Southington football coach D.J. Hernandez today issued a statement regarding his use of a lost playcard against Manchester in Southington’s 28-14 victory on Oct. 22.
Southington coach D.J. Hernandez
I have had the opportunity to reflect on this entire situation, and I understand by using the card I did not set a good example for the young men I coach. I promise I have learned and will continue to learn from this situation and become a better person and coach. I hold myself accountable for my actions and I accept this consequence. As I move forward, my main concern is to provide student-athletes with the leadership necessary for their continued development. I have appointed Mike Drury as the interim head coach for this week’s game against East Hartford.
There’s still the issue of the Manchester protest, which was submitted the other day. The CIAC Board of Control will address that at its monthly meeting next week, Nov. 18.
In the meantime, there’s more backlash. Courant Columnist Jeff Jacobs lambasted Hernandez, Southington and even CIAC football committee chair Leroy Williams in this column that appeared today: Southington, Hernandez fall short of settling cheating charge.
Here was the most disconcerting part about today’s
Southington appears to have not taken this charge seriously enough. According to Courant sources, it was brought to them well in advance by Manchester and coach Marco Pizzoferrato.
Well, if that’s the case then Southington’s administration is as culpable as — if not more than – their 24-year old coach And, on second examination of the issue, I’m going to agree with Jacobs.
We hear all the time from coaches and school administrators that high school athletics are about the bigger picture. They’re about teaching children how to act like adults. Hernandez is young. He’s getting creamed here for acting like a 10-year old trying to cheat at Battleship by looking behind the board.
Jacobs is right that the school really should have lowered the boom once they got wind of this. This coach is their representative, just like all of their teachers and employees. His actions reflect on the school’s reputation as a institution or learning.
Their actions affect the students they are charged with educating.
In 7th grade, I was caught giving answers to a friend to help him on an exam. When discovered, we were both called in front of the class and publicly — not privately — reprimanded. It was embarrassing, but it taught me (and, hopefully, others) no small thing about ethics and honor.
Southington should have dealt with these allegations far in advance. It should have been proactive like an adult, not reactive like a child trying to hide a broken cookie jar.
Should Southington forfeit the game? Now that I’ve grasped the bigger picture, understanding that if Manchester came to them with this charge and they did nothing, maybe Southington should forfeit the game.
That would teach everybody there are consequences for your actions, sometimes great consequences. This would essentially knock Southington out of a state playoff race, but there’s a forest to consider saving, not just a few trees.
Most of the responses shouldn’t surprise at all — what’s a coach going to say? Yes, I’d do it, too? It’s still interesting to read the responses. Xavier’s Sean Marinan had the best ones.
On the question of what would they do if they found an opponent’s armband, most said they’d throw it away. Marinan replied:
“I think it would depend on how good I thought my team was compared to our opponent, how desperate I was for a win and most importantly do I want to be dishonest in front of my players. I hope that I would not use it, and I don’t think I would but I can’t say with 100 percent certainty. Maybe 99 percent, but not 100 that I would not.”
Xavier’s still No. 1 in the NHR Poll, it gained four points, but actually lost a first-place vote to Masuk. We did have a different abstention this week.
Masuk is No. 1 in the CSWA Poll. It picked up three new first-place votes, but Xavier cut the deficit to seven points.
Xavier is still No. 1 in the Coaches Poll. Very little change here, except Xavier picked up two minuscule votes.
The big mover was New Canaan, which moved to No. 6 in both media polls. It moved up to 9 from 10 in the coaches. West Haven returned in the NHR poll. Hand returned in the CSWA poll. Hyde returned to the coaches poll.
Naugy dropped out of all three.
Here you go…
NHR TOP 10 MEDIA
Rank
Team (1st place)
Record
Pts
Prev.
1.
Xavier (11)
8-0
664
1
2.
Masuk (10)
8-0
652
2
3.
Staples (2)
8-0
614
3
4.
Berlin
8-0
493
4
5.
Darien
8-0
490
5
6.
New Canaan
7-1
396
7
T7.
Ansonia
8-0
353
6
T7.
NFA
8-0
353
9
9.
Hand
7-1
314
10
10.
West Haven
7-1
242
NR
Others receiving votes: Trumbull (7-1), 235; Hall (8-0), 210; Glastonbury (7-1), 183; Hyde (7-0), 174; New London (7-1), 80; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (8-0), 77; Naugatuck (7-1), 60; Southington (7-1), 53; Montville (7-1) and North Haven (7-1), 50; St. Joseph (6-2), 47; Notre Dame-West Haven (5-3), 31; Bristol Eastern (7-1) and Maloney (7-1), 17; Woodland (6-2), 10. The following voted: Marc Allard, Norwich Bulletin; Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Bill Bloxsom, Hersam-Acorn; Sean Patrick Bowley, Connecticut Post; Don Boyle, Sporting News CT; Jim Bransfield, Middletown Press; Bryant Carpenter, Meriden-Record Journal; George DeMaio, WELI; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Matt Doran, Norwalk Hour; Kevin Duffy, Danbury News-Times; Noah Finz, WTNH-8; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; John Holt, WFSB-3; Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American; Ken Lipshez, New Britain Herald; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Times; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Jimmy Zanor, Shore Line Newspapers.
CSWA TOP 10 MEDIA
Rank
Team (1st place)
Record
Pts
Prev.
1.
Masuk (19)
8-0
476
1
2.
Xavier (11)
8-0
469
2
3.
Staples (3)
8-0
427
3
4.
Berlin
8-0
368
4
5.
Darien
8-0
360
5
6.
New Canaan
7-1
272
8
7.
Ansonia
8-0
263
6
8.
NFA
8-0
259
7
9.
Hand
7-1
159
NR
10.
Hyde
7-0
142
10
Also Receiving Votes: Trumbull 7-1 131; West Haven 7-1 129; Hall 8-0 101; Glastonbury 7-1 98; New London 7-1 46; Southington 7-1 44; Montville 7-1 40; Valley Regional/Old Lyme 8-0 31; Naugatuck 7-1 30; Maloney 7-1 14; St. Joseph 6-2 14; Bethel 12; Newtown 7-1 11; Woodland 6-2 8; North Haven 7-1 6; Bristol Eastern 7-1 5; Lyman Hall 7-1 4; Avon 7-1 2; Brookfield 6-2 1; Coventry/Windham Tech 6-1 1; Notre Dame-West Haven 5-3 1 Voters: Marc Allard (Norwich Bulletin), Bob Barton (CT H.S. Football Record Book), Bill Bloxsom (Hersam Acorn), Don Boyle (Sporting News CT), Jim Bransfield (Middletown Press), Kyle Brennan (Waterbury Republican), Ray Curren (Elm City Newspapers), Anthony Della Calce (New Britain Herald), George DeMaio (WELI Radio), Gerry deSimas (Collinsville Publishing Co.), Bill Donovan (WXLM 980 AM), Mark Fijalkowski (CT Sports Network), Tim Gaffney (Litchfield County Sports), Dave Greenleaf (CCC website), Mike Guerrera (Southington Citizen), John Holt (WFSB Channel 3), Larry Kelley (Patch.com), Bob Lazzari (Valley Times), Greg Lederer (Cheshire Herald), Ken Lipshez (New Britain Herald), Eric Montgomery (Minuteman Newspapers), Sean Patrick Bowley (Connecticut Post), Dave Phillips (Shoreline Times), Pat Pickens (Fairfield Citizen-News), Mike Pucci (New Haven Register), Paul Rosano (Meriden Record-Journal), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Mike Suppe (Hersam Acorn Newspapers), Patrick Tiscia (Litchfield County Sports), Peter Vander Veer (Elm City Newspapers), Tom Yantz (Hartford Courant), Rich Zalusky (Willimantic Chronicle), Jimmy Zanor (Shore Line Newspapers)
DAY OF NEW LONDON COACHES POLL
Rank
Team (1st place)
Record
Pts
Prev.
1.
Xavier (8)
8-0
376
1
2.
Masuk (4)
8-0
370
2
3.
Staples (1)
8-0
327
3
4.
Berlin
8-0
284
4
5.
Darien
8-0
260
5
6.
Ansonia
8-0
224
7
7.
NFA
8-0
220
6
8.
Hand
7-1
203
9
9.
New Canaan
7-1
196
10
10.
Hyde
7-1
108
NR
Also receiving votes: West Haven (7-1), 97 points; Hall-West Hartford (8-0), 91; Glastonbury (7-1), 82; St. Joseph-Trumbull (6-2), 80; Southington (7-1), 79; Trumbull (7-1), 51; Montville (7-1), 46; North Haven (7-1), 43; New London (7-1), 39; Maloney-Meriden (7-1), 33; Bristol Eastern (7-1), 31; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (8-0), 25; Naugatuck (7-1), 16; Notre Dame-West Haven (5-3), 11; Bridgeport Central (5-3), 9; Tie, Wethersfield (7-1) and Woodland-Beacon Falls (6-2), 7. The following coaches voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; Chuck Drury, Pomperaug-Southbury; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Sean Marinan, Xavier-Middletown; Sal Morello, Middletown; John Murphy, Masuk-Monroe; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden.
Ben Ceci, right, attempts to take down New Canaan's Kevin Macari during lst half action between Greenwich and New Canaan at Dunning Field, Friday night, Nov. 5, 2010. Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time
Fairfield County is a breed apart from Connecticut when it comes to high school football coverage.
We’re blessed (cursed?) with four dailies, maybe a dozen and a half hyper-local weekly newspapers and websites, two radio stations and one huge TV conglomerate, the year-old MSG Varsity and Cablevision affiliate News 12.
They all converged like a tidal wave on Dunning Stadium Friday night, where dollars from two of the richest towns in the country outweighed the sense.
I’d never seen anything like it, you had WGCH and WSTC/WNLK radio broadcasters packed into the Dunning press box. You had yours truly filming, Dave Ruden writing and Matt Norlander (New Canaan News) musing for Hearst Connecticut. You had FCIAC official sponsor Hersam-Acorn, with New Canaan Advertiser’s man Dave Stewart and Greenwich Post’s Paul Silverfarb. AOL’s New Canaan Patch was there, too. as was Main Street Connect’s The Daily New Canaan…. (Did I miss anyone?)
And then, of course, you had MSG Varsity, the Cablevision monstrosity that has taken the tri-state high school scene by storm, at least in the Cablevision coverage area (most of us don’t get to see Varsity, unfortunately, including me).
Though its Connecticut coverage is typically tertiary behind Jersey, and New York, Varsity pulled all the stops and stars for this live broadcast. Yes, you heard me, live, and broadcast alongside another megamatchup from Jersey.
You had effervescent host Mike Quick alongside a couple other analysts and talking heads on the pregame studio show, which broadcast from the southwest corner of the end zone in an elaborate setup reminiscent of NFL Today. On the sideline, you had a broadcast reporter (didn’t catch her name) and the network’s website reporter, former Greenwich Time writer and colleague Jesse Quinlan.
New Canaan's Joe Costigan, right, outruns Greeniwch's Ryan Kelly and Jim Barrett at Dunning Field, Friday night, Nov. 5, 2010. Photo: Bob Luckey / Greenwich Time
And just for kicks, I guess, Cablevision’s News 12 had its very own helicopter — Chopper 12 — hovering not-so-silently above the event for aerial shots (and replays) from Dunning Stadium.
CTSN and WTNH eat your heart out.
The place was packed. It was a media circus. I half forgot this was a matchup between third- and fourth-place FCIAC teams and not the state championship. Then I realized, state championships never get this much coverage.
As for the game, well, it was a showcase all right — a New Canaan showcase. A showcase for senior receiver/defensive back Kevin Macari, who shined brighter than the kleig lights that descended on the field. He scored on three touchdown passes and a 70-yard interception as the Rams, fighting for their playoff lives, absolutely crushed Greenwich 42-20.
And it wasn’t even that close. This was two quarters of madness, which culminated in a 42-7 lead — the worst beating I’ve ever seen a Greenwich team take in my 10-plus years covering high school football and the worst beating New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli said he’d never put on his rivals.
“It’s not too often you get to beat Greenwich,” Marinelli said. “But for us to do this, is mind boggling to me.”
What followed was 24 minutes of tranquility. By game’s end, with the throngs long since departed and the TV studio packed away, it looked like your ordinary high school football game …which all this really was in the grand scheme of things.
Trumbull's Phil Terio makes a one-hand interception on the Ridgefield goal line and returns it 100 yards for a touchdown. Photo: Barry Horn / The News-Times Freelance.
This game had more to do with New Canaan’s state playoff hopes. Its chances of moving the FCIAC title game to Dunning for the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving are pretty much finished, anyway.
So all Darien needs to do is beat Norwalk and they’re in the FCIAC title game. Staples and Trumbull will duke it out next Saturday for the chance to play them.
Here’s a text message I received from Wilton during halftime of the New Canaan-Greenwich game.
“It’s time for a showdown.”
Ah yes.
A real one.
Don’t forget to bring the helicopter.
♦♦♦♦
Brookfield's defense swarms Pomperaug's Andrew Reel in Friday's 27-14 road victory.
In the SWC, Brian Kelly and Brookfield shocked Pomperaug 27-14 to all but knock the Panthers out of the SWC title race while affirming their hopes in Class M. It was a pretty surprising result, until you see that Pomperaug, which had won five straight, committed six fumbles, lost three. It’s been real, Pomperaug.
Brookfield just might reach the Class M field if it wins out. It’s got a toughie vs. Bunnell next week. Looking at the young roster, the Bobcats’ best days may still be in front of it.
On Saturday night, Oxford scored first and actually scored more points in one game (28) than Masuk had allowed all season (21), but Casey Cochran threw for 325 yards and six touchdowns as Masuk clinched a spot in the SWC title game with a 69-28 victory at Benedict Field.
Newtown inched one victory closer to making the SWC title game a Thanksgiving Day affair with a 28-0 victory over Barlow.
♦♦♦♦
In the NVL, we will not get an Ansonia-Naugy Thanksgiving Day showdown for the NVL championship. Woodland took out unbeaten Naugatuck rather easily and Ansonia crushed St. Paul 54-25.
So it’s going to be Montrell Dobbs and Ansonia vs. Jack DeBiase and Woodland in a rematch of “Kneegate,” the two-day, 41-36 Ansonia victory in Week 1, which was aided by DeBiase accidentally downing himself on fourth and goal in the fourth quarter (watch here).
Game time is Nov. 18 at Municipal Stadium.
♦♦♦♦
Finally, in the SCC we had scoring, scoring and more scoring.
And more scoring.
Guilford beat Law 62-57, which matched the state record for highest scoring game in the modern era (119 points – set by Vinal Tech/Rocky Hill in 1999).
Anybody got a DVD of this game? Or at least a boxscore?
In addition to the combined 101 points West Haven and Cross put up the night before, and the 97 combined put up by Notre Dame-WH/Cross scored last week, doth we detect a trend in the SCC? (How about Wilbur Cross, by the way, you score 44 and 42 points in two games and lose them both.
It was low-scoring 82-point game, but Notre Dame-WH beat Cheshire 46-36 in the Wonder Bowl (as in, we wonder what this match up could have meant had the two teams not lost a few extra games along the way).
Lyman Hall, gunning for a showdown with North Haven next week for a spot in the playoffs, needed a goal line stand to hold off Amity 34-27.
Does anybody except Xavier play defense in the SCC anymore?
Here’s our Friday roundup, which includes a recap of Bunnell’s Bryan Castelot‘s 7-TD performance vs. Immaculate.
Saturday’s Roundup,detailing wins by Stratford, Masuk, Bullard-Havens, Trinity Catholic and Darien.
West Haven senior Shaun Reiss gives coach Ed McCarthy a hug following a 57-44 victory over Wilbur Cross Nov. 4. It was McCarthy's 300th career victory.
Perhaps a 100 people or so trudged to cold and rainy East Haven High School to watch West Haven take on Wilbur Cross Thursday night. Maybe more than 200 were present when you included the players and coaches on the field.
This relatively small band of participants and followers witnessed one of the wildest games in the SCC all year — or, at least the wildest since last week — West Haven 57, Wilbur Cross 44.
It was, as soaked West Haven coach Ed McCarthy described it afterward, “one of the nuttiest games I’ve ever seen.”
Take his word for it. For almost 40 years, McCarthy has patrolled a high school football sideline, the first 12 at St. Joseph, last 27 at West Haven. He’s coached over 400 games, including 10 state championships. He’s coached six state championship teams.
Gruff, fiery, crazy and cunning, but most of all, passionate, McCarthy has seen it all and done it all. He’s been to the top of the mountain. He’s been mired in the mud, most recently from a 2007 gambling scandal.
He’s a polarizing figure, to be sure. But whatever your opinions on Coach — and opinions run the gamut — he’s one of the best high school football coaches to ever walk a sideline in Connecticut.
This nutty, crazy game — one that eerily personified the ol’ coach — was McCarthy’s 300th victory.
“Three hundred’s a lot. Three hundred’s a lot,” McCarthy, 63, said subtly afterward. “It’s special. It means I have had a lot of great players. I have won many ways but never like this, never giving up this many points. …It was a recess game.”
For all his gridiron acumen (this is a coach who strategically took two safeties and even begged referees for a personal foul during a 6-4 victory over Notre Dame-West Haven, his alma mater, in 2002), it is remarkable that McCarthy has lasted this long.
Anyone who’s seen him coach probably gets the feeling he’s one broken blood vessel away from retirement. The Westies haven’t played in a state championship game since 2003. They haven’t reached the state playoffs since 2006. As recent teams seemed to underperform, there had been a few whispers that maybe the game has finally passed him by.
But as McCarthy said, it takes time and great players to build a winner. With burners like Kevin Phillips, his freshman brother Earvin, and receiver Tremayne Barnes among others on this year’s squad, the Westies are now 7-1 and honing in on a playoff return.
“To be honest, I really hadn’t given 300 too much thought,” said McCarthy, whose team faces No. 1 Xavier next week. “We were just trying to stay alive.”
And, really, once you cut through all the layers, that’s all McCarthy really has concerned himself with over the last 40 years. He’s won 300 games and lost only 103 (he’s second only to former Ledyard coach Bill Mignault‘s 321 career wins) doing things his way and only his way.
And even if he drives the rest of us nuts sometimes, McCarthy wins and many of the thousands of players who have survived his programs love him for it.
♦♦♦♦
Here’s your Weekly Primer. We have two big ones in the FCIAC tonight, one big one in the SWC. I’m sure there will be a few surprises elsewhere.
Trumbull (6-1), hanging onto Class LL and FCIAC playoff hopes, travels up to Tiger Hollow to face wounded Ridgefield (5-2).
Pomperaug and Brookfield clash in an SWC matchup for playoff positioning (Brookfield in Class M, Pomperaug in Class LL and SWCs).
In the NVL, Woodland (5-2) goes to Naugatuck (7-0) for a fight to win the NVL Copper Division title and the right to face Ansonia for the NVL championship (if Naugy wins, the title game will be on Thanksgiving).
Also, great story from the New Haven Register’s Dave Solomon on North Branford’s ‘Replacements’ football team for this weekend’s game vs. SSMA. (Lewis Mills has already taken a second forfeit vs. Haddam-Killingworth. Will Lewis Mills coach Peter Flammia resign in the wake of this incident? Sources in the Waterbury region say yes, though there is no official word yet).
Once again, this is a live Twitter stream using the hashtag #ctfb on updates. If you want to post updates from your game, this is what you have to use. If you want to know how, read this post.
And we have our first poll disagreement of the year.
Xavier is No. 1.
But so is Masuk.
Xavier (7-0) earned the top spot in the NHR poll, claiming 12 first place votes over Masuk’s 9 and Staples 2. (There was one abstention). Masuk (7-0) swiped the top spot in the CSWA Poll, claiming 16 first-place votes over Xavier’s 11 and Staples’ 2.
Masuk, which trailed Xavier by 24 in last week’s NHR poll, has cut the gap to just 9 there. Masuk trailed Xavier by 5 in last week’s CSWA Poll and is now ahead by 16.
Xavier won its seventh straight game, but needed to hold off Hillhouse on the final play of last week’s 9-6 victory.
Masuk, meanwhile, routed Bethel 45-0, its seventh straight 40+ victory of the season. The Panthers lead the state in points scored (333) and points allowed (21).
Released an hour later, The Day of New London coaches poll cast its lots to Xavier. The Falcons received 8 first-place votes to Masuk’s 4 and Staples’ 1. But they only claimed the top spot by two votes.
NHR TOP 10 MEDIA
Rank
Team (1st place)
Record
Pts
Prev.
1.
Xavier (12)
7-0
664
1
2.
Masuk (9)
7-0
656
2
3.
Staples (2)
7-0
612
3
4.
Berlin
7-0
501
4
5.
Darien
7-0
464
6
6.
Ansonia
7-0
353
7
7.
New Canaan
6-1
341
8
8.
Naugatuck
7-0
324
9
9.
NFA
7-0
317
10
10.
Hand
6-1
282
NR
Others receiving votes: West Haven (6-1), 238; Trumbull (6-1), 181; Hyde (7-0), 178; Hall (7-0), 176; Glastonbury (6-1), 140; New London (6-1), 95; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (7-0), 73; Montville (6-1) and Pomperaug (6-1), 30; St. Joseph (5-2), 29; Bristol Eastern (6-1), 26; North Haven (6-1), 19; Notre Dame-West Haven (4-3), 18; Greenwich (5-2), 16. The following voted: Marc Allard, Norwich Bulletin; Bob Barton, New Haven Register; Sean Patrick Bowley, Connecticut Post; Don Boyle, Sporting News CT; Jim Bransfield, Middletown Press; Bryant Carpenter, Meriden-Record Journal; George DeMaio, WELI; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Matt Doran, Norwalk Hour; Kevin Duffy, Danbury News-Times; Noah Finz, WTNH-8; Ned Griffen, The Day of New London; John Holt, WFSB-3; Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Republican-American; Ken Lipshez, New Britain Herald; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Dave Phillips, Shoreline Times; Mike Pucci, New Haven Register; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate; John Silver, Manchester Journal Inquirer; Tom Yantz, Hartford Courant; Jimmy Zanor, Shore Line Newspapers. The following did not vote: Bill Bloxsom, Hersam-Acorn.
CSWA TOP 10 MEDIA
Rank
Team (1st Place)
Record
Points
Prev.
1.
Masuk (16)
7-0
421
1
2.
Xavier (11)
7-0
405
2
3.
Staples (2)
7-0
374
3
4.
Berlin
7-0
339
4
5.
Darien
7-0
320
6
6.
Ansonia
7-0
239
7
7.
NFA
7-0
212
9
8.
New Canaan
6-1
201
8
9.
Naugatuck
7-0
188
NR
10.
Hyde Leadership
7-0
133
10
Also Receiving Votes: Daniel Hand 6-1 127; West Haven 6-1 85; Trumbull 6-1 80; Hall 7-0 76; Glastonbury 6-1 70; Southington 6-1 52; New London 6-1 41; Montville 6-1 29; Valley Regional/Old Lyme 7-0 26; Bristol Eastern 6-1 12; Wethersfield 7-0 11; Greenwich 5-2 8; St. Joseph 5-2 8; North Haven 6-1 4; Maloney 6-1 3; Newtown 6-1 3; Pomperaug 6-1 3; Woodland 5-2 3; Avon 6-1 2; Platt 6-1 2; Coventry/Windham Tech 1; Lyman Hall 6-1 1; Torrington 5-2 1 Voters: Marc Allard (Norwich Bulletin), Bob Barton (CT H.S. Football Record Book), Don Boyle (Sporting News CT), Jim Bransfield (Middletown Press), Kyle Brennan (Waterbury Republican), Anthony Della Calce (New Britain Herald), George DeMaio (WELI Radio), Gerry deSimas (Collinsville Publishing Co.), Bill Donovan (WXLM 980 AM), Mark Fijalkowski (CT Sports Network), Tim Gaffney (Litchfield County Sports), Dave Greenleaf (CCC website), Mike Guerrera (Southington Citizen), John Holt (WFSB Channel 3), Larry Kelley (Patch.com), Bob Lazzari (Valley Times), Greg Lederer (Cheshire Herald), Ken Lipshez (New Britain Herald), Sean Patrick Bowley (Connecticut Post), Dave Phillips (Shoreline Times), Pat Pickens (Fairfield Citizen-News), Mike Pucci (New Haven Register), Dave Ruden (Stamford Advocate), Mike Suppe (Hersam Acorn Newspapers), Patrick Tiscia (Litchfield County Sports), Peter Vander Veer (Elm City Newspapers), Tom Yantz (Hartford Courant), Rich Zalusky (Willimantic Chronicle), Jimmy Zanor (Shore Line Newspapers)
THE DAY OF NEW LONDON COACHES POLL
Rank
Team (1st Place)
Record
Points
Prev.
1.
Xavier (8)
7-0
372
1
2.
Masuk (4)
7-0
370
2
3.
Staples (1)
7-0
340
3
4.
Berlin
7-0
288
4
5.
Darien
7-0
248
6
6.
NFA
7-0
215
8
7.
Ansonia
7-0
193
7
8.
Naugatuck
7-0
190
9
9.
Hand
6-1
178
NR
10.
New Canaan
6-1
176
10
Also receiving votes: Wethersfield (7-0), 83 points; Southington (6-1), 77; Hyde-New Haven (7-0), 72; Tie, Glastonbury (6-1) and West Haven (6-1), 70; St. Joseph-Trumbull (6-1), 64; Hall-West Hartford (7-0), 58; Trumbull (6-1), 46; Montville (6-1), 43; New London (6-1), 35; Tie, Bristol Eastern (6-1) and North Haven (6-1), 25; Bridgeport Central (5-2), 23; Valley Regional/Old Lyme (7-0), 15; Pomperaug-Southbury (6-1), 12; Tie, Manchester (5-2) and Notre Dame-West Haven (4-3), 10; Newtown (6-1), 7. The following coaches voted: Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; Chuck Drury, Pomperaug-Southbury; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Sean Marinan, Xavier-Middletown; Sal Morello, Middletown; John Murphy, Masuk-Monroe; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden.
The masses have spoken on this Week 7: You want me at Bethel-Masuk.
Ask and you shall receive! …But this appearance comes with a warning.
Bethel has to show up, and I mean not be down by 3 TDs at halftime. It has to compete and give mighty Masuk a run. Otherwise I’m slinking off to catch Derby-Ansonia (which is really where I should go anyway). Deal? Deal.
Here’s the Friday Night/Saturday Primer. No long-winded speeches today. Just the bare essentials.
We’re keeping an eye on a few games tonight. Of course, we’ll see if Bethel can take down its second heavyweight of the season. …We’ll see if Derby/O’Brien Tech can keep its win streak going and shock the state by beating rival Ansonia. …We’ll see if West Haven coach Ed McCarthy can inch closer to Bill Mignault‘s record 321 victories with his milestone 300th (and, more importantly, if the Westies can keep pace in Class LL) when Hand comes to town. …We’ll be keeping an eye on Central-Stamford, even though it become increasingly apparent neither will be making a state playoff trip (especially the loser of this game) …We’re watching to see how Trinity Catholic fares against giant-killing North Haven (a good ol’ FCIAC vs. SCC tilt) … We’re watching if No. 1 Xavier will be able to brush the sleep from its eyes for a 2:30 p.m. matchup with Hillhouse at Bowen Field. …We’ll be watching Fairfield Prep vs. Hamden, and anxiously waiting to see if the Jesuits’ can get their first SCC Division I victory in two seasons.
On Saturday, we’ll be watching a lot of FCIAC games (What is this? 1998). No mega-matchups out there, unless somebody (Wilton? McMahon? Danbury?) decides to get up an knock one of the frontrunners off its perch.
Programming note on how the live scoring blog works: We allow comments, especially if you seem to have a score we don’t have. But since this is monitored by editors hard at work producing a daily newspaper, we typically can’t get to every comment.
What you see scrolling across on this live update window is, in fact, Twitter. Contrary to the opinion of the unsavvy among us (who think of it as being just some hourly update of what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner), Twitter is a valuable source of information posted online on an infinite message board. Newspapers and reporters use to report breaking news. It’s what you see scrolling on the right-hand side of this blog.
For us, we use it as a universal scoring blog. So, while many of you have a buddy at some other game text-messaging updates, we use our phones to send our “text messages” to Twitter for everybody to see.
See that? Feel that? Taste that? There’s a chill in the air. Brilliant oranges, yellows and reds are blooming from the trees. The ground crackles and snaps beneath your feet. We’re knee-deep in autumn.
And those crowds on Friday night, they buzz just a little bit louder on the sidelines, don’t they? The cheers pack a little more wallop when something good happens. Those groans creak a little louder when something doesn’t.
We’ve reached the midpoint of the 2010 High School Football Season.
Can you feel it? The intensity is building.
Just five more weeks, and we’ll be scarfing down playoff scenarios with our Thanksgiving Turkey.
So what do we know? What have we discovered so far? Who’s up? Who’s Down? Who’s out?
Masuk's Jon Testani
Five weeks into the SWC season and nobody’s touched Masuk. Jon Testani, Anthony Calabrese and the first team defense hasn’t given up a point. The offense is explosive, with Casey Cochran and Colin Markus. The Panthers win by an average score of 45-3. I haven’t seen this much regular-season hype about a Masuk team since Wargo-Mish-Muniz-Cavanaugh-etc. in 2003.
The rest of the league has been competitive, but far, far behind the Monroe Panthers. It’s become a race for second place, with Bunnell, Newtown, Pomperaug and even Brookfield all jockeying for the second spot… for the right to get hammered by Masuk in the title game? It certainly looks that way. No worries. There’s always the state playoffs, and all are in contention.
Trumbull's Phil Terio
Five weeks into the FCIAC season, it’s not as clear-cut.
At the top, we have 5-0 Staples, which passed one test against Ridgefield and is biding its time until November, hoping to stay healthy and get one or two key players (read: sophomore Nick Kelly) back for the stretch run.
We have Phil Terio and 5-0 Trumbull, who have passed two huge tests vs. Central and Greenwich and is building confidence. We have 5-0 Darien, which is basically done with the competitive part of the FCIAC schedule and is waiting to see how the rest of the league shakes out. We have 5-0 New Canaan, which is just starting the competitive part of its schedule.
After that, Central (4-1) and Ridgefield are close behind, chasing their only losses of the season, waiting for the next round of big games. St. Joseph (3-2) is trying hard to stay afloat in the Class S playoff race, praying it can beat New Canaan Saturday and keep their season alive, praying senior Tyler Matakevich can return in time to make a difference in this, his senior season.
This league is just starting to heat up.
Who will reach the FCIAC championship? It’s a bottle neck right now, and there are worries we’ll have a three-team tie at the end of Week 9.
West Haven's Kevin Phillips
Five weeks into the SCC season, top-ranked Xavier and its bone-crushing defense remain the class of the league. Kevin Phillips and West Haven are 5-0, with an impressive victory over former No. 1 Notre Dame-West Haven on its resume. But their schedule only gets brutal from here: at Cheshire, vs. Hand, at Wilbur Cross, at Xavier.
Same goes for 4-1 Wilbur Cross. Speedster James Ward and the Govs earned an impressive victory vs. Cheshire last week, but their climb only gets tougher: at Hand, at Notre Dame, vs. West Haven… And Hand, and Notre Dame-WH and Shelton.
Foof.
Will someone rise to the top, or will these teams just knock each other off until nobody’s left standing?
Say what you will, nobody faces a gauntlet like the SCC Division I schools. Nobody. 8-2 might not get some of these teams into the playoffs, but it seems like it should. (I’m not complaining, just wish some other leagues would adopt the SCC philosophy… although I’ve heard other interesting alternatives).
Five/Six weeks into the NVL season, and Ansonia is all growns up. Maybe not physically (still lots of underclassmen — and you know what that means), but as a team they’ve answered the call with crushing victories over Holy Cross, Wolcott and Watertown. Montrell Dobbs is tearing the league up. Freshman Arkeel Newsome is turning heads — and not just when he runs by you on a kickoff return.
On the other side, you have, possibly, the first legit Naugatuck team since 2000. Unless Torrington, or Jack DeBaise and Woodland show up (these teams play Friday night), the season will come down to a mega-Thanksgiving Day matchup at Jarvis Stadium between the old Rivals.
Cherish the thought, NVL fans.
Five Weeks into the Connecticut High School football season the Southwestern Connecticut teams are still king.
Is there anyone up north or east (excluding Xavier, an SCC school) that can challenge any of our boys?
Six weeks left until the end of the regular season and we begin the quarterfinals and the road to Rentschler…
A look back and look ahead at the 2010 season to date, compiled by the football staff at Hearst CT, me included. What about you? What’s were your favorite games and moments from the first half of the season? WRITE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!
With Masuk grinding (or, more to the point puréeing) its opponents into mush, the 2010 SWC season is fast becoming a race for second place.
Heading into Week 4 only two other teams besides Masuk were undefeated. Bunnell emerged 4-0 after surviving a strong upset bid by New Fairfield Friday night. That left Oxford, the third-year varsity, quasi-Valley program (whose coaching staff includes Joe Stochmal, Seymour’s Bob Kelo and Ansonia’s John Hunt Jr going into a big game at home vs. 2-1 Newtown.
Behind power running by Nick D’Onofrio and a solid defense, Oxford had crushed unbeaten Stratford the week before. This would be an even bigger test for the Wolverines. Just how far had they come as a program, and what will the rest of the season hold?
Newtown, meanwhile, limped into the game having lost a shocker to Bethel in Week 2 and, while whupping up on Immaculate the follwoing week, saw a host of star players go down for the season. Captain, four-year starter at WR and K Rory Noonan, and receiver Ryan Korth were among their biggest losses. What did Newtown have left?
We took the Connecticut Post High School Football bandwagon up the Housatonic River banks to find out.
Newtown won, 41-27 in a pretty wild game that saw the two teams trade haymakers in a 20-20 first half. But in the second, Newtown’s defense — led by bruising seniors Louis Fennarolli and Max Nacewicz – held serve while QB Will Arndt and his new cadre of receivers piled up points.
Among the many Newtown newcomers with big plays were sophomore tailback Dan Hebert, who torched Oxford with two TDs and set up another with a big reception in the second half, junior WR Chris McNamara who caught a TD pass and set up another with a big reception, and Justin DeVellis (wait, another? You got a DeVellis factory up there, Newtown?) had a huge pick-off of an Oxford option pass to set up another TD and an insurmountable 34-20 fourth-quarter lead.
So Oxford falls from the ranks of the unbeaten, but their next three opponents before Masuk are a combined 0-12. Newtown (3-1) rights its ship somewhat for Notre Dame this week. They get Bunnell in Week 6.
Only Bunnell (4-0) and Masuk (4-0) remain. These two arch-rivals will face off Friday night.
♦♦♦♦
SIDE-NOTES: I absolutely love Oxford High School, especially in autumn. It’s cut into the woods of the steep Housatonic-Naugatuck Valley hillside off scenic Route 188. From New Haven, I trekked up Route 34, where hundreds attended the Head of the Housatonic Regatta, and turned north up into the Oxford hills.
As a football school, it could really become something special.
But … that field, that field. Coach Joe Stochmal has long clamored for some kind of legit football facility and, four years into its existence, this patch still looks more suited for youth soccer than varsity football. There are no bleachers whatsoever, so the fans are basically two- and three-deep around the perimeter, sometimes just inches from the playing field.
It can get pretty dangerous in spots. If you look close, one guy got knocked off his chair during one of Oxford QB Alex Miller‘s west end zone scrambles. Refs tried their best to push all of the spectators back. The fans sitting on the east end, separated from the field by a cord, kept screaming at me, “Down in front!” while I walked the sidelines.
To which, I say, get the town to kick in some extra dough, hold a charity car wash or bake sale. Do something and get this field some bleachers, at least. I’ll get you started, here’s a link to an aluminum bleacher site.
FRIDAY
Five/Six weeks into the NVL season, and Ansonia is all growns up. Maybe not physically (still lots of underclassmen — and you know what that means), but as a team they’ve answered the call with crushing victories over Holy Cross, Wolcott and Watertown. Montrell Dobbs is tearing the league up. Freshman Arkeel Newsome is turning heads — and not just when he runs by you on a kickoff return.
Extra, extra!
