The pieces are all in place now. All that’s left is a precious few weeks of summer vacation and we gear up for the start of the 2012 season.
We’ve been pretty lax here on the football blog, perhaps more than most outlets. There has been a lot going on and we’re going to get you up to speed as fast and as efficient as possible.
We start today with the CIAC’s June announcement of the official 2012 playoff classes and a quick break down of each one.
Spoiler alert: Ansonia, the 2011 Class M champion, is taking its talents to Class S. New London will fill the void, moving from Class L to M. Other local moves: Ludlowe is now a Class LL school (wow). Pomperaug moves down to Class L alongside Masuk and New Canaan. Stratford moves up to Class L from M. St. Joseph and Weston move up to Class M.
Here’s the full breakdown.
CLASS LL
Staples' James Frusciante catches a pass in the Class LL championship game.
Range: 682 and over
2011 playoff teams: 8
Gained: Fairfield Ludlowe (from L), Kennedy (from L), Naugatuck (from L), Wilby (from L)
Lost: Bristol Eastern (to L), Harding (to L), Pomperaug (to L).
Total: 37 (up from 36)
2011 playoff teams in bold
TEAMS: Amity, Bridgeport Central, Bristol Central, Cheshire, Conard, Crosby, Danbury, East Hartford, Fairfield Ludlowe, Fairfield Prep, Glastonbury, Greenwich, Hall, Hamden, Hartford Public, Kennedy, Manchester, McMahon, Naugatuck, New Britain, New Milford, Newington, Newtown, Norwalk, Norwich Free Academy, Ridgefield, Shelton, Simsbury, South Windsor, Southington, Stamford, Staples, Trumbull, West Haven, Westhill, Wilby, Xavier (2011 state champion).
Synopsis: Of all the shuffling, Connecticut’s largest class was least affected. All of last year’s playoff teams, including two-time reigning champion Xavier and runner-up Staples (basically its entire 2011 team), return to duke it out with the rest of the usual suspects in 2012. The overall strength of LL dipped only slightly with the loss of Pomperaug (8-2). Naugatuck (6-4) is the strongest add. Oh, and hello Fairfield Ludlowe. Lotsa luck. Class LL is as strong as it’s been.
CLASS L
Bunnell quarterback Bryan Castelot
Range: 621-526
2011 playoff teams: 6
Gained: Bristol Eastern (from LL), Harding (from LL), Pomperaug (from LL), Stratford (from M), Windsor/Locks/Suffield/East Granby (from M), Woodstock Academy (from M)
Lost: Fairfield Ludlowe (to LL), Kennedy (to LL), Naugatuck (to LL), Wilby (to LL), Coventry/Windham Tech (to M), East Hampton/Vinal Tech (to M), New London (to M),
Total: 35 (down from 36 in 2011)
TEAMS: Avon, Bassick, Branford, Bristol Eastern, Bulkeley, Bunnell, Daniel Hand (2011 state champion), Darien, E.O. Smith, East Lyme, Fairfield Warde, Farmington, Fermi, Fitch, Guilford, Harding, Maloney, Masuk, Middletown, New Canaan, North Haven, Notre Dame-West Haven, Platt, Platt Tech, Pomperaug, RHAM, Rockville, Stratford, Torrington, Wethersfield, Wilbur Cross, Wilton, Windsor, Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby, Woodstock Academy
Synopsis: Relatively speaking, Class L had some muscle extracted and appears weaker than in seasons past. Only six of last year’s playoff teams remain. Losing New London hurts the division’s overall competitiveness. There are still heavy hitters in Hand, New Canaan, Masuk, North Haven, Notre Dame-WH, Darien and Bunnell. Adding Pomperaug gives the division a nice boost. Class L is strong, but with many of the aforementioned teams suffering significant graduation losses, it doesn’t look as boss as it once did.
CLASS M
Dan Rogers and Weston have moved up to Class M.
Range: 525-391
2011 playoff teams: 9
Gained: Coventry/Windham (from L), East Hampton/Vinal (from L), New London (from L), O’Brien Tech (from S), St. Joseph (from S), Weston (from S),
Lost: Ansonia (to S), Nonnewaug (to S), SMSA/University (to S), Stratford (to L), Windsor Locks/Suffield (to L), Woodstock Academy (to L).
Total: 36 (down from 37 in 2011)
TEAMS: Abbott Tech, Bacon Academy, Berlin, Bethel, Brookfield, Bullard Havens Tech, Cheney Tech, Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton, East Hampton/Vinal Tech, East Haven, Ellington/Somers, Enfield, Foran, Gilbert/NW Regional, Hillhouse, Joel Barlow, Jonathan Law, Ledyard, Lewis Mills, Lyman Hall, Montville, New Fairfield, New London, O’Brien Tech, Putnam/Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech, Sheehan, St. Bernard/Norwich Tech, St. Joseph, Tolland, Waterford, Watertown, Weston, Wilcox Tech, Windham, Wolcott, Wolcott Tech.
Synopsis: Class M always has been the ugly duckling of the four playoff divisions and, with 2011 champion Ansonia’s drop to Class S, it has been weakened even further this year. The division’s overall strength did get a boost from the addition of New London. Class M also added Class L playoff squad Coventry/Windham Tech and features perennial powers Hillhouse, Ledyard and Berlin. Locally, Weston and St. Joseph have joined the fray. With no slam-dunk favorite in sight, this should be a pretty competitive class.
CLASS S
Arkeel Newsome and 2011 Class M champion Ansonia have dropped back to Class S to compete with defending champion and NVL rival Holy Cross.
Range: Up to 390
2011 playoff teams: 9
Gained: Ansonia (from M, state champion), Nonnewaug (from M), SMSA/University (from M)
Lost: O’Brien Tech (to M), St. Joseph (to M), Weston (to M).
Total: 37 (same as 2011).
TEAMS: Ansonia (Class M champion), Bloomfield, Canton, Capital Prep/Classical/Achievement First, Coginchaug, Cromwell, Derby, East Catholic, Granby Memorial, Griswold, Haddam-Killingworth, Holy Cross (Class S champion), Housatonic/Wamogo, Hyde Leadership, Immaculate, Killingly, Morgan, Nonnewaug, North Branford, Northwest Catholic, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Old Saybrook/Westbrook, Oxford, Plainfield, Plainville, Prince Tech, Rocky Hill, Sacred Heart, Seymour, SMSA/University, St. Paul Catholic, Stafford/East Windsor, Stonington, Trinity Catholic, Valley Regional/Old Lyme, Weaver, Woodland.
Synopsis: Now we’re talking. Two state champions, nine playoff teams from 2011. A strong small-school playoff division gets even stronger.
Questions, comments, observations welcome (of course).
Troll post 1:
I fail to see how impressive the dozens of championships Ansonia has won are all that impressive when they play in pee-wee sized conferences. It’s like claiming that winning every 6 man ball title in history is equivalent or better than winning LL crowns. Let’s see me play Xavier or Staples or Greenwich…somebody. Enough playing one room schoolhouses or even Holy Cross. Beat somebody worth beating before crowing about it.
So there. I bet this thread will now get 30+ posts, mostly from indignant Ansonia fans.
@weasel – we like 30+ posts
Why would the class M champions be moved DOWN? Doesn’t that mean they will most likely dominate?
i hate to feed into this silliness, but that is what the intrawebs are for I suppose.
Why should Ansonia (the team) have to play outside of their class and vs. schools that have double or more boys available to justify the titles they do have? That is why they put the “S” or “M” or “LL” on the trophy, to let you know which class your dealing with.
If you say Ansonia (the indignant fans) should have to play those schools to back up the fact that they come here boasting that Ansonia could/would beat Xavier, Greenwich, Hand, Staples…..then YES!!! I would agree with you.
But I can’t agree with you if your just talking about the high school kids and coaches. Why would Ansonia be any different than any other S school?
The trophies are valid in their class. They count. Until we have the four champs play one another (which ain’t happening) any discussions about who of the four champs are “better” is worthless babble.
@John – They’re being moved down because they have 359 male enrollment, well below the M-S cutoff of 390. Nine other schools in Class S have higher enrollment.
And, as far as I’m concerned, you have two kinds of football programs in this state. Large and small. They unfortunately have divvied those up into four. ‘Tis what ‘Tis
The problem is trying to balance out the teams in each class. There probally should only be about 25 teams in LL and in class S.
I hear you johnnyribs, but we constantly hear those A guys bleat on and on and on about how their team is the best in the state irrespective of class. I call you know what on that. In any case, their claim of most state titles is a load too. They’re fourth. Not first. Fourth. Behind New Britain, Stamford, New Canaan. There’s no medal for fourth, fellas. It’s nice that their fans support their team. It’s irritating when they lose perspective. Ansonia ain’t Green Bay.
I don’t see how you can argue with Johnnyribs’ comments. I also don’t see a solution to the dilemma unless you extend the play-offs to have the champions play each other after the season, or shrink the conference schedules to permit more inter-conference games (either smaller conferences or more open dates). The first approach guaranties seeing the champs each year squaring off, but extends things into winter sports seasons, so that isn’t goig to happen. Or it shortens the season, which is the least desirable thing possible. And while Ansonia against Xavier or Hand would have been interesting last year, would Xavier or Hand against Holy Cross really have been desirable? You will get that type of thing every year, although the “lesser class” may vary. Shrinking the conference schedules is great for permitting a few inter-regional heavyweight match-ups every year, but complicates scheduling for everyone else. I just don’t see a good solution that promotes the heavyweight match-ups we would like without harming the football opportunities for as many kids as possible, which is presumably the reason for high school football in the first place.
MXR, I hear ya, I’m just trollin’ for blues this summer. :-)
Weasel, not sure where you get your numbers? Far from an A-town apologist here…..
http://www.casciac.org/fb_cga.shtml
Ansonia has more than anyone. More titles, more appearances and tied for most consecutive appearances. You could argue that some of that is a weak-ish NVL schedule most years, and I would agree. Fact is 16 of 24 times, they get the win. Once there they prove they belong there.
If we remove the small set of blowhards who think every Championship Ansonia team is #1, and the set of SCC guys who won’t give them an ounce of credit no matter what they do…..I think us sensible folks can agree they are one of the most successful programs in the region, and when you take into account how darn small the school is (throw in a few transfers) the story is still one worthy of recognition.
Can you furnish us with the male enrollments of all the schools by class? Some of the LL schools are definitely getting the short end of the deal when they’re barely out of the L class. You’re right that LL and S should both be smaller in size.
As far as picking on Ansonia, the size difference comes into play with the depth of your squad–how you handle fatigue and injuries more readily with large numbers.
Don’t see anyone picking on Xavier for plucking the creams of the crop from many Towns—it’s a lot different than being a team comprised of one town residents