SPB's High School Football

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