In contrast to the FCIAC, which is squeezing its final two weeks of the regular season into one week, the SWC has taken the easy step of rescheduling all of their Week 8 football games for the week of Nov. 17, which is typically reserved for its annual championship game.
The championship was supposed to be held Nov. 15 at Bunnell. But ‘Superstorm’ Sandy created enough local havoc that the league’s athletic directors deemed it necessary to use that week for postponed games.
As for actually determining a league champion, Bunnell athletic director Dave Johnson said the SWC’s priorities were making sure all 10 CIAC games were completed.
“Once those games are completed then the football committee will make a decision,” Johnson told reporter Mike Cardillo. “How we decide a league championship, we’re not going to worry about it today.”
The SWC is in a similar situation as the FCIAC.
It has three unbeaten teams remaining. Like Staples and Greenwich in the FCIAC, league favorites Newtown (7-0) and Masuk (7-0) are scheduled to play Thanksgiving eve (Nov. 21).
Playing the part of Trinity Catholic is Barlow (7-0). Barlow is scheduled to face Masuk in Week 9. Barlow does not face Newtown this season.
The general feeling is if Masuk defeats Barlow, the Thanksgiving Day game will serve as the de facto championship for the third consecutive year. But if Barlow defeats Masuk then the SWC would likely have to make a decision to either crown co-champions, or no champion at all.
But unlike the FCIAC, the SWC is not making extraordinary steps to allow a league title game.
Here are the rescheduled SWC Week 8 games:
- New Fairfield at Pomperaug Nov. 16, 7 p.m.
- Masuk at Weston, Nov. 15, 7 p.m.
- New Milford at Stratford, Nov. 17, time TBA
- Bunnell at Oxford, Nov. 17, noon.
- Immaculate vs. Newtown, TBA
- Brookfield at Barlow, TBA
- Bethel at Notre Dame-Fairfield, TBA
SWC should skip the Masuk at Weston game on the 15th and instead have Weston play Barlow on 9th or 10 and have Masuk play Newtown on the 9th or 10th and have the Winners of those games play on 15th for the SWC Championship !
you know whats funny, all of a sudden weston and barlow are powerhouses and teams like pomp bunnell and brookfield suck. i mean brook is 5 and 2 and even though they arent at the level of masuk and newtown, i feel are better than weston and barlow. i could be wrong and i guess we will find out
Have winner of Barlow – Masuk play Newtown at neutral site for SWC.
Loser plays Weston on Thanksgiving.
@SWC fan – Why?
@#2> That makes to much sense Mac , the Swc is a joke. Since when does the athletic director of Bunnell call the shots for the swc as a whole. Coach Bruno’s team was a clown circus this year, even his own players have lost respect for the man this season. Do we really need the Nighthawks play immaculate or brookfield and weston , no we don’t . But instead let’s finish the season and maybe crown no team as champs or co-champs. This makes me sick, I agree you and sean , just skip those mean nothing games and let the big boys fight it out for guts and glory of being champions. All we Bunnell to do is lend us their field to play if we need it, they sure as hell don’t know how to play on it !
@Smashmouth — The SWC did the right thing. Who cares about the SWC championship? It means ZERO. There’s no sensible reason to do what the FCIAC is doing and and we’re CERTAINLY not going to reschedule regular season games. Insanity for this to be a topic.
Hey, give Joe’s Masuk or Newtown’s schedule and we too would be undefeated. Heck, Shelton and Trumbull feel the same way. If Masuk and Newtown are undefeated when playing each other, will they consider that the SWC championship? If so, then once again, the SWC takes advantage of league championships not counting towards the CIAC playoffs. Newtown (most likely will get blown out by Masuk, and yes, I have seen both play) will still be considered an undefeated team in the CIAC as they have over the last so many years. This system blows.
Those regular season games left are all mean nothing games except the ones for Masuk, Newtown and Barlow and maybe Weston. Brookfield has already lost to the Nighthawks and the Panthers. It’s not like the Weston , Brookfield game would do Brookfield any good for them if they beat Weston anyway. Who cares about the SWC Championship, I’ll tell you who cares , Joel Barlow sure does. It may be the same old song and dance for Masuk and Newtown but teams like Barlow and Weston don’t get to join in the the fun of winning a conference title very often. Shame on you Mr. Bowley for such a statement. You don’t speak for all the players who put out so much effort to get such a lack of respect from someone as yourself who should no better.
What are you talking about? Masuk-Newtown is a regular game.
@SMASHMOUTH – In case you haven’t noticed, a hurricane just ripped through SWCT. It pretty much devastated the shoreline, has caused a lot of damage elsewhere.
I think we can dispense with meaningless games in favor of actually playing the remaining regular season games without compromising safety and good judgement — like the FCIAC ISN’T doing.
The SWC got it right. Put the Week 8 games in Week 10. Give everybody a week to get their bearings. Don’t worry about a meaningless league title game. Because it is meaningless. Does it stink for someone like Barlow? Sure does, but life isn’t fair. We just got hit by a natural disaster.
Barlow can claim a piece of the pie if it beats Masuk and finishes unbeaten. But do we really think they’ll beat Masuk? It would be a nice story and great for Barlow, but I don’t see it happening. Regardless, their real prize is to win as many games as possible and then compete in the school’s first state playoff.
ALSO: ARE YOU SUGGESTING WE JUST RESCHEDULE REGULAR SEASON GAMES ON A WEEK-BY-WEEK BASIS? Did I read that right?
You’re nuts.
Even without the hurricane, Weston had virtually no shot unless Newtown or Masuk and then Barlow lost.
Ugh.
Next complaint.
@Joes Alum – get a clue…the Newtown/ Masuk game counts toward CIAC points and always has. They have not been able to avoid the loss to Masuk counting toward CIAC points the past years and would not this year (if they were to lose).
As for Barlow…beat Masuk and then you can start whining…
@tp, who doesn’t have a clue? Straight from CIAC.
ALL GAMES PLAYED WILL COUNT TOWARD THE TEAM’S RATING EXCEPT THE FOLLOWING:
4. Playoff games to determine a league champion will not be considered.
So if Newtown-Masuk is for the league championship, it does not count like last season.
@Joes Alum – They’re talking about the extra league championship game that the individual leagues add the week before thanksgiving, not the regular season Thanksgiving game, which is typically declared the league championship when two Thanksgiving rivals play (this eliminates the need to create an official title game).
Hence, last year’s Newtown-Masuk game and last year’s Greenwich-Staples Thanksgiving games, which are regular season games, count toward the CIAC playoff standings.
It sounds like another Hurricane is blowing by us named smashmouth. Lets face it, Masuk is the team to beat once again this year and Notown is the only team that has a chance to do it. Barlow is having a great year and will have their chance to beat the best. Same with the Nightmares of Notown, the SWC is trying to do the right thing and play the season out. All of the games mean something to somebody somewhere and we should not dis-credit the other SWC teams who come up short for whatever the reason might be. The FCIAC will act on their own terms and do what they want when they want, its the Fairfield County complex of thats the way it is because we are better than you attitude and we told you so. The SCC is where the big boys play and even hurricane Sandy won’t change that this year, at least we got the Gaels and Xavier to look forward to this weekend, thats the game I will be at. I will skip the Ansonia blowout of Wolcott, I have seen enough damage this week thank you.
@joesalum Your apparent hate of Newtown reached the level of pathetic about six blogs ago. When are you going to stop fantasizing about St Joe’s playing in the SWC and going undefeated as you stress every week?
As far as the SWC title goes, SPB where do you get away with saying the championship game is “meaningless” and means “ZERO”? That’s another highly questionable statement. You’re speaking for all the players/coaches in the SWC, alot of which would surely challenge your opinion. Here’s where the decision to cancel having a championship makes little sense to me.. Do any of the AD’s realize the game is near certain to be Newtown-Masuk, barring a remarkable upset by Barlow over Masuk? I understand the hurricance has brought upon a unique scheduling conflict, however, the fact it’s already Newtown vs Masuk on Thanksgiving eve makes it that much easier on the league to technically have a championship game. Once Masuk beats Barlow, Thanksgiving Eve will decide the SWC Champion.
@Cutler’s World: Here’s how I get away with it:
THE GAME MEANS NOTHING. IT’S A GLORIFIED EXHIBITION.
“”A GLORIFIED EXHIBITION ” is what the kids who play this great game called Football make it be because they put their hearts and souls on the line week in and week out to be the best they can be and to play the best that there can be. Let’s not forget how it is from their perspective to be young and hungry for the guts and GLORIFIED EXHIBITION of being Champions , even if it means nothing to you Mr. Bowley.
So if its a glorified exhibition uconn must’ve gotten a trophy/recognition last night for beating AIC? Don’t poo-poo it to such an extent, I’m not saying its unimportant or extremely important I’m just saying no matter the league it does matter to the kids
It must mean something, isn’t sports a glorified exhibition of ego and emotion in the competition of the game we love to play and win. Maybe ?
Cutler, no hate for Newtown, just envy their easy schedule along with Masuk. Masuk just proves yearly that they can beat the easy teams and then compete with the best in CT while Newtown has not.
SPB, thanks for the explanation and take it easy on Cutler, he will probably argue how good the SWC is.
Good god, everyone. Has everyone gone SOFT? What happened to the usual guys on here???
If done right, the league title games are fun. But, honestly, they’re not done right. And haven’t been done right for years. You’ll get one meaningful game once every five or six years (mostly because the teams didn’t play during the regular season).
In the grand scheme of things, the league title games are unnecessary and are a burden on the teams who play them because those teams are fighting for a state playoff berth. The kids might like it, and that’s fine. But it is, in the end, a glorified exhibition.
A glorified exhibition.
SPB is 100% correct. I’ve been saying for years that the FCIAC shouldn’t treat its conference championship game as “The Holy Grail.” Staples and Greenwich (two of the most dominant teams in the conference, year-in and year-out) never have to play each other until AFTER the conference championship game has been played. That is a scheduling advantage for those two teams to make the FCIAC title game very year…but it can hurt there state hopes.
I am a huge believer that winning a state title is more important than winning a league title.
How many times now in the past 10 years has the FCIAC had to cancel it’s “stand-alone” Title event, because the two participants had to face each other on Thanksgiving? Staples-Greenwich (this might be the 3rd time), New Canaan-Darien, and Greenwich-Danbury (before Staples became Greenwich’s Thanksgiving Day rival)
How can you have a league title game when the other 17 schools in your conference are playing AT THE SAME TIME?!
The game is indeed a glorified scrimmage. Just do away with it. I know that sounds sac-relig….it doesn’t even count for the states! (unless played it’s played as a de facto game, which we have seen too many times over the past decade.
And I won’t even go into the fact (even though I sort of did with Greenwich/Staples) that unbalanced schedules play a LARGE part in who advances to this title game.
Ease up Sean , I was just having some fun with you bro. It’s been a long week in the next station to heaven. That’s just smashmouth being SMASHMOUTH. Have not lost my mind, just playing with yours that’s all. It’s nice to know that you are paying attention to your blog though. It’s all good. SPB Rules !
Ah…. abuse
just to clarify something I touched on………regardless of their schedules this year, I believe Staples and Greenwich would have met anyway in the FCIAC Championship game this year had they been in separate divisions. I like Trinity’s team, but I really think either Staples or Greenwich would have given them an “L.”
Staples is on a different planet than everyone else, talent-wise this year. This is one of those “special teams.” I’m looking forward to attending the Staples-Greenwich game on Thanksgiving.
I’m glad these two awesome programs play every year (a la NC-Darien)…a good program is walking away with a possible state playoff-damaging “L” every year…although this year both will make the Class LL states.
I just wish we had more “marquee” regular season games down here. Not the schools’ fault.
Agreed that the FCIAC game is senseless.
A few other thoughts…..did Ansonia prove that they are the only real team in the NVL, again – thus no competition in that league? Or is Wolcott for real, and Ansonia is just that good?
Anyone named Smashmouth, who refers to themselves in the 3rd person as SMASHMOUTH should be smashed.
Joes Alum is clearly not a Joes Alum, and is a Shelton Gael in sheep’s clothing.
Also agree with Dave Lib on the scheduling. Something’s wrong when Bassick has to arguably play one of the toughest schedules in the state and Greenwich skirts most of the tough teams until the last game of the year. (depending on where you rate Ridgefield or Trumbull in any given year).
@Dave K – Rooting out frauds on the blog since 2007 (or so)…
Here’s my solution: Break the FCIAC into Division I & II … Allow for teams to move up and down Divisions, like EPL relegation, that way you get big games every week, not just at the end of the season.
@#26 Dave K..This is a comment by our own Ray Brown whose screen name is Wags on the famous NVL blog…Yes, Ansonia is the only real team in the league.
wags says:
October 31, 2012 at 12:41 pm
to be honest,players stats should be irrelevant this year,due to the fact that this years nvl is defensively obscure.its like playing flag football.real down year for nvl.
ansonia
derby
wilby
naugy
torrington
woodland
hearts
Thursday, then Saturday games in the FCIAC – just plain stupid.
@ Paul
Careful, if you cross post Wags’ comments on NVL blog (mostly centered on how weak the NVL is) and Ray Brown’s rants here (how great Ansonia is, and how overrated everyone else is) you might rip apart the time space continuum and doom us all.
And start another storm of the Millenium?