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A little slow on getting this out because — well — I’ve been taking a long (and dare I say, well-deserved) break from the beat.

However, last week was Walter Camp banquet weekend and the organization, in addition to doling out honors for the top college football players in the country, handed down its Connecticut all-state team at its ‘Breakfast of Champions’ on Jan. 14.

This is the last of the major awards and the officially signals the end of the 2011 season, unless you count Signing Day or the All-Star games.

At the very least, it’s the last of the big awards. It’s also the most exclusive.

So here we go…

2011 WALTER CAMP ALL-CONNECTICUT TEAM

State Player of the Year: Arkeel Newsome, Ansonia (state-record 3,763 yards, 58 TDs rushing)

Coach of the Year: Steve Filippone, Hand (13-0, Class L champion).

Lifetime achievement award: Larry McHugh, Xavier (152-36-6 career record at Xavier).

OFFENSE

QB: Casey Cochran (Masuk)*

RB: Arkeel Newsome (Ansonia), Alex Manwaring (Ledyard)

WR: Aaron Berardino (Windsor), Nick Vitale (Daniel Hand)

TE: Ryan Murphy (Xavier)

OL: Rennick Bryan (Hillhouse) Hakeem Martin (Ansonia), Michael Money (Fairfield Warde), Dylan Vano (Ansonia). Austin Wezenski (Xavier)

DEFENSE

DL: Joe Demichele (Daniel Hand), Sean Marinan (Xavier), Cole Ormsby (Windsor), Ludovic Richardson (Notre Dame)

LB: Shane Nastahowski (Greenwich), Matt Walsh (Daniel Hand), Tyler Wood (Ansonia), Mark Zurlis (North Haven)

DB: Jawad Chisholm (Bunnell), Jimmy Fairfield-Sonn (Valley Regional), Brenden Lytton (Torrington). Ryan Jacobucci (Xavier)

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker: Matt Paola (Pomperaug)

Punter: Jon Heil (Staples)

Returner: Kyle McKinnon (New London), Thomas Milone (Masuk)

* 2010 Walter Camp All-Connecticut team member

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Montrell Dobbs’ roller coaster of a recruiting ride is finally over. After some flirtation with UConn and then Marshall, the  2010 Connecticut Post MVP and all-state football player from Ansonia will be going to Temple.

Dobbs’ choice was first reported by the NVL Football Blog on Tuesday.

We caught up to Dobbs today to ask how Temple became his school of choice, his thoughts on UConn, and the rigmarole of the whole recruiting process.

Short answer: Not fun. But he’s happy now.

Read: Ansonia’s Dobbs ‘real excited’ about commitment to Temple

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St. Joseph's Tyler Matakevich dives over Ansonia's defense to score a touchdown during Saturday's Class S State Football Championship game at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on December 11, 2010. Photo: Lindsay Niegelberg / Connecticut Post

Former St. Joseph standout Tyler Matakevich gave his verbal commitment to Temple today.

“Oh my God,” the 6-foot-1, 213-pound linebacker said. “I’m so happy to finally get this done after all that hard work. It’s finally paid off.”

Matakevich was a two-time all-state player who led the Hogs to back-to-back state championship victories in 2009-10. Temple, coached by Connecticut native Steve Addazio, was hot on his trail after a stand-out season at Milford Academy.

Matakevich said he impressed Temple and a number of colleges at a postseason college combine a few days after Thanksgiving. “It was probably the best day off football in my life,” he said. “Everything went great after that.”

He took a visit to Philadelphia and said he loved the atmosphere and the close-knit relationship with the players and coaches.

“I love everything about Temple,” he said. “It’s in downtown Philly but the biggest part is the coaches. The coaches make you feel at home. Players are awesome, it was so cool to hang out with them.”

Temple visited with Matakevich today and left with his commitment. He will start classes on Jan. 17.

Matakevich said his postgrad year at Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y. made all the difference. He started every game at linebacker.

“It paid off for me mentally, physically,” he said. “Milford makes you a football player. I can’t thank Coach (Bill) Chaplick and all the coaches at Milford and all my coaches at St. Joseph… Everyone who helped me out. I can’t thank them enough.

“I’ll definitely be a learning experience. Going in now in the spring semester gives me a good jump on every one else coming in next season. I went to Milford, I know what it takes to play college ball a little bit  I’m going in there to compete.”

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Ansonia's Arkeel Newsome runs away from the entire Ledyard defense en route to a 95-yard touchdown run in the Chargers' 38-0 Class M title game. Newsome compiled an all-time, state-best 3,763 rushing yards and 62 touchdowns (total) and led the United States in rushing.

Ansonia sophomore tailback Arkeel Newsome has added another honor to his stacked mantle.

The first-team All-State and Connecticut Post MVP was recently named to the 2011 MaxPreps U.S. Air Force All-American Sophomore team.

The 5-foot-7 back, who broke the state’s single-season rushing record for the 14-0 Class M champions, makes the team as one of four running backs, joining Union (N.J.)’s Jamauri Bogan, Central (Miami)’s Joe Yearby and Jabrill Peppers, MaxPrep’s national sophomore of the year from Don Bosco Prep (N.J.)

Newsome’s 3,763 rushing yards was the third-best reported total in the country this season.

See the full team here.