Scenes from the Greenwich at Ridgefield football game on Friday, Sept. 14, 2012. Photo: Jason Rearick / The News-Times
Ah, a brand-spankin’-new high school football season finally has kicked off.
It’s a new season: A time for new names, new stars, new personalities, new teams, new contenders, new storylines. It’s a time to reacquaint ourselves with some of our favorite players as they perform incredible new feats to widen our eyes and get our jaws flapping.
Couldn’t you feel it as you headed to your Friday night game? The excitement of a fresh start? Everybody was 0-0. Everybody had a chance.
Then the scores started rolling in.
And everything was… er …oddly familiar.
St. Joseph was in a dog fight with Staples before losing late. …Greenwich, without starting quarterback Liam O’Neil, was handling Ridgefield. …Wilton needed a late touchdown to defeat Central in a shootout. …Bunnell and Bethel were battling back and forth. …Masuk was destroying somebody. …Arkeel Newsome was blitzing Torrington with long touchdown runs. …Xavier was blitzing poor Notre Dame-West Haven.
Um…
Deja vu, man.
Did we hit the rewind button on 2011? Did we take our Wayback Machines, drive our Deloreans to the games?
Didn’t we just DO this???
It certainly felt like it.
Sure, not every game followed the 2011 script.
Cheshire beat Shelton this time. As eerily similar as the Bethel-Bunnell game was to 2011, this time Bunnell won the shootout. And SCC Division II Branford, which struggled a year ago, sent a warning shot across the FCIAC bow by rattling Trumbull. Fairfield Prep was taking knees to avoid going over the 50-point policy vs. Wilbur Cross.
So maybe there’s hope that we won’t be witnessing 2011 II – The Yawning. In fact, we guarantee we won’t.
I know we go through this rigamarole every season, but so far the sequel looks like a dud.
Still some games to play this Saturday. We still get to see what teams like Stamford, Harding, Trinity Catholic, Westhill, Brookfield, Stratford, Derby, Oxford, Weston, Notre Dame-Fairfield and Immaculate are looking like.
Follow the live blog on the previous post. Let’s hope for some unexpected results, yea?
About Last Night
- FCIAC: New Canaan 42, Bassick 16 | McMahon 33, Fairfield Warde 28 | Darien 41, Fairfield Ludlowe 7 | Greenwich 20, Ridgefield 7 | Norwalk 16, Danbury 6 | Staples 49, St. Joseph 28 | Wilton 35, Central 28 |
- NVL: Ansonia 66, Torrington 26
- SCC: Fairfield Prep 47, Wilbur Cross 0 | Cheshire 30, Shelton 23 | Hand 35, Amity 13 | East Haven 28, Lyman Hall 27 | North Haven 28, Guilford 0 | Sheehan 45, Jonathan Law 42 | West Haven 45, Hamden 6 (NH Register) | Xavier 44, Notre Dame-West Haven 0|
- SWC: Bunnell 44, Bethel 35 | Masuk 47, Pomperaug 10 | Newtown 21, New Milford 7 | Barlow 34, New Fairfield 14
- CSC: Platt Tech 24, Cheney Tech 14
- OTHERS: Branford 31, Trumbull 13 | Seymour 43, Whitney Tech 6
- Connecticut Post roundup
- Friday’s RESULTS & Saturday’s SCHEDULE |
I saw highlites this morning of the Xavier blow out…Man, they ARE huge, and looked unstoppable again…Wish they had scrimmaged Don Bosco..That would have been interesting..
Don’t count your chickens GHS. I was at the game. It’s not that Xavier was that good.it was because ND is rebuilding and are not too good.(I can’t say bad) Xavier has good players but they can and will be beat. West Haven and Hand Both have the skills to do it. P.S. I’m an ND fan.
@BIGS – call me when they do. That was total domination. While some teams in the state have a marquee back, or a QB, or good defense, X has ALL of those things. Did you see the kid playing LB last night? Looked like a re-incarnation of Stewart. Sheesh!
Was at the Masuk game last night. Very impressed. Saw some of their practices. Not surprised though.
Disagree with BIGS. At the game also. It was a little of both. Xavier looked good and ND looked bad. Don’t take away a dominating performance from Xavier. They looked like a No. 1 team. it will be interesting to see how they react with stiffer competition.
I was surprised Cheshire beat Shelton.
ANSONIA looked good as usual,but the injury bug might test their depth this yesr.The insertion of soph Mcnight at qb might be best move of year.The offensive line must stay intact for this team to win it all again.On a serious note prayers go out to former coach JACK HUNT.Abig
part of the legacy.
What happened with Jack?
Close call for Brookfield today, hopefully its a wake up call. Not sure about qb decision there yet..thats all I am saying about todays game. More to say after Bunnell game next week.
Went to Newtown @ New Milford last night..NM played a terrible 5 minutes in 2nd quarter, where they turned ball over 2 twice in that span that led to 14 points for Newtown..NM shut Newtown out for 1st, 3rd, and 4th quarters…not sure if NM D is that improved or if Newtown misses Fenaroli that much.. will be interesting to see how Brookfield fares against Newtown..but if I am Masuk, feeling pretty good based on what I saw last night…Newtown D looked very good though,. were laying the wood pretty good, will give them that.
those no name panthers(Masuk) looked like they are determined and playing with a chip on there shoulders. Milone Hebert comparisons? That should ended with the performance that Milone put on last night. great job to all the winners.
Shelton should spend this week in practice tackling. Many, many missed tackles last night.
Wake up call for Brookfield? They are not that good. Stratford should have won that game easy should have been 21-0 in 1st qtr.
@Ray, how is that the best move? It was the only move! McKnight is very good, but we were a better team with him at WR and Lester taking snaps.
A few points after watching games this weekend -
Just to muddy the waters I was hoping that Ridgefield would finally win a big game..GHS’s defense looked good but not sure how much was the fact the Tigers are predictable. RHS had several chances to make it a game and with plenty of seasoned players failed to do so when it counted. Stratford looked pretty good surpised me after seeing them in preseason. Sorry to say it but just like last year Brookfield is overrated and is not in the same league as Masuk, Bunnel or Newtown. The first week is always tough to predict but it is clear that the teams that are the favorites are still very much in the drivers seat.
Hsfan. That is a stupid statementIt was first game for everyone. How do you know they aren’t good? How do you know that about any team yet. I was at that game and can tell you that bfield did not play well at all and could of lost but to say it should have been 21 0 strat is ridiculous. I would also like to say I have seen bfield compete with other talented teams and think they can all year. O line and dine look very solid
Whopper16, NM shut out Newtown for 3 quarters is a surprise but Newtown does have a young line and really no breakaway back like they had last year. That is what happens if you are able to shut down Hebert. Their D looked good but it was against NM, not an offensive power house. Masuk is definitely feeling good and should be the favorite to win the SWC. Unfortunately for them and Newtown, they wont be challenged until Thanksgiving eve.
How can bfield be overrated when they weren’t rated at all. I hope they prove you wrong because they are never given a fare chance. To base any assumptions on 1 game for any team is foolish. They have the bulldogs next week so let’s see how they do. If they get blown out thenn do be it.
13——i feel mcknight is just as talented,and last time i checked LESTER was out for good part of season.
SPB—-coach HUNT is going thru a rough stetch with his health,id rather not get into specifics on a blog,but my thoughts are with him hes a great guy.
Whopper jr. I’d say a 21 7 win over new mil was a challenge. Not like newtown lit up the scoreboard. Do some of you think before you type. Let me guess it was the first game so it’s ok for newtown but no one else
Agree Xavier was not tested. They could have scored 100 if they wanted.
@16..just fyi, New Milford’s line is all new starters this year too (except center), so not sure that is an excuse for closeness of game for Newtown. NM held Hebert to a few catches and not much else. NM shot themselves in foot with turnovers which led to 14 of Newtowns points. Other than that the game was very competitive. Newtown is a very good team, very solid fundamentally. NM too reliant on pass, no running game at all, which makes them easier to defend. That said, Newtowns D looked very good, but I’d say their offense was average. Will need to improve greatly to beat Masuk.
RHS stats for the Greenwich game on MaxPreps are all wrong! Maybe it doesnt matter but it looks like the MaxPreps stats are loaded into CIAC football stats. Dont coaches use those stats to nominate players for end of season awards? What if a player wants to be recruited and his stats are all wrong?
I know RHS had more than 1 kickoff because we scored a TD but MaxPreps only has 1 kickoff for thw whole game. Probably the longest RHS catch of the game is given to the wrong player. I know some kids are upset about how the tackles were counted. All you have to do is look at Hudl to see how badly the stats were off.
Should the players care if their RHS stats on MaxPreps and CIAC are all wrong?
Entire Newtown O and D line started for the 1st time at Varsity. Not one senior on either side against NM. Newtown RB Cooper Gold (JR) rushed for over 100 yards and scored a TD against a good NM defense. Julian Dunn (Soph) had 2 TD’s and over 150 recieving yards. Newtown D was solid. NM scored only TD with Hebert on sideline due to leg cramps. Score No way indicator of how Newtown played.
@TigerFan – MaxPreps stats are the responsibility of the team, so anybody who has an issue with getting credit should talk to Coach Callahan.
A team loses a huge opening game and its players are most concerned abut the number of credited tackles (#23)? Sounds like a team in for a long season.
Notre Dame of Fairfield was surprisingly better vs. a hardworking Weston team (without the Rogers twins). Weston also looked fantastic despite a few hiccups. You can tell the team is closely knit and coached well by Coach L. Hassett seemed confident at QB. Can’t wait to see what they do against Oxford. They will be the new ‘Bethel’ this year. ND-F is still young and has a bit of a ways to go…although their numbers seemed larger than that of I could recall.
I am extremely embarrassed that immaculate got beat so handily by oxford. I respect coach taylor and everything but the staff he assembled is horrible. Has his offensive coordinator ever played football? Doesnt look like it. The guy was more worried about rubbing his goat tee then actually calling a good play. Coach Taylor. You are much respected, please get some normal coaches.
Kid that caught 51 yd pass for RHS that led to their only TD not even listed on MaxPreps stats!
JJJJ4, Newtown is young and lucky to not really play anybody until Masuk. They should roll over Pomp if they are good. I wouldnt say NM defense is good though as Newtown pounded the ball when needed to with an ok back carrying the load. What is the deal with Hebert? doesnt suit up against Norwalk and leaves the game against NM? I believe Newtown needs Hebert to compete even in the SWC>
@28…assuming you are a parent of one of the four frosh that started, or new to the school this year. My advice to you is calm down, it is going to be a long season for Immaculate, just as the last several years have been. You are in good hands with Coach Taylor, but it will take some time to show results. You had a Freshman QB running the option against a larger, stronger, more experienced line. I watched that game and dont think it mattered what play was called, IHS was not moving the moving the ball against that team with the personnel they have. The good news is IHS is very young and they didn’t quit. The losses this year will be painful but will pay dividends in the coming years if they stay together. Parents jumping on coaching staff after one game will do nothing to help the team.
TigerFan – it is clear you know nothing about football or sports in general. Who cares who was credited? Who cares about the number of tackles? Your team just lost a game where they did not look competitive against a good team. With the 3 divisions in the FCIAC giving all divisions awards to 1st, 2nd and Honorable Mention – you have some kids getting these awards where they shouldn’t – Who cares what awards if the TEAM loses? I hope that you never post again about RHS as you are providing people with fuel for pointing out what is wrong with the program. Do you think the Staples kids are worried about how many tackles they are credited with? Do you think Coach Petroccio would welcome a call from a parent asking him to correct stats on the web site? You are an idiot – in the future- keep your thoughts to yourself so the rest of the world doesn’t know – Wow!
Was St.Joes ever in the game vs Staples or was the 28 points off the 2nd string? I was at the GHS/RHS game and once again the tigers didn’t show up. They will go 9-1 now against bad teams and be in the hunt for that LL 8th spot. GHS should go at a minimum 8-1 and benefit from those extra 90 points ridgefield will give them.
lastly, Where is the Trumbull fan saying 3-0 into greenwich game? 31-13 vs Branford?? Are kidding me? I’m not sure who should go first Callahan or Maffaei. They both stink.
@Brian – the story link’s there. Read it
Missed that completely SPB LOL, thx
Brian couldn’t agree more myself, Maffei and Callahan are absolute jokes, but they must make the parents very happy because you never hear that the heat is on them
NC looked great in home opener….O was high flying run/pass…D looked like the steel curtain…HERE COME THE RAMS…ole Lou snapping his gum to another W…look like the team to beat
I’m still cracking up reading #32 comments on the stat keeping. TigerFan, do you really think MaxPreps personally watches 5000 + high school football games each week and posts stats. If they did I would jump in on that tech stock.
I was at Staples v St. Joe’s which was a great atmosphere. I was so impressed with St. Joe’s and the gunslinger QB they have over there. Great coaching to improve this fast and this QB will dominate next year.
Staples looked great as always but not having Kelly and Karney seemed to be a challenge for them on defense but things settled down soon enough for adjustments to be made. I was sitting far away and the Oline looked even bigger than last year and they were blowing open serious holes. Frusciante is downright amazing! We’ll see how it goes but I enjoyed this game with 2 well run programs playing really good football.
Oh yeah, where is that Trumbull fan who made a big deal about Trumbull being 3-0 going into Greenwich. I’m sure Greenwich wishes that you would win some games so they could reap your bonus points when they spank you!
As for Tiger fan you definitely don’t come across the right way after Greenwich took you down. Although I do know what your trying to convey. It’s up to the teams to get the stats correct. I have had to explain many times to kids that it doesn’t matter if you didn’t get the credit you deserve for a tackle or touchdown or whatever as long as the team did well. But then again everyone wants to read their name or be recognized for their achievements.
As I wrote a few weeks ago after Greenwich gets by Ridgefield all roads lead to Staples on Thanksgiving. The biggest edge Staples will have will be Coach P. The adjustments and motivation he gives his team are fantastic.