one conference. Granted CCC is now 32 teams, so maybe you can have two conferences.
Also, as i commented elsewhere, it is disingenious to subtract Cochran’s teams out (or add an asterik) unless you were to do the same for say – Marinelli at New Canaan. That is, how good is the FCIAC if you discount NC’s contributions since 2004???
Ok off to West Harford (football captial of Connecticut for at least one night) for Hall-Newtown. Go Warriors!!
Ugh, Bethel? Thanks for coming. That team has 7 wins? Saw all of Ansonia’s games this year and they easily have 5 losses. HC, Ansonia (obviously), Torrington, Woodland, and Naugy would beat that team. Maybe even Derby could beat them. If thats what you’re playing Masuk then you definitely don’t deserve to be #1.
Just like I said all you SCC fans you were hating on Windsor and they beat you fair and square, don’t give me the rain BS cause they run the spread! At least in the most respectful way North Haven gave a great effort!
At least we all no who is NOT #1 now! Masuk! Might still win class L but time for their votes to go to Ansonia or Xavier. That is obvious!
thanks for the coverage!!! how long till some videos are up?
Windsor defeats NDWH. I would say that gives Windsor a nice signature win, wouldnt you? Afterall, we kept hearing how NDWH was the best 8-2 team in the state. CCC has 3 teams advance to semis. So does fciac and nvl.
@SWC-Ya Later – Ansonia beat Bethel the same way they beat every team in the NVL. No contest. What is your point? What would HC’s record be if they played Masuk, Pomperaug, Bunnell and Newtown? That’s what I thought. HC is smaller but they get “recruit” kids from all over, just like Ansonia and apparently Masuk. Good luck to all of the Public School teams that only have kids that live in their town.
Nice win by Windsor. Masuk got it, too. The rain definitely dumbed-down that offense. Still got the W and now it is playing Hand – which is the match-up we’ve all been waiting for.
This is what I have so far for the semis:
Ansonia/Berlin @ Sheehan High School at 2:00.
Wolcott/ Ledyard @ Middletown High School at 2:00.
Holy Cross/ Valley Regional @ Falcon Field 2:00.
Xavier/Norwalk @ West Haven 2:00
Masuk/Hand @ West Haven 7:00
Looks like that New Canaan vs. Windsor game will be at either Cheshire or Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.
Nice piece. Don’t take this the wrong way. Conference bragging rights come and go. Seems kind of ridiculous to suggest football teams are better as a rule in one half of a state as small as CT. Some schools have better coaches and better facilities – and still others have an unhealthy focus on sports traditions and can use that during fown years to intimidate their way to a few extra wins with subpar athletes. But suggesting kids are any different as a rule only 20 miles apart just isn’t realistic.
To my point, it rained pretty hard during the game but it was pretty clear that Windsor was better than ND tonight. On another field on another night, who’s to say they wouldn’t have scored 40 more points? Or maybe they lose. Whatever. Bottom line is that Windsor has a great crew of coaches and kids, as does ND-WH, and they both deserve to be congratulated rather than marginalized by regional allegiances loosely based on conferences and newspaper circulation areas.
Pablo, CCC owned CT before 2004. What point in the night did you join the PCP takers league?
@12…nice post.
Can’t wait to see what develops; this is all geat fun and we ought to thank the kids and coaches for all their effort.
Stugotts, newtown is out also. FYI. Masuk struggles with nh. Not very good showing for the So Weak Conference
@Pittfall – Newtown won.
@Doug – Perhaps. But people sure love to talk about it. That’s why we’re here.
hey swc-ya-later, newtown beat bethel 33-7. ansonia beat them 35-7. clearly you just want xavier to come down with the number one ranking and bash the swc to try to obtain your goal.
@PittFall – Masuk played a very good team but struggled more with the weather. Newtown won (pay attention). Bethel is probably the 6th best team in the SWC. They did beat Bunnell but got squashed by Pomperaug, Newtown and Weston.
Masuk, Newtown, Bunnell, Pomperaug and Weston are better.
Please do not compare the NVL with the SWC in any sport. We’ll give you Basketball and that’s it.
@18: It was 35-0 Ansonia at the half. If they wanted it to be 70-0 final, it could have been.
SWC exposed a little tonight, including Masuk. Good team, not a special team.
@18 Ansonia was winning 35-0 at halftime. Newsome went for like 279 and 4 tds in the first half. Second/third string was playing the second half. If they would have kept in the starters it would of been 80-0. Seriously NVL has some good teams. Torrington and Deby would outscore some of them. Wolcott could play with them if not beat and Holy Crosss is a special team, they have a Freshman named Wright who is someone everyone should keep an eye on.
SWC has some good teams, but don’t knock the NVL or compare any of the to Ansonia.
Well you all stole my answer, but in case you didn’t know it was 35-0 at half just like the hand and Cheney game disciplinary please don’t mention newtown and ansonia in the same breath
The SWC and NVL have matched up historically in the playoffs. I just read the NVL blog. The SWC is 1-8 vs ‘the league’ all time. Explain that.
@10- did anyone in the SWC play that schedule (Masuk, Pomperaug, Newtown and Bunnell)??
For those of you who think that Brian doesn’t know what he’s talking about, he predicted that New London-New Canaan would be decided in the kicking game. New Canaan 27-26. Great call!!
Ok it’s time to FINALLY put the Ridgefield Tigers to bed….for good. No more elite 8′s, preseason this and that etc. They stink. They back into the playoffs and forgot to show up. At the same time, Staples is clicking on both sides of the ball now. Can they beat Xavier? I don’t know but they will have have the chance. That u can bank.
I was 15-1 last night with predictions only the losing the NDWH game.Thank God the CIAC did the right thing putting Masuk/Hand at 7pm. I say 6-7000 is possible if the weather is decent.
I said before we started it would be xavier/staples and masuk/NC. I will stick to that prediction.
Stugotts give us basketball and our 8-1 record vs you in playoffs. Ill take that lol
Expected a little more out of Bethel. They got whipped by a couple of the top teams in the SWC, but moved the football easily and put a lot of points against the likes of Bunnell and Brookfield.
Ansonia dispatched them like any lower echelon NVL opponent. The game was essentially over minutes into the second quarter. Newsome could have run for 400+ if Brockett were inclined to run up the score, which he never does.
There are 4-5 other NVL teams that would beat Bethel.
I think Masuk is the underdog going to Ken Strong to play Hand.They play similar offenses but Tigers are bigger up front.Also I think HHS has something to prove after last years playoffs.Fillipone will have his guys ready.They are good in every aspect of the game.Masuk is terrific team but I think its Hands time.I have seen Hand twice this year and Masuk once so Im no expert that just my opinion .Ill be walking to the game since I live on Ocean Ave about a 1/4 mile away.It will be easier than driving with crowd I think is going to be there.
Stuggots said: “Please do not compare the NVL with the SWC in any sport. We’ll give you Basketball and that’s it.”
OK. How about we talk football numbers? Just for fun (shout to NVLClassic for the info)—-
After Ansonia beat Bethel last evening, the NVL holds an 8 wins to 1 loss record against the mighty SWC.
SWC’s single win: Brookfield over Holy Cross in 05. Woodland went on to beat Brookfield that year in the title game.
other than that we have:
Holy Cross over Newtown in 96 and Stratford in 06.
Seymour over New Fairfield in 01 and Pompy in 02.
Ansonia over Immaculate and ND FFld in that same year (02).
Let’s not act like Masuk is always this good. I agree this year overall I would give the “crown” to the SWC, but history doesn’t lie.
Looking forward to the 2012 and 2013 SWC/NVL challenge. AD’s make it happen.
haha I see the NVL chest pounders are out and about. I would love to see somebody do a top to bottom SWC vs NVL breakdown..Masuk vs. Ansonia winner Masuk..and so on down the list.
@Brian, as someone who lived in Ridgefield the past few years and whose spouse teaches in the school system, I have gained a pretty good understanding of their “program.” Aside from questioning their coaching and in-game strategy the thing that bothers me more about the tigers, and from what I hear was evidenced in this nite’s game, is their poor strength and conditioning program. From a conditioning aspect, they are okay, however their weightlifting is terrible. They complain about being undersized, however they don’t develop averaged sized kids into lineman like many other programs without tremendous size, i.e greenwich, staples, masuk and newtown do. At the state weight competition the past two years they have finished at the bottom, this past year lifting less than 9,000 pounds total, the winner, Bdgt. Central, posted around 13,000 I believe, and while Central didn’t translate that to the field Ridgefield should be ashamed of themselves as a staff for not developing these kids physically from year to year. Someone I know who coaches at an SWC school participating in state weights in ridge’s power clean station, said that the ridge coaches were telling their kids to look at his kids to see how to perform the proper clean technique! With a beautiful weight center at tiger hollow and tremendous community support and resources, Coach Callahan should be ashamed of their relatives weakness and address it this offseason!
@johhnyribbs,Seymour vs Masuk[2012]Seymour vs Pompy[2013].Be very careful with what you ask for.
Perspective,
That’s a great analysis on your part. I have been watching the tigers for many year and while it seems they have good athletes something isn’t right at that school when it comes to football. Like u said, resources and community is not the problem either. I don’t like to say things like this but it might be the adult men walking the sidelines that is their biggest problem.
I know Staples is a top tier program and always have great speedy backs but to let up 350 yards to a “back up” is disgraceful on that stage. Coach C did not have those kids ready to play.
Paul I was hoping for a home and home with Oxford.
No chest thumping here!!!
Il tell you New Fairfield and Weston are real beasts. Nd is a S power. How about them Imaculate who ever. Im an Ansonia fan that fears The SWC. ooooohhhh.That Bunnell D. That New milford offense. What legendary of a program like the 3 time state champs the mighty panthers of Masuk. AHS Naugy Seymour can’t stand up to that level of history.SWC is the smack
It would be nice if the CIAC could improve their playoff system to where conferences like the CCC do not get three teams in and other conferences with higher quality teams are left out. I think over the last 2 seasons in the LL’s the CCC is 1 win out of seven games(most games are not even that close) where truely deserving teams are left out.
Here are the top 5 conferences in this order…. THIS YEAR….
1. SCC
2. NVL
3. FCIAC
4. SWC
5. CCC
Masuk did get the job done in the end, but if the Panthers were facing Ansonia or the X-Men last nite in those conditions of wind rain , I think it would not have worked out in Masuk’s favor. The Mighty Masuk showed their weakness in stopping the run.
Here are the top 5 conferences historically… that are still in existance…
1. SCC
2. FCIAC
3. NVL
4. SWC
5. CCC
@Ribbs,now that is a classic!Maybe even Bethel….LOL!Finally a level headed NVL fan….Great job
People are gonna be lining up to buy tickets for Immaculate-Kennedy! New Fairfield-Sacred Heart tickets are already sold out. I know some scalpers if you’re looking though.
how abou scc- fciac Harding vs Gilford Basik vs Sheehan Westhill East Haven Ludlowe Law Foran Central great Fciac Scc challenge yoga master
@37- The NVL number 2! Besides Ansonia who else is good?? Holy Cross-please.. Don’t get excited over Ansonia’s win over Bethel. They were the 5th or 6th best team in the SWC. Pomp put up 35 points against them in less than 2 quarters. Newtown, Pomp, Bunnell all better than any NVL team besides Ansonia.
just dumping the NVL and SWC records into excel and sorting by record we would indeed end up with some lackluster match ups. But as “fan” points out most any league would. St. Paul v. Immaculate doesn’t get you excited?
We would also end up with Masuk v. Ansonia, HC v. Newtown, Torrington v. Bunnell, Wolcott v. Pompy, Naugy v. Bethel, Woodland v. Weston and Seymour v. Brookfield. Not a terrible weekend of football.
You say you’ll give us basketball like you actually would have a chance, and football is not too far off at all that bethel team was not very good
Ansonia/Berlin -Ansonia
Wolcott/ Ledyard-Wolcott
Holy Cross/ Valley Regional-Cross
Xavier/Norwalk-Xavier
Masuk/Hand-Masuk
@Brian – “finally rid of the Tigers” – Sounds like you must be from Wilton – since you are over the top when it comes to RHS. Backed in – numbers are the numbers and RHS qualifed unlike about 100 other teams. They were outplayed – a drop pass on the first drive would have given them a first down at the 5 going in – penalties, play calling, fumbles, about 30 missed tackles, and blown coverages. The Tigers played like that 2 other games this year – Greenwich and Norwalk – with the same result. Tough to watch. With that being said, if you asked at the beginning of the year with the talent they had if they would lose 3 games and play in states – you would have taken it. As for “stinking” – a little rough but okay for the way they played. Staples was very impressive – called the right plays at the right time – nothing fancy just the same stuff and no adjustments by RHS – it was a joke to watch the same defense making the sames mistakes all game and watching the Staples coaches hammer it home. Same thing on offense- running the sames plays time and time again – with the same predictable results. Does RHS have the atheletes to compete? Sure – are they put in a position to succeed? Not based on last nights results – time will tell – but as for last night – Yep RHS stunk.
swc11 says: “Newtown, Pomp, Bunnell all better than any NVL team besides Ansonia”
didn’t Bethel beat Bunnell? I saw Seymour scrimmage Newtown and played them dead even. Not to sound like Ray Brown, but there were refs there. I stood on the Newtown side. They were taking it game serious. Seymour was 5-5 with a welfare schedule this year in the NVL.
Problem is SWC doesn’t schedule ANY out of league games, so the only chance to compare is if/when a SWC team makes the playoffs. That being said your screwy scheduling which is incredibly kind to the larger schools by not making them play all the other larger schools gives your top tier teams a much easier path to the playoffs.
So let’s remove Ansonia and Masuk from the conversation. You are left with 2 very well matched leagues most years, with the NVL still owning the state title and head to head competition contest.
Give credit to SWC last night – never saw Newtown coming.
I saw CCC teams play & thought they’d play better.
Windsor is FAST & I actually felt Conard & Hall would win.
Masuk gutted out a game in tough conditions.
Markus is a good runner.
Again, they’re not that big & in those conditions, North Haven took it to them in the 2nd half.
But, let’s not get carried away.
Newtown showed well.
Masuk won.
But, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves about what conference is b etter, what division, etc.
Kids played hard in adverse conditions.
Objective
Guys wake up and be honest and not homers! Masuk is not within 20 points of Xavier! To beat Xavier you would need a team with a top 5 defense in the state and a team capable of outscoring them. Glastonbury had -12 yards total offense after 3 periods and ended up with a combined 40. Xavier will score 40 night in and night out! I’ve seen no team in the state which can claim that they would put up 40 on that D. Staples will have their shot! Good Luck. Xavier has dominated competition that Hand has had trouble with. So a Hand Xavier comparison is not valid!
next year,
I am not from Wilton and I don’t hate Ridgefield. I’m just an FCIAC fan and watch many games and they NEVER win a big game. Last night’s performance was pathetic. Now, As I said above Staples is the real deal and always well coached and always seems to find a RB that is quick and shifty. But to let him run for 350 plus yards as the backup RB? Awful job by the Tigers.
Also, as I said in earlier posts last week, the LL would have been better served if Greenwich and Shelton were in over Gbury and the tigers. Water under the bridge at this point so lets move on to Saturday’s games. Lets go Tigers !! Hand that is.
BUNNELL?! BUNNELL?! They got beat by that garbage team bethel! Holy Cross is better than those teams and even Torrington would com
Compete with those teams you mentioned! Give me a break your league is sorry!
@ Titletown – tough guy calling a bunch of HS kids garbage…Bethel is the 4th best team in the SWC….how would the 4th best NVL team fare against the #1 team from SWC? Would be worse than 35-6 that’s for sure…
Be careful what league you say is sorry since the NVL is at best equal to that of the SWC…
Bethel didn’t match-up well against one of the best teams in the state. How many teams DO match-up well against Ansonia.
Last year, a 7-3 FCIAC team walked through the upper echelon of the NVL. Did that make the league or teams “garbage”? I don’t think so….
Let me say I took a trip to Ansonia left after the 1st quarter then went to Municipal Stadium to watch Holy Cross,they are in no way better then any of the top teams in the SWC. Newtown,Bunnell,Pomp,and Masuk all beat them. I would love to see the AHS vs Masuk game though. It would be a battle of two styles and the only problem i see is that the AHS lineman would be exhausted by the fourth quarter and Masuk would pull out the win,also Newsome plays on defense and would be running verticle on every defensive series covering his WR(him vs Milone would be very interesting) By the time crunchtime arrived he would not be as effective,IMHO. Hence Masuk would win that game.
Battle of number twos would be Newtown vs Holy Cross, Newtown by two scores. Other then Ansonia there isnt a good defense in the NVL,NHS would steamroll them with Fenaroli and Hebert.
Number three’s would be Bunnell vs Torrington,well they actually played in a scrimmage(how did that work out)Bunnell in a shoot out
This is where the SWC really takes over and has the advantage in the middle,Number four’s Pompy vs Wolcott? not even a contest Pomp by three scores.
Lets say Bethel was 5th vs Woodland? Bethel
Weston vs Naugatuck? No way NHS stays disciplined enough to cover the option
Brookfield vs Watertown- BHS between QB and RB’s wouldnt be close
New Milford vs Seymour- NM would have 400yds throwing
Barlow vs Wilby-do you think Wilby would be disciplined enough?
Now it swings back to the NVL kinda
New Fairfield vs Derby-Derby
Oxford vs Sacred Heart-SH
Stratford vs Kennedy-?? toss up
NDFF vs Crosby-?? toss up
Immaculate vs St Paul-St Paul,IHS was the worst team I have seen in awhile
Input anyone,of course this is just fun speculation on my part
You haven’t seen all those teams how can you even compare those and make a prediction! Masuk would destroy our #4 team I’ll give you that, don’t tell me holy cross can’t beat a pomperaug! Give me a break, Bunnell got beat by bethel! Bethel! tp our conference gets lashed out at every year, no ones being a tough guy! Now your league gets exposed and someone says something about SWC but I have to be the tough guy right? If you can dish it learn to take it! Don’t be so defensive about it, cause we all know the SWC doesn’t play defense anyways LMAO
And I saw Ansonia play Woodland, woodland is two or three scores better than bethel its not even close!
Newsome doesn’t wear down and either their o-line doesn’t play d-line really and vice versa word is them boys up front for Masuk looked a litle sluggish towards the end of the game if north haven can run the ball and keep Cochran off the field whats newsome going to do! He’ll go nuts! That offensive line is big and powerful we’ll pound it down your throat or newsome will go 70 to the house the kid can fly! Stop listening to your mommy and daddy all the time you guys aren’t that good! No ones scared of Monroe!
WOW never thought north haven would give Masuk a game. I understand it was tough conditions which probably gave Masuk’s passing attack a little trouble but Masuk did show some vulnerability. Interested to see what the Hand-Masuk game will bring. I would not count Hand out just yet. The SWC showed weakness in the playoffs. Other than Newtown who beat a very overrated Conard team, who plays no one in the regular season the SWC did not have a great showing.
Also @conference ranks I cant even believe that you would rank the NVL above the FCIAC. I would say the FCIAC teams in the playoffs would beat every NVL team except MAYBE Ansonia.
How exactly did the SWC show weakness? They won two games and lost to arguably the number two or three team in the state? You guys are warped and blinded by your jealousy. Ansonia played nobody during the year and now isn’t going to play anyone during the playoffs,except the SWC 5th best team. How could you say Newsome or your OL/DL won’t get tired,THEY DON’T HAVE TO PL AY EVEN THRU THE 3 rd QUARTER.They all play both ways Masuk lineman don’t
MASUK DOESN’T EVEN PLAY THRU 3 QUARTERS they finally did and people were tweeting how worn down the o line looked! What jealousy do we have of you? That you got a bunch of L schools who aren’t much better if at all than an S school! You got three times as many kids as our towns and you ain’t much better than us!
North Haven showed masuk how a team from the SCC plays. They beat them up physically even though they were extremely overmatched talent wise. Im excited to see how Hand who has equal physicality and more talent then North Haven fares against Masuk. Should be the game of the year.
Sorry, but do we really care about who can beat who in the minds of whomever??? If you are from Ansonia, care about beating Berlin on Saturday, the confernece matchup discussions and such, IMHO, are for old men and waterboys.
Go Lavender! Go Blue! Go Chargers!
What difference does L or S make? Good teams are good teams. Ansonia is very good but maybe fourth best in the state,sorry facts are facts. Xavier,Masuk,and Hand are all better then Ansonia,but next year should be your year. “jealousy” cause your not ranked higher and you always have to stick your chest out because your only beating Kennedy,Wilby,St Paul,and all the other sisters of the poor,just like the bottom half of the SWC,The difference is the SWC has more quality teams then the NVL especially in the last 5-6 yrs.
Especially if your talking players!! Your “best ever RB” got a great education but didn’t do crap in college,he was a product of a FABULOUS OL. Let’s look at some of the SWC players.
Lutrus of Brookfield- indy Colts via Uconn
Fenaroli of Masuk – Packers practice squad vis Stonybrook
Banning.of Pomperaug- Chiefs practice squad via Yale.
Easley of Bunnell- Buffalo Bills via Uconn
How many NVL players in the league? Or for that matter in Div 1?
@anti NVL.. Don’t forget about Shannon James of Bunnell_ Baltimore Ravens, Calgary Stampeders(CFL) Grey Cup Champ via UMass.
The SWC has had as many players make it professionally as any conference in the state the past 7 years. Mark Harrison of Bunnell via Rutgers is soon to join this group.
Calm down everyone.
SCC showed pretty well in pouring rain.
I DID see Hall-Conard & thought Conard would take care of Newtown.
Newtown showed well.
Ansonia IS excellent – Newsome IS a home run hitter.
They are RIGHT THERE when talking about best teams.
Yale WASTED Thomas – he’s the real deal too – showed it with 200+ against Penn this year.
As for SWC, this is a down period for the league, with exception of Masuk. And, as for players in the NFL, at least get the names right – like Shane Bannon.
Still, if you look at CT players and IMPACT NFL guys, SWC isn’t even on the map. FCIAC has HALL OF FAMERS – like Steve Young. SCC has had STARTERS, #1 picks in the last 5 years (Spievey, Moffitt, etc.). Leagues like these, NVL, etc. have guys on D-1 level, active NFL rosters.
SWC has had some really good clubs – Pomperaug club WAS a good team, Masuk IS. But, this year, the teams I saw were pretty undersized.
Ansonia is Ansonia, can’t really argue it. Look, when another SWC school graduates a Bob Skronski to the NFL (you know, captain of Lombardi Packers), you let me know.
They really don’t need anyone else – and they have more.
Objective
@69 This is where a competitive schedule or a strong playoff class or an open playoff system is needed.How can you anyone say Ansonia is on par with Xavier ?
I can only judge Ansonia by an”Eye”test as they will have not defeated a top 20 team all year.Holy Cross would not fare well against most top 10 LL or L teams and we know how they matched Ansonia an M Team.Unfortunately Hillhouse would have given Ansonia a great chance to push its ability.
To be fair the Nvl’s best player, Coggins from Sacred Heart, didn’t play this year and is an easy D1 prospect.
@69… We are not talking about the past 50years. We are all proud of kids from CT that make it. Please don’t bring up people from 1977, and don’t say the SCC has starters and #1 picks and then name 2 people. Who from the SCC was a number 1 pick in the past 7 years???
My point is this, the SWC has just as many players that have been in the NFL over the past 7 years as any other conference. If the SCC and FCIAC is so dominant, than they should have at least 20 in the NFL if the so call weak SWC has had about 5 or 6 in the past couple years. Your sitting up here talking about IMPACT PLAYERS in the NFL, do you how hard it is to even get a shot? I know all the kids from Bunnell, and the people in the Stratford and Bridgeport area are very proud of them.
Nick Giaquinto played on the Packers Superbowl team, he’s from Stratford. That was a longgggg time ago.
SWCrules says of Ansonia: “‘jealousy’ cause your not ranked higher and you always have to stick your chest out because your only beating Kennedy,Wilby,St Paul,and all the other sisters of the poor, just like the bottom half of the SWC.”
You said a mouthful there. Except Ansonia didn’t play St. Paul OR Kennedy this year. Why? Because the NVL does the best it can within it’s own conference to have the “better” teams (based on the previous year’s records) play the “better” teams across the two divisions.
Meanwhile the SWC’s best team’s are NOT forced to play each other, in fact it seems quite the opposite. You guys tout Pompy, Bunnell, Masuk and Newtown as your big four, but none of those schools play all the others. You beat up on YOUR little sisters of the poor instead.
Regarding jealousy, Ansonia’s Head Coach does not tweet constantly about HIS lack of #1 votes like Mr. Murphy does. He acts like he has been there before.
Actually Nick Giaquinto played on the Redskins and Dolphins Superbowl teams and really was a better story than Invinceable – as he was cut for 6 years in a row until he made it in the NFL. His brother Tony was a reciever for the Packers – averaged over 40 yards a catch for Central CT his senior year but hurt his knee to cut his career short. Nick has been the baseball coach at Sacred Heart for years – great guy. The best athelete was the baby brother Mike who was a Top 50 Post Player a few years back after playing for Stratford in the MBIAC – going back a long way.
@75.. thanks for the correction. I knew one of the bros played for the Packers. I forgot to mention the kid Jamey Richards from Weston. Was a great lineman in high school.
Bunnellalum, you are not sticking to your own rules when you include someone from the Vince Lombardi era.
Someone feel free to add to this, here are some SCC alums I can think of in NFL:
Moffitt, NDWH, Wisconsin, Seahawks (3rd round)
Spievy, Xavier, Iowa, Lions, 3rd round
Orlovsky, Shelton, UConn, Texans, Lions, Colts, 5th round
Donald Brown went to SCC member Career, which does not have a football team
Other players from the last 7 years include Rob Jackson, West Haven, Kansas State, Redskins and the infamous Anttaj Hawthorne (Hamden, Wisconsin, Raiders). Both were draft picks.
Going back further I can come up with a whole bunch more, but those are some recent ones.
Ribbs – Newtown, Pompy, and Bunnell all played each other…Masuk played Newtown and Pompy. To say NONE of those schools play all the others is shows you have no idea what you are talking about.
@77…I said i could mention the Giaquintos, but I really don’t care because that was a longggg time ago like I said. The SCC and FCIAC are so dominant there should be a lot more. Doesn’t matter if you were a draft pick or not. Going in the 3rd round means u should be a pro bowler at some point, especially if you are from the SCC. You should be all-pro as a rookie. You just named 6 players, keep going. The mighty SCC cant have the same amount as the weak SWC.
@ribbs newtown played weston (overrated i know) pomperaug brookfield bethel bunnell masuk. that is the top 6 teams in the conference.
Pomperaug also played Bunnell,Masuk,Newtown,Bethel,and Brookfield(who was supposes to be good) Ribbs looking more and more like he didn’t do his homework.
You nitpicky SOB’s get my point. the big dogs in the SWC don’t play the other 6 large schools. Masuk didn’t play the toughest schedule it could have in the SWC. Only 3 of the 10 SWC games Masuk played were v. the large conference schools. I know this year it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference, but that isn’t the point. You are right NVLcoach, Newtown played all six of the other large guys. Why don’t all 7 large division teams play each other each year?
Again, you guys don’t go out of conference so it’s difficult to gauge your middle of the pack and smaller teams that don’t make the playoffs.
My larger point still stands, no one in Ansonia is “jealous” of those teams with a higher ranking (Mr. Brown maybe). Your Masuk coach is the guy whining about “what do we have to do to get #1 votes”.
As I stated before you take Masuk and Ansonia out you have 2 pretty evenly matched sets of 13 teams.
@67 WHAT AN IDIOT YOU SOUND LIKE—THE NVL ,ESPEACIALLY ANSONIA HAS PRODUCED MORE NFL AND DIV.1 PLAYERS THAN THE SWC EVER HAS OR WILL.DO SOME RESEARCH BEFORE YOU MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT PRACTICE SQUAD,ON THEYRE WAY OUT OF THE NotForLong
p.s “MR.BROWN” ISNT JEALOUS,IVE WITNESSED ENOUGH #1 RANKED ANSONIA TEAMS TO LAST ME A LIFETIME.THE TRUTH IS THERE ARE TEAMS THAT WANNA BE MENTIONED IN SAME BREATH WITH ANSONIAS HISTORY,AND IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN THATS WHERE THE JEALOUSY COMES IN.WE’LL BE RAISING #17 SOON—ANYBODY CLOSE?
@ ray brown… all of those guys came out within the last 7 years. Nobody cares about 50 years ago. Name some NVL guys?? Practice squad or not, they made it a lot further than you. Everybody google Ray Brown and see what comes up. OR better yet, tell everyone your bio. You were probably on the Ansonia practice squad.
@ R Brown, Let’s take a look at your “best teams ever” the 2006-2007 teams. How many of those players ,other then A Thomas,played football and made it thru all four years ? Does the number ONE look about right?(Tristan Roberts from bridgeport BTW at Monmouth and he’s still there) In the last 6-7 yrs Ansonia hasn’t had a legitimate div1 player other then that monster OL Eric,I’m not going to even try and spell his name,that went to Uconn and got tossed out by Edsall. The SWC,SCC,and FCIAC HAVE ALL HAD BIGTIME PLAYERS, even the pequot with Hyde had players recruited to huge schools. AHS,NOPE. So live in the past glory of your long forgotten championship and bask in the glory of soon to be class M championship because everyone else in the state knows you won’t be playing anyone to win,but boy if you should stumble to Berlin I’m sure we won’t see you on here again.
And let’s not forget Kenny Tinney,is he playing on Sundays yet,why yea he is,in the Ct flag football league,but I hear he is tearing it up. Hahaha