CLASS LL – Staples 48, Ridgefield 21 | Newtown 36, Hall 22 |
Norwalk 21, Conard 15 | Xavier 35, Glastonbury 6 |
CLASS L – Windsor 14, Notre Dame-WH 7 | New Canaan 27, New London 26 |
Masuk 28, North Haven 14 | Hand 35, Coventry/WT 12
CLASS M – Ansonia 35, Bethel 6 | Berlin 28, Cheney Tech 14 |
Wolcott 32, Ellington/Somers 26 (OT) | Ledyard 26, Waterford 0
CLASS S – Cromwell 23, Capital Prep/Classical Magnet 14 | Northwest Catholic 22, North Branford 19
Holy Cross 42, Haddam-Killingworth 14 | Valley Regional/Old Lyme 14, Rocky Hill 12
Masuk's Colin Markus takes a handoff in Super Tuesday's 28-14 victory over North Haven.
Pat Tripodi (30) and Andrew Sebben (41) knock down North Haven's John Paul DeVeglia.
Pulling into the parking lot at Trumbull’s McDougall Stadium, you got the feeling this wasn’t going to be a typical night for Masuk’s football team. The rain, which had started just a few hours before, morphed from mildly annoying to downright disconcerting.
Feels like North Haven football weather, I thought. North Haven football coach Tony Sagnella must be loving this. Now if only he could get some wind, too.
Cue the wind that blew my umbrella inside-out.
Yup. This was North Haven football weather.
“I thought the football gods might have been on our side today,” Sagnella said. “We weren’t going to be bothered by it.”
It was an hour before game time and, already, a 49-8 Masuk pick on this space wasn’t looking even remotely possible.
But, as Masuk gunslinger Casey Cochran had said just the week before, it takes more than one moving part to make a championship football team. Rain, wind, floods, heck even earthquakes were no excuse. Not now. Not in the playoffs.
You either pouted and whined, or you lined up and figured it out.
And, for a while at least, Masuk couldn’t quite figure it out. Cochran’s passes were flying all over creation. They were dropped, tipped, skipped, nearly picked off or just blown away.
North Haven had no such issues. Sagnella has built an entire program — which was making its third state playoff appearance in 5 years — around old-fashioned, methodical, power football. They run the single-wing offense religiously, the same way Pomperaug used to run double wing for most of the last decade.
Sprinkle in some players who grew more emboldened by every Masuk misstep, and you had yourself a football game. A raw, crawl-through-the trenches football game.
Not exactly Masuk’s style.
Masuk was up 14-0 just on sheer talent. But North Haven stuck to what brought it and just pounded away, keeping the ball out of Cochran’s hands for an insane 10:30 of the third quarter, pushing Masuk’s otherwise excellent defense to the brink of exhaustion. Consider that Masuk averages more points than there are minutes in a football game, the formula for the upset was in the making.
But again, it takes many moving parts to make a football team. So, with Cochran’s passes disconnecting, Masuk finally turned to a sure thing: Tailback Colin Markus. “Once the pass wasn’t working, I figured they’d come to me,” he said. Markus put the Panthers on his back, quickly snatched back the lead and asked the defense to make one more stop.
Eventually, Shawn Flynn and the defense did. Masuk scored again to top off a 28-14 victory — its closest victory in two years. A seismic blast was averted.
Masuk coach John Murphy watches his team compete in the state quarterfinals.
“I like how our kids handled the adversity,” Masuk coach John Murphy said. “They came out in the second half and punched us in the face, then they got the onside kick and punched us in the face again. To respond from that, for our guys to make, to survive these conditions … I can’t say enough about my guys.”
It wasn’t the best game of the night — those honors went to Wolcott’s overtime win over Ellington/Somers and New Canaan’s spine-tingling 27-26 victory over New London [See below]. But it certainly raised the most eyebrows.
Though two of the four SCC teams were sent packing on this evening — Windsor, the CCC’s best team, outlasted ineffective Notre Dame-West Haven on the other side of the bracket — the league’s denizens were already cooing about the suddenly rosier prospects of one Daniel Hand High School before Masuk’s soaked football players had even boarded the bus.
They smell blood. If Masuk had trouble against s little ol’ SCC Division II team. How ever will it contend against an unbeaten one from the big, bad SCC Division I?
We’re about to find out.
It’s on. Casey Cochran’s Flying Circus comes to West Haven Saturday night for a long-awaited playoff date with Joe DeMichele, Nick Vitale, Henry Foye and the Hand Tigers.
Apollo, you wanna ring the bell?
♦♦♦
Elsewhere on this dismally dark, balmy and stormy night, Year 2 of the CIAC’s expanded state playoff slate produced great matchups and great games galore. And it all resulted in some big-time Saturday games.
Saturday’s state semifinal sites have been announced:
Class LL: Xavier (11-0) vs. Norwalk (9-1) at West Haven, 2 p.m.; Staples (10-0) vs. Newtown (9-2) at Bunnell, 2 p.m. | Class L: New Canaan (10-1) vs. Windsor (11-0) at East Haven, 2 p.m. | Masuk (11-0) vs. Hand (11-0) at West Haven 7 p.m. | Class M: Ansonia (12-0) vs. Berlin (10-1) at Sheehan, 2 p.m. | Wolcott (8-3) vs. Ledyard (10-1) at Middletown, 2 p.m. | Class S: Holy Cross (10-2) vs. Valley Regional/Old Lyme (10-0) at Falcon Field, Meriden; Cromwell (9-2) vs. Northwest Catholic (9-2) at Cheshire, 2 p.m.
Here’s how the leagues fared: NVL: 3-0 | FCIAC: 3-1 | SWC: 2-1 | SCC: 2-2 | ECC: 1-2 | CCC: 3-4 | Pequot: 2-4 | CSC: 0-2
Here in Shangri-La, six of our nine playoff teams won and moved onto the semifinals: Staples, Norwalk and Newtown in Class LL. New Canaan and Masuk in Class L. Ansonia in Class M.
Your recap, our thoughts:
Staples tailback Jon Heil ran for 366 yards vs. Ridgefield.
STAPLES got on the back of Jon Heil, who ran for an astounding 366 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-21 victory over FCIAC rival Ridgefield. It was astounding because, A) Heil’s a backup behind Joey Zelkowitz, whose shoulder forced him to miss this game. B) No one on Staples ever runs for that many yards; and C) Ridgefield is still a pretty good football team.
That was ridiculous.
“We had a bunch of other plays including some passes ready to go,” Staples coach Marce Petroccio said. “But they couldn’t tackle Heil. So we just said `Keep giving him the ball until they stop him.’ ”
Ridgefield finishes a fine season 8-3 and its first state playoff berth in six years. It’s still a very young team. Its time is coming. “We’re still trying to get to that level,” coach Kevin Callahan said.
♦♦♦
Across the bracket, NEWTOWN got behind (who else?) Lou Fenaroli and Dan Hebert and eventually overwhelmed Ian Dugger and Hall, 36-22 to win the program’s first state playoff game since 1992.
Perhaps showing a little malaise from its 46-7 loss to Masuk in the SWC title game, the Nighthawks fell behind early but turned on the jets in the second half.
“What the kids did in the offseason is they set their sights on (this win) and they were able to obtain their first goal,” coach Steve George said. “I’m happy to be a part of it, as they are.”
Norwalk's Delshawn Wilson and Bobby Stringfellow swarm for a tackle in Norwalk's 21-15 win over Hall.
Like Newtown, NORWALK reached a milestone of its own: The school’s first football playoff victory, 21-15 over Conard in West Hartford. The Bears, who, like first-year coach Sean Ireland said, weren’t supposed to do anything this year, used their usual formula. Big plays by QB Delshawn Wilson and Derek Edwards. Then bone-crushing defense, particularly from senior Johnny Anzalone (two interceptions).
“We’re the first,” Wilson said. “They’re going to be talking about us for a couple of years down the line.”
We’ll go out on a limb and say more than a couple, Delshawn.
A huge goal already in its back pocket, Norwalk is now playing with house money as it heads to West Haven at 2 p.m. to face top ranked and unbeaten and reigning No. 1 Xavier, which put the hurt on Glastonbury 35-6.
“Are they a great team? Yes,” Ireland said. “Are they the best team in the state? Yes. But we’re going to go play as hard as we can and see what happens.”
♦♦♦
Dylan Leeming stops New London
What can anyone say about NEW CANAAN’s 27-26 road playoff victory over New London? Pick your superlative, the game was that good. New London pulled to within one point with seconds left and pulled a Lou Marinelli: going for the victory with a two point conversion. As anyone on Greenwich can attest, with Kyle McKinnon on New London’s side, it was a sure thing.
But Dylan Leeming came up with the play of the year: He bolted into McKinnon and stopped the electric back inches short of the goal line.
“I saw him cut back and I didn’t think I would be able to get there,” Leeming said. “We collided, I snapped back and I guess he did too. I fell backwards and didn’t even know what happened.”
That pretty much was the story of the night for New Canaan, which had a few of them to tell. McKinnon ran for 227 yards, and he wasn’t even the game’s leading rusher. That honor went to New Canaan (New Canaan?!?). Kevin McDonough: 230.
Throw in a tidbit about QB Matt Milano throwing for under a 100 yards (what?), yet somehow tossing a TD strike to Peter Kraus and then scoring the go-ahead TD on a 31-yard run.
Just. Wow.
“NC’s a great team and well coached and QB is a hell of a baller,” New London QB Rob Key wrote to me on Twitter just hours afterward.
You could pretty much say that about the previous five New Canaan teams, too. This one’s got it.
They’re one win over Windsor away from reaching yet another state championship game.
♦♦♦
As for WINDSOR’s impressive 14-7 victory over NOTRE DAME in the Class L bracket, I suspect I fell for the same deductive reasoning that most people fall for when they speak of the top SWC or NVL teams. They put up great numbers, but who have they played?
I wrote them down as a winner before being influenced to change my mind in favor of the big-time SCC team.
Wrong. Though the CCC’s Hall, Glastonbury and Conard were all bounced from the Class LL draw, Windsor struck a blow for the league with great defense and big plays in its 14-7 victory over the Green Knights. Notre Dame, which was expected to make a major dent in the Class L playoffs, moved the ball but couldn’t score in crunch time.
Windsor is 11-0. It’s a great team. Aaron Berardino is one of the best in the state. He has talent surrounding him. Windsor-New Canaan will be a show.
♦♦♦
Arkeel Newsome runs for some of his 303 yards in Ansonia
ANSONIA took the first step in securing its first state championship since 2007 with a thorough 35-6 victory over Bethel in the rain and slop at Jarvis Stadium.
And, while lineman Dylan Vano described playing on the muddied turf as “walking on ice skates,” you’d never know it by looking at Arkeel Newsome‘s stat line.
He had another outstanding game, rushing for 303 yards and three touchdowns. His numbers are fast approaching Alex Thomas and Montrell Dobbs territory. For the year, Newsome has run for 3,079 yards and has scored a state-record 53 touchdowns.
The Chargers play Berlin, a 28-14 winner over Cheney Tech in the semifinals at Sheehan, 2 p.m.. Ledyard defeated Waterford handily and faces Wolcott, which rallied from two touchdowns down to beat Ellington/Somers 36-26, in the other semifinal.
As for Bethel, the Wildcats knew they were in for a tough one. Unlike two years ago, when Bethel stunned New London, even a perfect performance probably wouldn’t have been enough. But seniors like Brandon Schmidt and Brian Birdsell walk out the door proud with the knowledge they helped put together one of the best football runs in school history and Bethel on the map.
♦♦♦
We won’t delve into too many specifics here on the Class S tournament. It is blessed (and we mean blessed) with no teams from Shangri-La. But both Catholic schools, Northwest Catholic and Holy Cross won. They sit on separate sides of the bracket. Only Valley Regional and Cromwell stand in their way of a playoff holy war.
By the way, huge props to the CSC teams. Both Capital Prep and Cheney Tech didn’t win their games. But they were far from mince meat like other CSC playoff teams before them. They represented Tech school football well. It bodes well for them and their opponents.
Looks like some great games.
Friday should be interesting…..
Some good matchups in there.
Was the weather a factor in why the Masuk/NH game was so close?
I am looking for Wolcott to beat Ledyard next game, upset special.
How close can Norwalk keep Xavier?
Newtown/Staples should be a close one.
CCC not looking good!!
LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!
Standing room only Sat. eve with Masuk/Hand….better get there early
Ansonia d was great last nite. 2nd half they just wanted to get out of there with no one hurt. All in all the NVL 3-0 last nite to all u haters.
Another Game where Hand only played there STARTERS for a Half a Game..
The game that everyone’s been talking about and wants to see is here..
Hand vs Masuk 7pm Saturday Night in West Haven.
No One knows what this Hand Team is capable of. There starters have never played a full 48 minutes.
Looking forward to see what this Saturday at West Haven has to offer.
I am a Grad of Xavier HS and they are playing at 2pm in West Haven too..
And my Family and I reside in Madison for the last 17 years.
Gonna be a Great Saturday. I am so looking forward to it..!!!
I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR…
It doesn’t look like New London took heed of my warning that NC would hit them with a running game. The defense got some big INTs, but a shootout (@jeb) was not in NC’s best interest given NL’s big play ability. Kudos to whoever said NL not having a kicker might be the difference. When you have a tradition of winning, it’s because you know how to win the close ones under any circumstances.
Elsewhere in Class L I twice pointed out the folly of picking ND-WH over Windsor, especially on Hartford based TV. So, yes, ND-WH is now officially the best three-loss team in the state. Also, Hand did rout Coventry, but I was way wrong about Masuk scoring at will vs. North Haven, though the elements for sure didn’t favor a passing day.
In Class LL, as for Staples, now we know what can happen if they put together two halves of football. I nicknamed the Staples offense the Flash 5 long ago because it’s like playing a track team. You feel good about yourself putting together a seven minute scoring drive against Staples’ always tough defense and before you finish congratulating each other their offense answers back.
Xavier did destroy Glastonbury, and Norwalk did destroy Conard, as predicted. My only error of the day was thinking Hall would win in a squeaker. Newtown has proven they can put up points, which they’ll obviously have to do in abundance to beat Staples this weekend.
FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE:”Though the CCC’s Hall, Glastonbury and Conard were all bounced from the Class LL draw, Windsor struck a blow for the league with great defense and big plays in its 14-7 victory over the Green Knights.”
Read this over carefully and try to rationalize .Windsor{CCC} was 10-0 and won everyone of its games by 21 or more points. Notre Dame{SCC} was a 2 loss team playing on the road.Can you honestly say that a Windsor win is that big of a statement for the CCC ??
Sean, awesome coverage! Thanks
SPB – Thanks again for another terrific recap! What an array of games for fans to choose from on Saturday. It simply doesn’t get any better than this. Congratulations to all teams.
Instead of Newsome you wrote Dobbs in your closing sentence about Newsomes stat line.
Great win by all of the NVL teams. Holy Cross and Ansonia have legit chances of both being title winners when it’s all said and done. Funny how people picked. Bethel to win.
Welcome to the SCC Masuk – bring some long cleats for that Surf Club
“They smell blood. If Masuk had trouble against s little ol’ SCC Division II team. How ever will contend against one from the big, bad SCC Division I?
We’re about to find out.”
I was at the Masuk game and weather was a factor for the #2 ranked Panthers. Casey had his hands full trying to connect with the long ball early on. The North Haven Indians get my respect for giving Masuk one of their closest and toughest game in a long time. Masuk did all they could to go up 14-0 in the 1st half. The Indians owned the 3rd qt. pushing around the Masuk defensive line like bullied schoolboys in search of milk money. Thank-you North Haven for waking up a sleeping giant. The Panthers showed their weaknesses in stopping a well-defined ground assault, but showed some championship heart in the 4th qt. in securing the win with Casey and Colin Markus leading the way to victory. Thomas Milone never gives up the fight and has proven himself to be all that he can be. R-MAC
R-MAC’S Fantastic Four > LL/ X-Men L / Masuk / M / Ansonia / S / Holy Cross /
@Jesse: I was at the NH/Masuk game. My clothes and wallet were still soaked through this morning and my phone died. The weather was definitely a factor for Masuk offense. They couldn’t get the pass game going at all in an unbelivable pounding rain and heavy wind. It helped NH D quite a bit. Once Masuk switched to running the ball, they could not be stopped. They were ripping huge chunks of between Markus and Milone. On the other side of the ball, Masuk D had lots of trouble stopping NH run. The single wing is a real old school set up and they were getting 4-7 yards per carry. Masuk stiffened on NH’s last drive. On a clear day? Probably 35 – 14. Maybe 42. But again, NH ground game definitely kept Masuk off the field – they ate up all but 30 seconds of the third quarter. Masuk in for a tough challenge against a Hand team that rested their starters for the second half against Coventry.
I was not surprised by any outcome – other than the fact that the tech schools kept it closer than I thought they might.
I’m going to drain the water from my shoes.
Thank-you for Ciac and the powers to be for giving us the Showcase doubleheader in west haven this Saturday. What more can I ask for as a Ct. Highschool Football Fan. The X-men vs NWLK and then Masuk vs Hand ! I can’t wait Christmas has come early for R-MAC and I can’t wait to open my presents ! Great job SPB as always my friend in covering all the action. See ya in west haven, God Bless !
I BLOGGED EARLIER IN YEAR AFTER ANSONIA SCRIMMAGED NDWH AND WEST HAVEN THAT I WASNT IMPRESSED WITH EITHER TEAM.ANSONIAS WIN OVER BETHEL
WAS DECISIVE.GAME OVER BY FIRST QTR.AFTER WATCHING THAT,AND THEN GETTING MASUK SCORE,PEOPLE HAVE A LOT OF BALLS QUESTIONING ANSONIAS
SCHEDULE.THEYRE MIGHT BE A BIGGER GAP BETWEEN XAVIER AND MASUK THAN PEOPLE THINK.EAST BERLIN,WEST BERLIN OR IRVING BERLIN,THEY HAVE BIG PROBLEM SATURDAY.ROTO AND BIG FISH,ENJOY YOUR TRIP TO WINDSOR LAST NITE?NVL 3-0.
Weather should not be the story of the Masuk-North Haven game. Sure, it was a factor and it favored NH, but the vast majority of the wind & rain took place during pregame and halftime. Masuk is a great team and made the big plays necessary to win but North Haven exposed them, and for that matter the SWC, as soft.
The Indians are probably the 4th or 5th best team in the SCC and pushed Masuk around up front. The Indian secondary, a weakness all year, played excellent coverage and actually dropped 3 or 4 would-be interceptions.
The tremendous team speed of Masuk’s defense largely prevented any big plays but penalties and bobbled footballs are the only thing that stopped North Haven’s rushing attack.
The play of the game was the punt return for a touchdown with 30 seconds left before halftime. If North Haven escaped the half with only a 7 point deficit they could have taken a lead into the fourth quarter. I’m not saying NH would have won but it would have been interesting to see Masuk play from behind. I doubt they would have been as willing to run the ball.
Either way, congrats to NH on a great season and for representing the SCC well. Best of luck to Masuk; they’ll need it against Hand.
Of course weather was a factor in Masuk/NH.
It was also a factor in Hall (spread passing offense) vs. Newtown, where if you wathched the first half you’d be convinced Hall was superior team and the second half you’d be convinced Newtown’s power run game was superior product.
Conard outplayed Norwalk and even Bear fans would admit that they were lucky to come away with the win.
CCC was 3-4 and could have easily been 5-2. Not even a good year for CCC.
Congrats to all the winners.
my mistake, I thought the semis would be at the higher seed – guess not, that is a plus for Masuk
@Spartans97
Hand vs Masuk 7pm this Saturday night at West Haven..Neutral Site..
@spreadofan: WHO picked Bethel to win???? I didn’t see a single prediction that had Bethel even in the game. They lost in the SWC to Pomperaug by 38, WESTON by 23 and Newtown by 26, while only beating weaker teams New Fairfield and New Milford by 6 and 3. Nobody thought they had a chance against Ansonia. But judging Ansonia vs. Masuk, Hand or Xavier by looking at their win against Bethel is not an argument that carries any weight at all. Ansonia will go untested in the states because they won’t have to play any of the really tough teams in the state this year. Again – that is not their fault. They can only play (and beat) who is put in front of them.
I would love to see Norwalk stay with xavier and give them a game. Not happening though. 35-6 xmen. Great season Bears !!
Would have been nice to have NC/Windsor at Ken Strong at 2pm but East Haven is not that far from West HAven with plenty of time in between.
Staples vs Newtown at Bunnell is a good game. Last time Newtown was at Bunnell they scored 50+ points. Little stands for the newtown faithful at bunnell since they are the lower seed. Bring comfortable shoes for the walk down and up the hill.
@ Ray Brown
You are breaking your own rule – I thought only sucker programs talk about scrimmages once the season has started?
I am proud to see that, on the last day of November, that you continue to define success for Ansonia based on their performance vs. WH and ND-WH. What that says about the NVL and Class M and your former home in Class S speaks volumes.
I never thought there would be a weekend where both the top two Qbs in the state would have their worst games of the season (Milano and Cochran, taking nothing away from winsors qb Fleeting who is statistically better than both. I love how both team rallied around their struggling qbs (statistically) and pulled out big wins vs. big opponents.
Masuk over Hand in the semi’s but they are gunna beat each other to a pulp. Whoever has the better game up front will win the game.
ps. Henry Foye your pretty good too dont think I left you out of the elite category. lolz
@ Ray Brown
P.S. I will agree what Ansonia is a tremendous program and a great team in any year (this year or going forward), if you agree to let me know when Ansonia plays someone that is a more than a “supposed” great team. A bona fide, statewide #1 championship caliber team. Deal?
No excuses. Please note as well that I’ve never said Ansonia couldn’t win such a game; it just kills me to have to imagine it every year instead of seeing it.
whoever said new canaan couldn’t run the ball must feel silly. apparently nc can beat you through the air or on the ground. now if they could ever learn to do both during the same game they would be fantastic. their defense also played pretty well yesterday. whoever this mcdonaugh kid is he is an animal, where has he been all year??? he only had like 20 attempts all season coming into this game and in this one they give him 20 in one game? nice job well done.
sounds like Pablo has all the answers and somehow managed to watch all the games at once last night. Know-it-alls ruin high school football for the rest of us.
New Canaan showed a lot during that game against New London. The defense and Kevin Mcdonough really stepped up in the place of Matt Milano, who was ineffective because of the weather. If the team plays like this for the rest of the season and if the passing game comes back which I am confident it will, this team can certainly challenge for the state championship. Their senior class has been one of the best years in Fairfield County history and they have dominated the region since grade school. The grade has only lost 4 games over their whole football careers, and I think it is time for them to step up and win their last two for the brilliant Lou Marinelli.
Hello Sean. Posted a comment about attending last nights Xavier game but I have not seen it posted. I thought that I was just contributing.
According to the stats on Maxpreps (of questionable reliability I know) Windsor amassed nearly 500 yds of offense vs NDWH, more of it coming on the ground than in the air. More significantly, however, is that it appears that Windsor’s defense was very solid. While Hand v Masuk is the premiere game on Saturday, the Windsor v New Canaan match should prove to be very entertaining game as well. I can see Windsor taking this one.
I also can see NWC getting past Cromwell to put two CCC teams into the finals. While North Branford averaged nearly 400 yds of offense and 40 ppg this year, NWC held North Branford’s offense to 100 yds passing and 60 yds on the ground. North Branford’s touchdowns all came after NWC gave them the ball with excellent field position. NWC’s offense runs multiple formations and personnel packages. It can and does/will pack in tight and run between the tackles and it can and does/will spread it out and throw it around. They will not be an easy team to prepare for in just a few days.
As for Berlin, they certainly have the size up front to go toe to toe with Ansonia’s front line, but they do not have the speed to keep up with Newsome. Berlin is young and will be a force to contend with next season despite the loss of WR/RB/DB Tom Undercuffler, who has just committed to play football at Yale next Fall.
My congrats to Windsor. They are a better team than I thought they’d be, and were certainly better than recent CCC teams in the L playoffs. My original point is that it would not have been an upset if the #7 team in the state (ND, coach’s poll) beat the #6 team. Barring two big plays, that would have happened. Instead, they gave up one offensive TD and lost.
Let the record show NDWH beat North Haven by more than Masuk did this season.
Weather was a factor but even great QB’s have to learn to play in all conditions. Mailmen do. Cochran did not look good at all. Rumors are that he was having back problems and sought treatment during the week. Any confirmation? If true, hope its temporary. We will need to be 100% vs Hand on Sat. Should be a shootout.
@Jerry. Huh? It’s up.
FWIW, conditions in North Branford were terrible which I am sure limited the effectiveness of their spread passing attack.
The T-Birds held NWC scoreless the entire second half, and apparently had the game won on an incredibly ballsy fake punt for an 86 yard TD in the 4th quarter….only to have it called back on what observers felt was a very questionable penalty call.
I guess hotshot was right about that NC o line
Curious if Milano is being recurited by any D-1 schools?? His record breaking numbers (e.g. 42 TDs as a junior) equate with Cochran’s and he is 2-3″ taller. He didn’t get the same attention, but i wonder if that is due to marketing or ability. Anyone know?
@BigFish – You’re damn right that’s a big win for Windsor and the CCC. Windsor is great. But everybody and their grandmother picked Notre Dame to win. The night was all set up for a Notre Dame win. They were expected to win. They’re ND. From The SCC. Division I. Not Podunk Tech.
@Pablo Milano is going to Middlebury, a DIII school in Vermont.
In my travels I’ve talked to a bunch of SWC fans not from Masuk who shocked me by not being as high on them as I would have thought. In deference to Masuk, it might be that the more you try to awe someone, the more they feel manipulated, and thus the more they tend to downplay it, even though an impartial viewer might well be in awe. The comments I was getting was that the SWC was weak this year in comparison to prior years which just made Masuk look that much better. Regardless, we now see the downside of playing to opinion: when you finally don’t blow a team out, you look like you loaded up against weaker teams.
Nevertheless, it’s telling that people are starting to think Masuk can be beaten, whereas no one thinks Xavier can be beaten. One wonders if that attitude is seeping into the minds of the players over there in Monroe. Personally, I think each of the three Class L teams left have a shot at beating Masuk. Not that any would be favored, but under the right conditions, it’s possible. In Class LL, the only team with a decent shot to beat Xavier IMO is Staples, the last team to beat them, which is the only team left that appears to actually thrive in bad weather for some reason.
The surest way for any team to be bounced from the playoffs is to be thinking about a team they are not playing so I’m not trying to change the focus of next week. Rather, I’m trying to make the point that Xavier is still the people’s choice for the best team in the state this year. But as a reminder, next Saturday is supposed to be clear, and the way Hand is being built up here, a decisive Masuk win would do wonders for turning some SCC heads in their direction. No pressure of course!
From all the talk here it would sound like Masuk has no shot on Saturday night or at the very least not expected to win…Be careful SCC fans…A close win versus a lesser SCC school like Masuk had last night does not = a Hand victory on Saturday.
Well, we all new that NC-New London would be the game of the night, just couldn’t pay the price to see it.
The North Haven-Masuk game was a great consolation prize. I’m in the minority, but I came away with more respect for Masuk. All year the talk was that to beat Masuk you had to keep the ball out of Casey’s hands, well North Haven did that as well as anyone could imagine and still lost. For me the difference was Masuk’s two platoon system. Their O-Line was on the bench the entire third quarter while NH’s line was banging heads for 12 minutes straight. Masuk went on to dominate line of scrim in the 4th quarter scoring two touchdowns with relative ease.
Can’t wait for the Class L semis.
@Aaron Rodgers,
RE: Milano going to Middlebury
Thanks AR, and good for him. Terrific school both academically and athletically. Congrats #15.
Masuk is a very good team.The game vs North Haven just shows that in the SCC they would not cake walk everybody like they do in the SWC.Ditto for Pomperaug in 2009 and Ansonia this year.
It was great to watch Jon Heil showcase his skills in the Staples dismantling of Ridgefield. The more I see Staples the more impressed I become. It was also fun to watch the Offensive Line domination that led to some giant holes. This team is firing on offense and can be a challenge to any team (yes that includes Xavier) as the State Tournament proceeds. Kicking game is also a notable asset that most teams don’t have.
@ SPB.Yes SCC D1 with 2 losses on the road.Windsor steamrolled through the CCC winning all games by 21 or more points.Anyone that sees this as a big win for the CCC is reaching for straws.Especially Xavier and some what Hand are the big dogs this year in the SCC.If Windsor gets to defeat Hand or someone that defeats Hand then its a signature win.Its like putting SCC Top dog Xavier vs the CCC 3rd rated team{Conard}.That would speak wonders for the CCC.
That’s bunk and you know it. This is NOTRE DAME. They weren’t 5-5. They were 8-2 in the mighty SCC. The third best team in the best conference — which, if you read all of your other posts on the same subject, means No. 1 in any other conference because, after all, their schedule is so good.
And they were playing in ideal weather conditions for Notre Dame football. You know, Tarek Saleh vs Hamden in Green Bowl 1992 kind of weather. Going against a team from a conference that lost three other Class LL schools in the same night.
And Windsor still had to gut it out.
You bet that was a big win for Windsor.
I don’t get it. You kill Masuk’s and Pomperaug’s accomplishments over the years because of their league then Windsor shows up after playing nobody in the maligned CCC. They beat ND and suddenly, it’s no big deal.
I love ya buddy, but give Windsor a fist-bump.
As a high school football fan of many games Xavier is not 20 points better then Masuk gee what did their offense do against Shelton? And there’s no dominate league this year so as just a high school fan I suggest you go to more then just your teams games because honestly there’s one quarter back far a head of the pack and his running back is right up there with him
LOL, I agree with Sean and Big Fish at the same time!!
I’m and FCIAC guy here and a nuetral party on this. NDWH was 8-2 and a very good SCC team. This is the strongest conference in the state. They were the 3rd best team in the SCC behind Xavier and Hand.
Windsor was 10-0 and ran roughshot in the CCC because it does not have the same caliber of teams each week that the SCC does. I think we would all agree that if windsor was in the SCC they are not 10-0 even if they did not play Xavier.
So in my opinion, should NDWH have won? I think so. Is it shocking they lost? No. Lets keep in mind ND lost 14-7 not 40-7 here. So was it a big win for the CCC and Windsor yes. Would they,as the top CCC team hang with the top of the SCC? NO. So to answer it fairly it was a big one and one they were supposed to win THIS YEAR. This year is critical to the answer.
Windsor is a GOOD team. It will be fun to see how they do from here.
Combined record to-date of teams to beat NDWH, 33-0.
I think it was a quality win for the CCC but I cannot except it for anything more than a dominate #1 undefeated team from a mediocre League defeated a good 2 loss team from a strong league.Schedules play a strong roll on how a team fears during the regular season.These super teams usually do not reside in the SCC.Winning by nearly 50 points a game and having running backs with 500 yard games and 50 touchdowns a year are very seldom seen in these parts.
Do you see a correlation that in 2009 a Pomperaug team that won ALL their 10/11 SWC games by roughly 27 or more points a game plyed ONE SCC team and Lost or that a 2011 Masuk team that defeated ALL 10 SWC teams by 35 or more points BUT Played ONE SCC team and won by 14 ?
I am saying Masuk is Very good but would not be running through the SCC D1 on a weekly basis.So SPB you are correct I do take shots at the scheduling and Overall strength of the SWC and the matchups and examples above support it.You tend to support the SWC and I the SCC so I respect your views but will agree to disagree.
I’m always amazed when people feel that the FCIAC teams have such a brutal schedule. Someone on another site thought that Xavier wouldn’t be undefeated if they played an FCIAC schedule. So I looked into the schedules of the top seven FCIAC teams, this season. I found that he top tier FCIAC teams play only three (3) other top tier teams annually. That means seven (7) games are against teams with records of .500 or less. The scheduling almost guarantees seven wins a year for those teams. While, the SCC D1 has it’s top tier teams playing each other with a couple crossovers. The NVL, for the most part, does the same. This season New Canaan and Ridgefield have played 4 top tier teams, an exception to the norm. Here is a look at the top FCIAC teams schedules versus Xavier, Ansonia, Masuk, and Hand’s schedules, for arguments sake. I looked at how many teams each played that had a record below .500, how many teams they played that had no wins, and how they faired against teams with a record of .500 or better. Take it for what it’s worth. I just found it interesting, that the FCIAC traditionally may have some of the best teams in the state, their road through the FCIAC may not be as difficult as many feel, compared to other leagues and specifically the SCC D1. Especially this season.
Greenwich played 6 .500 teams
Staples played 4 .500 teams
New Canaan played 5 .500 teams
Norwalk played 5 .500 teams
Ridgefield played 4 .500 teams
Stamford played 6 .500 teams
Darien played 5 .500 teams
Xavier played 3 .500 teams
Ansonia played 4 .500 teams
Masuk played 6 .500 teams
Hand played 6 .500 teams
Xavier played, arguably, the toughest schedule in the state and was absolutely dominant. Half of a teams wins in the FCIAC are against teams with records that are either .500 or below. The FCIAC teams are not beating up on each other every year. That argument falls on deaf ears. The scheduling in the FCIAC helps the good teams get into the playoff and when they lose it’s not because they beat each other up during the season. It’s because they’re losing to better teams.
My whole post didn’t show up in #49. Info was lost when I pasted the body of it. The meat of it can be found here:
http://the-boneyard.com/threads/no-threads-on-the-hs-playoffs.7962/page-2
Guys, guys, I am with the majority of you who believe the SCC is the SEC of cthsfb, and also agree the CCC’s recent track record is poor in states. However, after going the hour plus ride to Windsor last nite, I believe that only Xavier and perhaps Hand are better than them this year. While the score was close, I was impressed by Windsor’s discipline (far less costly penalties than ND) and their coaching/ in game adjustments. Because as SPB stated a few years back, finding out about CCC’s squads is like finding the recipe for micky d’s secret sauce, I didn’t see their ability to run the ball. Once they realized they were going against a three man front, they were more than willing to run zone read all day on ND’s undisciplined d-line. They are big, fast, deep (only two players, Berardino one, go two ways) I think they will fall short of the L title, but handle NC (whom I admire greatly) to the suprise of many of us down here.
@BigFish – I do not “support” any league or team. I merely try to keep everybody in line. If one side gets too overwhelming, I’ll add weight to the other. Not for the sake of argument, but because I truly believe outside of one or two teams, many of these high school programs are close, much closer than everybody thinks.
Unfortunately, that requires defending the SWC a little more often and more vehemently than the FCIAC or SCC because, God knows those leagues have enough people beating the drums on their behalf, and the perception too often trumps reality.
Was at the Xavier-Glastonbury game and watched from directly behind the goal posts. The Xavier o-line just flat out pancaked Glastonbury on just about every play and even the Glastonbury players away from the play downfield were getting smacked. Have watched Xavier for over 40 years and can tell you that this is the most dominating O-line that they have ever had. And the same thing goes for the D-line and the as a matter of fact the whole defense. Left the game with 2 min. to go in the 3rd and at that time Glastonbury was -1 total yards. Thank you for postin this Sean. This is what I posted earlier but must have screwed up sending it. Let me add that the only other game that I also saw the Xavier-ND game this year that Xavier won 36-7 and held ND to 52 yards total. ND gave Hand a great game and ND beat North Haven 27-12. Does this mean that Xavier is better than Masuk. Nope!! On any day as they say. I expected ND to beat Windsor but the Northwest Catholic coach told a good friend of mine that Windsor was a full level above the rest of the big school CCC teams and thought that the game would be as close as it was and could go either way. Guess he was right. All I can say is that after watching this Xavier team just dominate their opponents, I can’t picture any team beating including Masuk, Hand or Staples but like I said, on any given day.
Staples will score over 30 on any team remaining. Their offense is as good as any team left. Name another better? Look at their scoring this year against the Fciac. Very good O-line with THE BEST skill position players.
The problem is their defense. Especially D-line and linebackers (w/o the injured Kearney).
Staples can and will score on offense. But can they outscore the opposition? We will find out.
Sean, I just want to tell you how much I enjoy you enthusiatic coverage of high school football.I live up here in Middlefield and am happy that a friend of mine from West Haven made me aware of you coverage. Weli was my only way to keep up with the high school scores and barely comes in up here. I have turned on dozens of people to your blog and we discuss what we read when ever we get toge
ther. Enjoy the games. Can’t make the Xavier game because of work but I am going to Masuk-Hand to finally see this Masuk team.
@ksoldra you have way to much time on your hands..
Goodness, that New London two point try looked good. He knocked down the goal line marker with the ball. Very very close. NC lives for another day…
NC/NL film reminds me of this:
Hand doesn’t play games so they can wave the SCC flag. The community has real Tiger Pride. The SCC is a good conference, so is the FCIAC. They are the top two conferences in the state. I would love to see the two best teams in Class L from each of those conferences play eachother. That would be Hand vs. NC, they probably have the two best coaches in Marinelli and Filippone. It just my opinion, please don’t come after me, Masuk faithful.
RE: Windsor schedule and CCC
The poor CCC track record of late is being exaggerated (Gbury won 2 years ago for gosh sake), but it is not without merit (if limited to last 5 years).
They re-organized (again) so that all the LL schools play one another and all the L schools play one another and so on. The result is that the LL schedule is “tougher” as compared to other conferences, whereas Windsor (all L teams) schedule is weaker.
You can’t just look at wins and losses. The size and make-up of the schools is a huge matter of consideration. I’ll bet a 5-5 Greenwich team last year could have rolled through the class S division.
In sum, there is merit to the argument that Windsor had a weak schedule; however, that is due to conference realignment where they did not face the big boys (Hall, Conard, Glastonbury, Southington) as opposed to simply claiming it was due to weak CCC.
CCC was 3-4 so i can’t really talk, but the Southerners (3 conferences and 2/3 the state’s population) really shouldn’t take credit for Xavier.
They say that styles make fights. Watching the Masuk-NH game confirmed that styles make games as well! Really was a perfect storm for Masuk to be upset–rain, wind, and the single wing. With better weather Masuk might have scored more, but as it was, they beat NH at their own game–running the ball. This having been the only time that I have seen Masuk play this year I have to say that I was even more impressed by them than I might have been had Cochran thrown for 400 yards. They had to grind against a big, physical team. Hand-Masuk should be a great game!
Well mooncake8, I am not sure that Staples will put over 30 on Newtown but, if they put over 30 on the Xavier team that I saw last night then I will seek you out and eat a mooncake (whaterver that is) right in front of you!!
Mooncake8, using stop motion on the video of the play on the Day’s website, IMO it is clear that the New London runner (wearing bright yellow cleats) did *not* step out of bounds and did appear, from the camera angle, to get the ball over the pylon. However, on the long catch that set up the touchdown, again, it’s clear the kid bobbled the ball before going out of bounds. Bottom line is that no team can say they unfairly benefited from the officiating so it is what it is. Good luck to New Canaan carrying the FCIAC flag.
http://nledit.sx.atl.publicus.com/article/20111130/SPORT03/311309946/1044/sport
how can west haven be a neutral site with two scc teams playing there?
@ REGGIE YOU MUST HAVE NEVER SEEN THE OLD ANSONIA–NEW LONDON MATCHUPS
WHEN BOTH TEAMS WERE RANKED 1-2.ANSONIA WILL PLAY ANYONE,ANYWHERE AND THAT INCLUDES HAND XAVIER AND MASUK.COME UP WITH SOME FACTS.THE SCC,ALL 20 TEAMS, WAS A TWO TEAM LEAGUE THIS YEAR.THE REST OF THE SCC,ESPEACIALLY D-2 WAS HORRIBLE.THERE ISNT A TEAM IN THE FCIAC THAT COULD HANDLE ANSONIA THIS YEAR.THANK GOD NEWTOWN CAME UP BIG OR THE SWC WOULD HAVE BEEN A COMPLETE SHAM.ID TAKE ANSONIAS CHANCES VS.MASUKOR NEWTOWN .
Pablo, Milano is a very good high school football player who will probably play Division 111. I’m sure his coach has discussed his future and where he is best to fit in.
Ray,
I respectfully disagree. I think there are a few FCIAC teams that would play right with your guys and I think your guys would play with them. As I have said before, when starters have to play 4 quarters they get banged up. Your guys never played more than 2. Newsome is great, but don’t tell me he would carry it 40 times a game in the FCIAC or SCC and survive each week.
Also, the play anyone and anywhere speech is old with them. Just find a game and play it. Not against another NVL team in 2013 like 2007. Leave the state if u have to but I’m sure their are plenty of teams in CT that could use 160 bonus points.
Here is a tip of the hat from an X fan to Masuk for finding a way to get it done last night. We will soon see if this is getting over a bump in the road or a sign of difficulties to come, but congratulations on gutting it out.
I was at the X game last night and saw a completely balanced football team (offense and defense; passing and running) have no difficulty adjusting its game to the conditions. Shelve the passing game and go pure smash mouth on both sides of the ball, with brutal results. Voters might want to bookmark last night in case the two teams find a way to win out. For those “the regular season doesn’t count” people, should we now add “or the quarter finals”? Oh, and toss out all games played in weather?
Jerry beat me to the punch with #65. For whoever asked where Xavier’s offense was against Shelton, I guess you have a point. Low output of the season with only 27 points. On the road. Against a play-off bubble team. Mea culpa. Of course the defense allowed 0. It is a team game folks, not 7 on 7 drills.
Masuk-North Haven video is finally up.
@Ray, are you an ansonia fan AND an NVL fan? If so,while I consider the Chargers to be right up there with X and Masuk (I think they could beat either team on their nightfor sure), the league bashing you direct at everyone but your own is hypocritical. The NVL as a whole this year was awful, yea yea you will have two titles with you guys and HC, but that is an HC, who since you keep violating your own rules, was handled in scrimmages by Stamford AND Hillhouse, both of whom did not qualify for states in much more competitve leagues. I don’t mind you knocking other leagues much but be consistent, your guys league is awful.Bethel was the sixth best team in the SWC. Go down the list after you guys and Masuk, compare them, it is not even close, can’t see HC beating Bunnell for that matter. But yea, a mediocre Wolcott team proved they would be tops in the Pequot, Yaaaay!
Pablo, the schools are grouped by class size. You are KILLING ME with your population talk. Are you trying to say NH and FFLD county has more people therefore should be better?
Ray Brown, Hand didn’t set foot at Ken Strong yet this year…so the field is considered neutral for them. Xavier on the other hand was just there, so for once you have a point.
@SCC FAN #17 – Watch SPB’s video coverage of the Masuk / NH game and then apologize for saying “the vast majority of the wind & rain took place during pregame and halftime”…..are you kidding?? Look at the video…I think your description of the events is a slight exaggeration. Masuk showed what it is capable of in adverse conditions….fortunately they will not have to worry about poor playing conditions Saturday night in West Haven…36*…0% chance of rain and 1 MPH winds from the SSE…
THE BREAKDOWN….
MASUK
265.1 avg pass per game
212.1 avg rush per game
547 / 96 points over the regular season
Daniel Hand
200.3 avg pass per game
Max Preps gives no rushing stats for Hand
366 / 91 points over the regular season
This will be a GREAT game and like I have said in earlier posts…the winner of this one takes Class L title!
SBP thanks for a great coverage…see you all at West Haven!
Perspective. Since we are talkin scrimmages. Please explain seymours 2 point loss to newtown in a scrimmage.
Congratulations go out to all of the teams for playing in the conditons they had to endure last night – as for the Masuk -NH game, it was tough for both teams. I too attended the game, and NH should hold their heads high – they played a great game and Masuk should be equally proud of their performance. Masuk is a talented team, both offense and defense, and although the third quarter was dominated by the NH offense, the Masuk defense still allowed only 14 points on the night. Masuk may have another tough game on Saturday, but I doubt they will collapse under the presumed superiority of any team from a different conference.
The playing conditions at Trumbull High were downright nasty. There may have been two 10 minute gaps in the rain and it was mostly coming down sideways. Both teams played well and Masuk had just too many answers. North Haven had opportunities, though, and dropped maybe 4 INTs, one of which would likely have been a Pick 6. Masuk dropped several passes in the 1st half – totally understandable for both teams, given the circumstances. Eerily absent in the 3rd quarter was the sound of the screaming Masuk moms – things got a little tense when NH pushed in their 2nd TD and tied the game. The Markus kid is an enigma, he doesn’t look fast at all, but he somehow goes 8-10 yards on most plays. He’s very deceiving with his long strides and shifty moves. Can’t wait for a long day of football on Saturday. Final note, North Haven’s roster says that they’ll be back and possibly in the driver’s seat next year.
Masuk will beat Hand.
@class L comment #75..
Sir, I have been to EVERY Hand game this year, Home/Away…All Hands Stats are disguised that you posted. The Starters for Hand, either on offense or defense have never played a full game this year. In 8 of there games they never even played a full half of a game. All individual stats and team stats are so far off it’s not even funny. This Hand Team is balanced on both sides of the ball. Not one person here or even Coach Filipone have any idea what this Hand team is capable of in 48 minutes of Football if ALL the STARTERS played a full game.
The 52 point mercy rule has effected Hand football in 8 of 10 games this year. I will not brag about Hand or down the Masuk team or there divisions they play in. I am just speaking straight facts, that no one might know.
I am looking forward to Saturday Nights Game. I think it will be a good one. I have become a huge Hand fan this year.
I have lived in Madison for 15 years now and my kids are attending Hand now. And this coming from a guy who grew up in North Branford and is a Grad of Xavier and now reside in Madison.
I am looking forward to see what this Hand team will have in the next 4 years also. There 7th and 8th grades teams have won state titles in 3 consecutive years. Some of the players have gone to Xavier and a few to Chesire academy, but this Madison program starts from the diapers up.
eddysudds00 you obviously no nothing about football. Casey Cochran is God he has not lost a game in 5 years. Check urself before u wreck urself
@80
Sure, Hand might be good. Cochran will throw all over them in the beautiful weather on Saturday. I’m also curious though. Start building the cochran statue now out of gold, he’ll be carrying it on the 10th!
As far as im concerned with NC. That kid McDonough can flat out BALL. They should probably get rid of that O coordinator because 49 is owed another 6000 rushing yards. He should take a page out of the John Murphy handbook and learn how to run that spread offense and still feature a back (Markus)
pittfall, Newtown did indeed struggle with seymour in a a pre-seasons scrimmage the friday before labor day. it amazes me that detractors of the nvl use scrimmage results to knock holy cross, but won’t discuss newtown’s struggles with seymour in a scrimmage. what makes the swc better than the nvl??? nothing in my opinion, except cmt scores and property value. all things which mean nothing on the football field, but motivate schools like oxford to join the swc. if you want, look at the seymour vs newtown video that spb shot. yes, that’s newtown’s bull of a running back being tackled be a sub-par seymour team that struggled to go .500 in the awful nvl.
#21 from North Haven looks like a very good RB. Is he a senior?
Get to Ken Strong early on Saturday, otherwise you might have to park at Jimmie’s and walk over!
I completely agree – there needs to be a change there at NC. I don’t think anyone has a clue what the OC is doing down there.
The North Haven RB, Jalon White, is a junior.
He’s already a good one. Architect of the ‘Ain’t No Way, yo’ play.
Hahaha I forgot that was him! What a great way to start the year off. That should win an SPB ESPY for Best Catch Phrase. “And the winner is….random guy standing next to video camera!!”
@81 Mr Sandusky LMAO
I know nothing? OK…I have never said a bad thing about Masuk or Mr 2 time player of the year Cochran. Actually, I go to more than half the UCONN football games too. I am looking forward to watching Cochran playing there and watching him grow as a collegian player.
I am stating a fact, after attending every Hand Game this year, the STARTERS on both sides of the ball, have only played a HALF a game in 9 of there 11 games. including the semi game against Coventry.
A GOD.??? He has never lost a game in 5 years.?? Congrats to him and his accomplishments…I truly mean it…
I am just hoping for a great game..!!!
I never said Hand would beat them, never said Hand was better than them. Never said that Hand plays in a tougher division than them. I want to see a good game..!!!! I want to see what these Hand Tiger STARTERS have in 48 minutes of State Playoff Football.
I follow mostly all leagues/teams in the state.Masuk has a great team and program.The weather was a factor in all games played Tuesday but if you look at the season,weather ,not as severe as Tuesdays,seems to have contributed to many games every year in Connecticut.The schools seem to now postpone games than play them in the rain as they did probably 5 weeks this year.More than the weather Masuk finally ran into a team that for the most part could go toe to toe with them on the line.Masuk has more explosive weapons and proved it on the field.My gut feeling is Hand will fall short and almost be a repeat performance against New Canaan in 2010 playoffs.
@eddysuds00–You keep saying the same thing about the Hand starters. You have to keep in mind that the Masuk starters were in the same boat and their stats are still better. Their starters were out of most games at the half and with exception of the Newtown game, the starters didn’t finish a single game. Almost every Masuk game is 49-0 at the half. The JV and Freshman play the second half. I am not a Masuk fan, I’m from Shelton, but the facts are the facts. You are a Hand fan, so you are not being objective. You have probably not seen another team play all season other than the Hand opponents. If you look back on this board you will see that most of us get to see a lot of teams play and we have been talking about Hand all season and how good that they are and looking forward to this match up.
I’m looking forward to a great game…and despite Tuesday…I still think that Masuk is 2 or 3 touchdowns better than any team in the state.
Is it Saturday yet? I hate it when work gets in the way of CT HS Football.
Reading through all the postings, it’s amazing how much the league-bashing continues. It’s ridiculous.
Let’s all at least concede that top-to-bottom, based on enrollment, facilities, and depth the SCC(D1) and FCIAC are the two strongest conferences in the state. Next come the SWC, NVL and CCC, leagues that feature some dominant and very good teams, but also some very poor, perennially weak programs. The Pequot falls behind that group, and the CSC brings up the rear.
But let’s also agree that great teams are great teams-in any conference. The likes of Ansonia, Masuk and Windsor didn’t simply win games in their leagues; they dominated and demolished every opponent-including good teams (Pomperaug, Holy Cross, Newtown, et al.)
No doubt that playing stronger programs over the course of a season can lead to two-way athletes getting injured or worn down, which could obviously affect smaller rosters with less depth. But that is making the erroneous assumption that kids from these great teams can’t play four quarters-they can and have demonstrated as much.
Bottom line is that no matter what kind of schedule was played in the regular season, these great teams remain superior squads at this point in time. Xavier’s dominating, intimidating defense may give them
the advantage, but I would suggest that Masuk, Ansonia, Hand, and even Windsor and Staples could all scrap with each other and Xavier…no matter what their conference pedigree.
@eddysuds00#80…The stats that I posted are directly from Max Preps. I understand that Max Preps is only so accurate…I get it.
I know that Hand varsity did not play an entire 48 minute game this season so therefore the stats are off based on having JV play, most likely a number of the points against Hand occurred during these moments…right?
Well guess what….the Masuk stats above also came from Max Preps so their accuracy is also questionable
FYI….Masuk varsity did not play an entire 48 minute regular season game either….in fact they had more than one game where they were out early second quarter….and only 14 of the 96 points against Masuk came against varsity….
You’re right on one point….no one knows what Hand is capable of playing for 48 minutes…could be good or bad…this will be one heck of a test for you.
My point is that we have two great teams playing each other and it will be a great game and like I said the winner of this is the Class L winner!
The fact that you are so defensive of Hand shows me that you have concerns…..
Rightfully so…..
guys its a SCRIMMAGE, cool your damn jets. you guys havent played in 20+ years. yet you think you know it all. scrimmages mean nothing. two years ago, we played king and i tackled Silas Redd clean, GUESS THAT MAKES ME A D1 PLAYER RIGHT? wrong. Fenaroli broke the school record for yards. and your bashing him since he got tackled by seymour. ITS FOOTBALL, your supposed to tackle people. the records show: newtown is in the state semis and seymour is home. Bethel, yeah we were overmatched vs. ansonia. ansonia is a top 5 team in the state. Bethel could’ve beat any other team in Class M except Ansonia. Shut your mouths and give the kids credit. Rant over.
@ Brian you can only play who you are scheduled to play,ANSONIA had a opening for a 11th game this year,i dont think too many teams came knockin.Perspective ive always been a ansonia backer.when it comes to the playoffs,you pull for your conference to shut idiots like you up.
Go Noles…you are way off base. Your logic is infuriating and your even tone frustrates me.
We must crown one geographic region better than the other or I will not rest.
A great comparison to North Haven is my Hillhouse team. Both heavily running team and North Haven won 21-19. Two good D2 SCC teams. I watched the game. North Haven gave Masuk everything it could handle. The bottom line is Masuk is NOWHERE NEAR the best team in the state. I saw what Xavier did to us (28-0) at half and could have been worse. For anyone to compare the two teams is just plain crazy! Masuk might win class L and contrats to them if they do but please people stop this “best team in the state” by two or three touchdowns because it is not even true! Go watch Xavier! This is coming from a fan that since we were so close last year I’d thought we would win the game until I actually witnessed that team!
It should be very clear to everyone that this year’s Xavier team is much better than last year’s team. By a country mile.
Masuk is a great team…should be a great game Saturday night. But the truth about Cochran not losing in the past 5 years…just go back to 2009 when he and Masuk lost the SWC Championship game to Pomperaug.
Casey Cochran is 39-3 as a starter in his high school career, which began vs Fitch in October 2008.
Objectively I think Masuk is better then Hand though! I see it Xavier, Masuk, Ansonia, Staples, Hand, NC (then the rest)
Sean: It’s so obvious you Cochran and Masuk locker. I don’t think you really no much about football.
@jolly belly- What does that even mean?? It boggles my mind how people can’t write simple sentences. Why hasn’t survival of the fittest kicked in yet?
@93 class L
if hand beats masuk they will lose to new canaan. there is some kind of curse lou marinelli has put on fillipone that hand can not beat new canaan. they never have and they never will. its wierd put its just fact. i can not control curses. just is what it is. you can even argue with me about this because you werent there when the curse was cast. so dont try and argue unless you know the secret handshake and password.
Hillhouse fan Where you been ? Licking your wounds.? I misses your nonsense talk.
how can you even possibly be bringing up a scrimmage which was months ago (newtown- seymour) Newtowns players were out by halftime and the only reason it was close was befcause once newtown jumped out 14-0 they thought the game was won. Also, ask spb newtown has been a different team since week 4 with andrew tarantino becoming starting qb.
@82 i dont think you can fire the NC O-Coor. for what happened this season. i mean they gave the ball to 49 in other games, they just didnt run the football a lot. besides the OC is the offensive line coach and all those guys ever want to do is run the ball. i give them a lot of credit over there. to do what new canaan did when the recievers and qb were playing awful is really tremendous. it doesnt really matter that much because after they beat windsor they are going to lose by at least 30 in the finals again this year. but hey they make Masuk look better to beat one of the FCIACs dominant programs. Good luck to New Canaan. We will see you in about 10 days guys.
p.s. my prediction for Masuk/Hand is 42-14 Masuk.
my prediction for NC/Windsor is 35-31 NC
Hi Ray!!! I’m a SJ guy and been off the blog for almost the entire season(not much to get excited about this year), but I will use SJ last year as an argument against the NVL. SJ was 7-3 last year with 2 one point wins over NC and Greenwich. They easily could have been 5-5 and not in playoffs. In the playoffs they routed Woodland and Ansonia by more than 3 scores(I don’t care how close the score was with 6 minutes left all that matters is final score just ask the valley guy that set the line at SJ -9). My point being that Ansonia was 9-1 in NVL, if they were to have played SJ schedule last year I do not believe they would have made the playoffs. So while Ansonia has 16, soon to be 17, state titles they benefit from an easier road to the playoffs than other teams, which in turn gives them more opportunities to win a state championship even during seasons when they are not a vintage Ansonia team. Not bashing Ansonia. Their past speaks for itself. I truly do respect Ansonia as a CT state power, but they are able to collect state titles in years when they didn’t really have the best team.
@ Class L,
I made my statement about Hand. I was just waiting for someone who has been to any Masuk games to tell me what there season was like. Masuk was in the same boat as Hand then, with starters only playing a half a Game.
And yes, I have only seen the Hand Tiger play this year.
Looking forward to a GOOD GAME…
Try using HUDL.com
incredible info on there..
Dave, seriously Xavier is that good and you know I’m all about the “house”! They are not a bunch of big slow white boys that I used to call them! Good of a team I’ve seen in a long while. I still think we are top ten in the state and the best in class m ansonia included even though ansonia deserves to be ranked higher we would beat them!
Post 97 is one of the best insights we have in regards to the Xavier vs. Masuk debate. However, folks need to recognize that the conditions Tuesday directly influenced offensive teams that are built on passing. I was standing in that weather and it was a total advantage night for the running backs. Also, putting the ball up in the air too often was just asking for turnovers. All teams won that night on the backs of their RBs. However, the elements are part of football and the best teams can win either way. Masuk proved they could win in the elements, but I have to agree not as convincingly as last year’s team would have. Xavier’s team is built for this time of year and IMO will fully prove its claim on #1 once the playoffs are complete.
Love the story line on this Norwalk team. The Bears will be a good, physical test for Xavier. They show a ton of heart and Ireland has them believing. Doubt they win, but will be interesting to see just how much toughness the Bears have.
The weather Saturday night should be OK for passing, so only way Masuk doesn’t win? Casey and Markus stay home with the flu.
@eddysuds00#109…I too look forward to a great game….I wish both teams well!
@Chuck Norris#104…I did not know this…I love these little unknown facts like curses and stuff….some of my favorite things…thanks for the knowledge sharing…I would never dream of arguing a good curse story…
Is it also true that when the Boogeyman goes to sleep at night he checks his closet for you?
Is it true that you can kill to stones with one bird?
When google has a question do they really call you? Chuck?
Sorry I like Chuck Norris jokes too…..enjoy a great weekend of football!
@What
To your point…
A healthy Trinity Catholic would have been a tough opponent for any Class S team last year, yet they went 3-7. TC would be the biggest beneficiary of a Div II type set-up in the FCIAC.
How many Class S schools would qualify with the schedule below?
2010 results
Wins Over: Westhill (LL-1w), Bassick (L-1w), Stamford (LL-6w)
Losses To: Staples (LL-9w), New Canaan (L-9w), St. Joseph (S-7w), Darien (L-9w), Fairfield Warde (L-5w), North Haven (L-9w), Wilton (L-4w)
I seem to recall that SJ’s had someone injured for the first three games of last year? Was it No. 44?
To Dr. Von D…Exactly the point I’m trying to make
Yikes Can’t wait until Saturday night around 9:30-10:00 to see who is still standing and who will play another day. Remember it’s high school football any thing can happen. One last thing we have 4-classes in the state S, M, L & LL apples to apples!
Here we go again.
SPB – Casey’s record as HS qb is irrelevant. Steve Young lost the FCIAC final to a better TEAM. Is Casey better than Steve Young?
If I remember right, didn’t Ansonia win 33 straight at one pt? Was their QB better than Casey? What’s D’Amato’s record at Xavier?
If you’re telling me that CC is going to be a difference maker at UConn, I don’t agree. Orlovsky was the better player & he didn’t all by himself.
As for bashing other schools, spinning, etc., this is why I got started on all this.
Kids played hard in terrible conditions this week & should be CELEBRATED for their efforts. Not compared.
Masuk has a great team – and CC is a find for them. Although, Markus is too…
But, Xavier is better – they were last year too. And this year – they’re a LOT better – REGARDLESS of how the playoffs play out.
That said, if Xavier LOSES and Masuk WINS, then Masuk would be #1 – and they should be congratulated.
But, all the spinning (L vs. LL, Masuk scores vs. Pomp, Newtown, Bethel “thinks they can win”, WH is “tired”, CC is whatever as a starter.
Folks are right – they’re calling folks out on this board. And it’s why they keep coming back.
Masuk – which this year is UNDERSIZED – is a more than deserving #2 team. A once in a generation team for Monroe.
But, unless and until Xavier is beaten, that’s what they are.
The whole “flip flop” column in what, Week 4? Everyone KNEW the gap would widen because of SOS. And it did. NO “flip flop”.
Staples looks like they’re on a roll. So LL final will be every bit as much of a “test” as L.
Xavier beat #1 on the road in Week 1 last year. And despite the SCORE, they beat the heck out of them. Everyone that was there – and the video at NHR supported this.
And they haven’t lost since.
Again, if that changes, I’ll be back here arguing the case with folks who disagree about Masuk – as you saw I did when Newtown played well vs. Conard.
CELEBRATE the kids please. They’re #2, haven’t lost in 2 years so far. We’ll see how it plays out.
Objective
@Objective – Here goes what again?
Just the facts, dude. Wasn’t making grand pronouncements. I was just stating his record as a starter, backing up what the guy from Pomperaug said: that Casey lost in SWC title game in 2009. He also lost the next week. Also lost one game at New London.
@Objective….to add to Sean….this is a special team at Masuk, no doubt but when Masuk won Class L in December 2008 by a score of 56 – 13 Casey Cochran was in New London winning one there 27 – 18…point..Masuk has had some dominate teams over the last several years and Casey would be the first one to tell you…its not because of just one player….and its not just because of dominance on one side of the ball…it takes an entire team to make a great team! And as a friend of Steve Young…he would be the first to tell you that his team did make him great…he couldn’t even throw in high school, he had to go to Utah to learn that!
Also..you say celebrate the kids for their efforts don’t team bash and then two lines later you state “but xavier is better”…WHATEVER!
@Hillhousefan, ain’t no way, yo! You can sit home and tell yourself you are better than Ansonia while they do what you couldn’t. Your really out of your mind! Ansonia would beat you like they did a few years ago. Set something up for 2012…..believe me you don’t want anything to do with what Ansonia has coming back. Can’t wait to see what transpires in West Haven Saturday night.
Masuk is a great team. Stating that they are the best in class L and #2 in the state is not a knock against them! It’s just that they are not better then 1 team. Most observers will say it’s not debatable if you see both teams! That being said hill house should be#1 in the state next year and you will hear it from me! Sorry but this year it’s the year of X!
Hey we lost some close ones! Xavier is unreal! Still feel our rb is best in the state! Not that ansonia kid facing no competition week in and week out! We will get ya next year! We won last year, you got it this next year the rubber match bra!
By the way to add to #117, Steve Young played for Greenwich and they lost to Darien. Year was 1979.
Methinks that “Objective” needs to grab a dictionary to discern the meaning of his nom de plume!!
You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.
Having coached in both leagues. The SWC is not as good as the NVL year round. Some of the SWC teams are WORSE than thr waterbury schools. The NVL has a strong top and a very solid middle that gets no credit. The SWC has 1 strong top team and the rest just cant compete. I have no bias in this argument. I go to games in both leagues and have coached in both leagues. The NVL also is much faster than the SWC. Though better than the SWC, the NVL is not better than the FCIAC or SCC. The NVL is a better ECC and the SWC is a slightly tougher version of the Pequot
Having coached in both leagues. The NVL is not as good as the SWC year round. Some of the NVL teams are WORSE than thr SWC schools. The SWC has a strong top and a very solid middle that gets no credit. The NVL has 1 strong top team and the rest just cant compete. I have no bias in this argument. I go to games in both leagues and have coached in both leagues. The SWC also is much faster than the NVL. Though better than the NVL, the SWC is not better than the FCIAC or SCC. The SWC is a better ECC and the NVL is a slightly tougher version of the Pequot
I agree with SPB. Xavier is a MUCH better team this year than last. Masuk is slightly weaker this year (mostly to the graduation of Testani who was a shutdown defender and best place kicker in the state). There is no question in my mind that Xavier is the best team in the state this year….just as there is no question in my mind that Masuk was better than X last year. Honestly, though, I LOVE reading 124 comments on this blog. I remember the old days waking up early on a Sunday morning to get the Bridgeport Post and seeing who won the day before. This? This is great! Even those who I totally disagree with – love to read your comments. You are doing a great job, SPB. I can’t decide what afternoon game to see. Then I’ll be at Masuk/Hand (along with the rest of the state). Anyone with a crowd estimate??? Can’t wait!!!
“I am stating a fact, after attending every Hand Game this year, the STARTERS on both sides of the ball, have only played a HALF a game in 9 of there 11 games. including the semi game against Coventry.”
Really?
Sounds like the SCC isn’t as competitive as we think?
Hand is going to beat Masuk by 60?
@ disciplinary
I believe Seymour QB Luke Grabowski (their best player) did not play in the Newtown scrimmage, or any scrimmage for that matter, due to a sprained MCL suffered in off-season camps.
Justsayin’
@Remmy is correct. Grabowski didn’t play. Scrimmage talk is useless. Many of these teams aren’t as far apart as everybody thinks they are.
@82 @85
dang i was thinking the same thing. according to NC website the OCoordinator is Marinelli’s son. don’t think he’ll be getting fired.
Marinelli Jr. should definitely have some more trust in all those backs, 49,34. they looked good! BUT all they wana do is pass! 34 and 49 could get Milano type publicity if he wasnt callin the shots.
btw im lovin the Clay Matthews look 34
Ssorry i meant the swc is a somewhat tougher pequot
Objective, I believe the Ansonia QB you were thinking of was Sandy Osiecki. The winning streak was longer than 33 games, because it broke Xavier’s record of 34. I don’t remember for sure, but I think it went to 38.
WHATT MISSED YOU AND THE HOGGIES THIS YEAR,BUT I FIGURED THAT WOULD HAPPEN.LETS BE HONEST ST.JOES GOT THE BREAK OF THE DECADE BY MISSING THIS ANSONIA TEAM BY ONE YEAR.SOMETIMES TIMING IS EVERYTHING.ST.JOES SCHEDULE SUCKED THIS YEAR,WINS OVER BASSICK,HARDIND AND TRINITY?MY POINT IS FACT.THERES A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD TEAM,AND A GOOD PROGRAM,WITH THAT BEING SAID ANSONIA WILL BE BACK IN FINALS AGAIN,WHILE A PROGRAM LIKE ST.JOES HAS TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER 35 SENIOR TEAM AND SOME LUCK.P.S.HOW MANY PLAYERS WERE ACTUALLY FROM TRUMBULL?
TURN ON THE GYM LIGHTS FOR VITO, WHATT.
NC hasn’t played McDonough all that much in the backfield this year. Most of the time the featured back was Hagopian, who ran quite well. Don’t know his stats, but they will be very good—just not a ton of carries. 34 (Distler) and 49 (McDonough) are the normal linebackers, and played there nearly every down except for some injury time for Distler.
McDonough has gotten more carries in the later games here. He seems to have a pretty good sense of picking his way for intermediate yardage when there is nothing much there. His best runs on Tuesday, IMO, were not the longest ones.
@131 ok i just looked at their website and it does say that maranelli jr is the OC but if i remeber from last year when they played us in the championship the big coach with the beard was calling all the plays in. it really does not matter. the point i was trying to make was that it is nice to see Masuk and New Canaan run the ball to help pick up their teams. programs are very similar, defense is the difference maker. NCs is suspect at best. but your right, maybe they did fire the OC from last year when maranelli’s son came in. i dont remeber even seeing him at the game last year.
enough of the league bashing. Good teams in all league in the state. This is coming from an Ansonia fan.Hope to see some great ball 2morow.
Always good to hear from you Ray! BTW…Last years SJ team would still beat this Ansonia team by 21. Also, SJ will be back in 2 years mark it down!!! See you soon!!! Have fun at Sheehan tomorrow. Great site for a Semi-Final game LOL…CIAC must really think that’s a big game
@ray brown, carl whats the beef with the private schools, didn’t Evan go to ND? Besides how many of those SJ kids were from Trumbull? I don’t know, but are Arkell, Jaquan, and Mont from the Copper city? Answer is know big guy!
@objective and #133 the QB was in fact Sandy (Ozzie) Osieski who hadn’t lost 1 high school football game in 4 yrs until the playoff game down at the old Southern CT football field in the MUD bowl against Amity I believe it was…..Now there was argueably by far ONE of the best QB this state may have seen.Played for ASU and then the Chiefs…His oldest son is now QB university New Haven(junior), middle son(CT gatorade player of year 2 yrs ago) playing for UConn and youngest son plays for Seymour.(Freshman) All the mileage on his cars are from going to as many games time will allow on weekends…Not to mention he and Mary are the nicest people you could have as a friend…
does sheehan have a nice site?
Objective, you come on here daily and knock Masuk and the SWC in a condescending manner with the hope of keeping Xavier on an imaginary pedestool. Its simple and funny to watch you continue this. Keep it coming. “Masuk has a once in a decade team….Xavier has a once in a century team!” So transparent.
House you would not beat Ansonia you were manhandled up front by Cheshire what are you going to do against Ansonia? Please you would lose by 30 like you did three years ago
Hillhouse fan, wake up to reality. With no disrespect intended for Harold Cooper, he is ranked #239 in the country in rushing with 1,835 yds. and 24 TD’s. Arkeel Newsome ranks #4 with 3,079 yds. and 53 TD’s. You say Harold Cooper is a better player?
@Ray Brown,How can you talk about St.Joes and kids from out of town?Are you renting for arkell,Dobbs,Hyde,ect…..They pay to go to a Catholic school system and are getting an education.Lets worry about educating some of these great players so they can play at the next level.
yes those players live in ansonia.My problem with the private schools is that they are not competing on a even field.i know first hand what goes on.no problem with their academic standards,which should come first and foremost,thats why he landed at nd.How are private schools
who draw atheletes from 10 towns competing with public schools?
whatt you have to wait two more years?wow.your right about site,its almost as bad as going to valley regional.
paul—is that why they have to go to prep schools after graduation?
Ray
“How are private schools competing”? Apparently not very well.
I did a quick count of 13 Catholic schools. Four of them have winning records (X, NDWH, HC, and NWC).
Unless I missed something…Catholic schools have a regular season record of 57-71, with 4 shools accounting for 35 of the wins.
That is some AWFUL recruiting.
In my opinion, a well run youth system to feed a public high school is a MUCH larger advantage.
AT RAY BROWN… Before you start taking shots at Matakevich going to the same prep school DOBBS does look in mirror… and dobbs is from Hamden don’t think we don’t know… I am sick and tired of your nonsense on here… the N.V.L. is NOT GOOD …Holy Cross was top dog 2 years ago in the league and in their semi-final game had to play running time because of the 50 point rule… stop anybody that knows anything about high school football in connecticut respects ANSONIA NOT THE CONFERENCE THAT BEING SAID DERBY COULD NOT BEAT THE WALLINGFORD OR MILFORD SCHOOLS IN THAT POP WARNER CONFERENCE YOU CALLED IT
@Ray…I’ve never been to Valley Regional…Why would I have been there?
Buge make sense. The Milford and Wallingford schools are football powers along with East haven. Lots of banners on them gym walls.
@Ray…Do you really think that SJ is giving out scholarships to football players? If you do you are out of your mind…If SJ were giving out scholarships they would never have a down year. I love how that 21 point spanking your boys took to SJ last year eats at you…It gives me pleasure to watch your moronic comments trying to defend your beloved Chargers cause when they had a chance on the field they lost by 3 TDS. Lastly the last few years that terrible SJ team outscored the Big bad NVL 232-68…Pretty good showing by YOUR league
Also left out Guilford and Hamden a giant shool with a flag football program.
Jeez. You guys are brutal.
I am also an Ansonia guy, and I have to agree with the opinion that the SWC is stronger than the NVL overall. Bunnell, Newtown, Pomperaug, (possibly even Brookfield and Weston) may have finished 2nd in the league this year.
I have to LOL at Ray’s argument about a St. Joe’s graduate going to prep school. Great Catholic education!
Is St. Joe’s going to live off last year’s win over Ansonia forever?
Can we please acknowledge that last season Ansonia was hardly a dominant team. They struggled to some wins in the NVL (Derby comes to mind) and were exposed by Naugatuck on Thanksgiving Day.
Essentially, the offense was Montrell Dobbs and his 10 young friends. The defense, especially the very young secondary, was arguably the worst Ansonia has fielded in decades.
Somehow they went on a good playoff run, with Dobbs going over 300 yeards each contest, despite defenses putting 9 and 10 kids in the box to stop him. That included St. Joe’s.
St. Joe’s had a very good, veteran (@25 seniors) team that lost a couple of tough games early due to some key injuries, including Tyler Matekevich. They were healthy at the end of the year, were simply a better team than Ansonia irrespective of leagues, and SHOULD have beaten the Chargers. In fact, many on this blog predicted a blowout-which didn’t happen. St. Joe’s was unable to put away the Ansonia pups until the closing minutes. The best team won, but it was a close exciting game most of the way.
So those are the facts for “WHAT!!!” and other bloggers.
Now can we stop with league-bashing, private-school bashing, reveling in past glories, and focus on the present, with some great match-ups about to take place tomorrow? Should be a fun weekend!
st.joes is like any other parochial high.they lie,cheat and are protected by ciac.your gonna tell me thatparochial high schools dont give minority atheletes who can dunk or play football “scholarships”?
your the moron.ask the kids who graduate from these prestigous schools,after spending 30,000 on tuition then finding out they dont have the proper qualifications to attend D-1 schools,how prestigous they are .WHATT ILL SEE YOU BACK ON BLOG IN WHATT—2 YEARS LOL?DONT SPEND TOO MUCH TIME AFRTER SCHOOL WITH THOSE PRESTIGOUS PRIESTS(WINK)
PAUL AND PERSPECTIVE-I KNOW YOUR DISSAPPOINTED DERBY GUYS AND YOULL FIND ANYWAY TO DISS ANSONIA BECAUSE YOU CANT BEAT THEM BUT PLEASE TELL PEOPLE YOUR HUMBLE GUYS FROM DERBY,NOT FROM THE VALLEY.DOBBS FROM HAMDEN?THATS A NEW ONE.
Ok anyone have a different predictions then:
Xavier vs Staples
NC vs. Masuk
Ansonia vs Ledyard
Holy Cross vs. Northwest
Anyone have a good sleeper out there and a reason why? Windsor?
I’m going with Cromwell in the final! A lot of Offensive fire power! will lose to Holy Cross though!
Cooper is better. Was banged up alot! Go House!
Ray – I need to know.
What makes you decide between “ALL CAPS” vs. no caps?
Newtown over Staples.
Wolcott over Ledyard.
Hard to disagree with your predictions HillhouseFan.
But I don’t think Holy Cross and NWC are definites in Class S. Cross is a very good team, but Valley has a superb QB capable of carrying the team on his shoulders. While Valley has not played all that well in recent weeks, they are capable of putting a lot of points on the board and pressuring HC.
If the weather is decent, I think Cromwell takes out NWC. Anthony Morales and company are difficult to hold in check, and if NWC falls behind early they do not have the firepower to keep up.
CARL STOP YELLING
@Go Noles…I’ll live off that win over Ansonia for as long as Carl comes on here and spouts off. I love getting Carl riled up. It’s fun. Just eats at him that Saturday Night at Rentschler. BTW…Minus one guy you have the same team this year as last year. Why wasn’t last years team champuionship worthy? How many seniors does Ansonia have this year? Remember SJ won Back to Back. Point being they won the year before with an inexperienced team. Leave the excuses in Wallingford. Go Blow Berlin’s door’s off then come wave the NVL banner like people care that you pounded a team that beat a tech school by 14
What!!!
You bash poor Ray for spouting off and then essentially do the same thing, not making much sense in the process.
Did you see Ansonia play last season? Smallish team, very young and inexperienced. (They started a small freshman named Arkeel Newsome in the defensive backfield.) A year in high school can make a dramatic difference. Kids on the line got much bigger and stronger. Newsome got bigger and faster, and there is simply much more experienece all over the field.
Were they championship-worthy last season? No! Which is why they lost to a bigger, stronger, and much more experienced St. Joe’s squad.
I might add that after graduation losses, St. Joe’s fell off the table and beat NOBODY this season. Don’t look for the same from Ansonia next year. They’ll be young in the trenches, but return a number of very talented kids along with Newsome, including a kid who will start at QB as a sophomore.
Opinion: swc is better than nvl
Fact: swc is 1-8 vs nvl teams.
You be the judge
Instead of rehashing the Ansonia title game, St Joes fans should be on here pretending to be Valley Regional fans from Deep River. That was fun last year.
@Go Noles…You never answered my question. How many seniors does Ansonia have on the team this year? Also, save the Newsdome talk…Kid was 16 last year. Last time I checked you could be 16 Junior year of High School. @Rob…That was fun last year wasn’t it
New Canaan should not put too much stock into Mcdonough’s big performance. The kids a good linebacker, but his 230 yards against new london should be be credited to stellar offensive line play. Mcdonough just ran through gaping holes and was far too slow to pull away in the open field. If NC wants a shot to beat Masuk, they have to get the passing game going again.
He’s not a speed demon, Mail Man, but anyone who knows anything about football can tell he’s a great running back. At this level, it’s about picking the right holes, breaking tackles and making moves.
Unless, that is, you’re name is Arkeel Newsome.
Sorry folks, but having watched this Hand/Masuk game neither team are the best in CT. Greenwich would beat either of these teams and they didn’t even make LL playoffs.
Winner or Xavier and Staples is the best team in CT. No doubt.