Fairfield County's Tyler Matakevich catches a touchdown pass in the 15th Annual Hall of Fame Football Classic at Ken Strong Stadium Saturday, July 9, 2011. | Photo by Christian Abraham

This time there were no doubts.

No one could question it. No one could stir controversy, suggesting that the outcome should have been different.

This time, Fairfield County’s amalgamation of football talent, if not a true all-star team, actually went out and brutally snatched back the Hall of Fame Classic football trophy from the bullies of New Haven County on Saturday.

For the first time since — hold on, let’s check the program — um, ever? the Fairfield County all-stars put a whupping on New Haven County.

The 34-14 victory in Saturday’s regional all-star game was just the fifth Fairfield County win in the series’ 15-year history.

[SLIDESHOW]

The 20-point win was also the county’s biggest margin of victory of the series, topping a mere 10-point margin in 2001.

Aside from controversial, one-point, double-overtime Fairfield County victory in 2008, New Haven County’s all-stars had annually beat on Fairfield County like a speedbag, winning seven of eight years by an average of 24 points.

And it gave a few of Fairfield County chapter members stomach aches, culminating in Jerry McDougall‘s impassioned plea to members  to make sure “we win that game!” at a chapter meeting following an embarrassing 49-0 loss in 2009.

And, honestly, Fairfield County’s 2011 roster didn’t exactly look like a world beater on Thursday. Sure, it had Tyler Matakevich, Joe Della Vecchia, Phil Terio, the Brothers Maxen (Willie and Kevin) and a couple others from the Governor’s Cup all-star game two weeks ago.

But missing were large chunks of significant Fairfield County programs. Greenwich, New Canaan, Staples, Brookfield, Bunnell, Ridgefield, Bethel… New Haven, meanwhile, brought kids from almost all of its member schools, including everybody’s MVP Montrell Dobbs of Ansonia.

We’d seen this many, many times before. Just with different names.

So, yeah. That equation didn’t look like it would add up to a Fairfield County victory.

And when Foran’s Tucker Schumitz threw a touchdown pass to Notre Dame’s quarterback Sean Goldrich, in a flaunting display of New Haven ingenuity and dominance that has come to define these games, it looked as if the rout would be on again.

Of course, it was. Just not the team we thought.

Thankfully, Fairfield County coach Joe Della Vecchia had the big guns from his back-to-back St. Joseph state championship teams on his side — son Joe Della Vecchia and Tyler Matakevich.

The teammates (who were joined by fellow St. Joseph alums Jerry Kramer, Nick Adzima, Mike Marini and Ryan Mrozek) partied like it was 2010, hooking up three times for touchdowns.

The other touchdown toss was to Trumbull’s Phil Terio, who, until practices began two weeks ago, represented St. Joseph’s mortal enemy.

“There’s the whole Trumbull/St. Joe’s thing, but me and Phil are friends. I knew he’d catch it,” Della Vecchia said of his toss to Terio.

As for his four-year teammate: “Tyler, he’s just really reliable.”

It also must have helped that Della Vecchia had spent his last two games preparing to stop Dobbs. Perhaps armed with lessons learned in the Class S state championship victory over Ansonia, in which Dobbs ran for 303 yards, Della Vecchia’s Fairfield County all-stars put the breaks on the UConn recruit.

Two weeks after torching Rhode Island in the second half of the Governor’s Cup, Dobbs was held to 32 yards on just 12 carries by a front seven defensive unit that included Masuk’s Tim Allen (I was told he was “out for blood” by one of his assistant  coaches from Masuk), Pomperaug’s Willie Maxen, Harding’s underrated big man Alvin Garcia, Stamford LB Mark Robinson and Harding LB Myles Gordon.

Fairfield County sacked Goldrich (the New Hampshire recruit who was 11-for-11 passing until leaving the game with a separated shoulder) and Schumitz seven times.

Schumitz, who I submit would have been an all-star had he not broke his collar in Week 3, was the New Haven MVP. Shelton’s Cody Kitson was also a standout on the defensive side.

But, for now, all’s well for now in the Ralph DeSantis Fairfield County chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

Do they have to work to shore up participation in the coming years? It can’t hurt.

But as the 2011 Fairfield County edition showed Saturday, all you really need is the right mix of outstanding football players to win the Hall of Fame Classic.

♦♦♦♦

AN ASIDE: No, I did not attend. I had tickets to see Yankees-Rays at the Stadium Saturday. So I got to witness this from the bleachers.

Sorry. It’s my summer vacation. Hey, at least I got to catch the second half on Sportingnewsct.com.

Thanks to all the seniors who participated in the game. It’s been a pleasure watching all of you play these past four years.

As for the rest of us returning, unless something breaks, we’ll see you in a few weeks.

-SPB

Ansonia's Montrell Dobbs runs for a touchdown during the Connecticut High School football all-star game against Rhode Island. The recent UConn commit leads New Haven into the 15th Hall of Fame Football Classic. Photo: Lindsay Niegelberg / Connecticut Post

Updated: Paul Criscuolo says the game is on this evening, despite threats of heavy rain. As of 4:40 p.m. West Haven remained dry while northern parts of the state were being pounded.

More rain is on the way, however. Criscuolo said lightning would, of course, delay the game.

Follow the radar here.

♦♦ Original Post ♦♦

It’s your last chance for real, live football for a couple months.

The Hall of Fame Football Classic, part 15 kicks off tonight at West Haven’s Ken Strong Stadium at 7:30. Tickets are $7 at the gate. Come one come all.

Here are your morning links for pregame coverage of the game, which is showdown between West Haven coach Ed McCarthy (New Haven) and one of his former players — St. Joseph coach Joe Della Vecchia (Fairfield County).

Of course, all the focus will be on a certain Ansonia tailback.

• Fairfield County all-stars take aim at Dobbs, New Haven County| Connecticut Post
• Hall of Fame Football Classic Friday in West Haven | Stamford Advocate
• Hall of Fame Classic Rosters

Quick note on the rosters, you’ll notice major portions of Fairfield County — mostly lower/eastern schools — are missing from the All-Star roster, which is once again causing consternation and ire among those in the Fairfield County chapter. Several showed up for the pre-practice meetings, but never again.

You won’t find the same problem on New Haven County. Twenty-nine schools are represented as opposed to Fairfield County’s 19.

The issue was discussed in Tuesday’s Connecticut Post: Filling Fairfield County roster a classic challenge

Sounds like a repeat episode. But we will try not to dwell on who isn’t here, but the players and teams who are — including eight players from the Connecticut Governor’s Cup team from two weeks ago, as opposed to four from New Haven.

But will it be enough for the first Fairfield County victory since the 31-30 overtime thriller of 2008? New Haven leads the all-time series 10-4 and won last year’s game 16-13.

Once again, we’ll be live tweeting the game at @CTHSFootball. You can follow along on Twitter, or in the red window at right.

The final rosters for the 15th Annual New Haven County-Fairfield County Hall of Fame Fooball Classic all-star game have been released. The game will be played at Ken Strong Stadium in West Haven, Friday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $7 and proceeds go toward general fundraising and scholarships. For more information visit NewHavenFootballFoundation.com.

Players who were on Connecticut’s Governor’s Cup roster are designated with **

♦♦♦♦♦

It’s been a relatively busy week in offseason high school football.

First, the 10th Governor’s Cup between Rhode Island and Connecticut all-star teams, kicks off Saturday night at Southington’s Fontana Field. The Hall of Fame Classic comes two weeks after. Pomperaug elevated Dave Roach to head football coach. And a bunch of teams culminated spring practice with their annual (color)-(color) scrimmages. Also, we know the 2011 playoff divisions.

Here’s a run-down of the stories published locally over the last week or so.

Pomperaug names Roach new head football coach

This caught no one by surprise. From the moment we heard coach Chuck Drury might be stepping down to join his son Michael at Southington, Roach’s name was the first from everybody’s lips. He’s a teacher, he’s an alum, he was a no-brainer for a school trying to suppress transitional chaos stemming from the first significant regime change in 35 years.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be major changes in Southbury. Philosophical, organizational and tactical tweaks aside, there have been rampant whispers that other coaches from Pomperaug’s staff will be jumping ship shortly. Like we’ve said, what looked like a bona fide contender could be indistinguishable from 2010.

Ansonia moves up to Class M and other (less significant) CIAC football division shuffling

The official packet hasn’t been released, but the 2011 CIAC playoff classes are set. This was a separate post from late last week, but worth mentioning again in case you missed it. Check your team’s CIAC playoff division.

We have updated this slightly since the original post. Derby’s placement dropped from Class M to Class S over the weekend, presumably its loss of the O’Brien Tech enrollment hadn’t been counted.

Spring Game Updates

The Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time and Danbury News-Times published a variety of spring reports from their immediate coverage areas last week.

• Stamford eager to prove its back and here to stay – Stamford Advocate
• White Warriors beat Blue Blazers in McMahon scrimmage - Stamford Advocate
• Spring practice kicks into gear for Danbury football – News-Times
• Milano sets the tone for New Canaan- Stamford Advocate
• Norwalks Ireland lays the groundwork in first camp – Stamford Advocate
• Massie becoming the man for Staples – Stamford Advocate
• Trinity Catholic works on building chemistry - Stamford Advocate
• Greenwich shows promise in Red and White Game - Greenwich Time
  VIDEOS: Action from the 2011 Red and White game – “Extra Time” sports blog
• Meanwhile, off the Hearst CT grid, the NVL Football Blog has been busy checking out the NVL spring practices.

All-Star Season

As mentioned, the Governor’s Cup all-star game between Connecticut and Rhode Island kicks off Saturday, June 25 at 4:30. The game is being held at Southington’s Fontana Field due to field renovations at the game’s traditional spot at Rentschler Field. Tickets are $8.

The all-star committees from Rhode Island and Connecticut, along with the YouthFootball Coaches Association will be holding a free youth football clinic at 1 p.m. before the game. Registration is at noon.

To purchase tickets contact John Fontana, P.O. Box 632, Southington, CT 06489 or call 860-628-4122, fax 860-628-7652 or e-mail: jfontana01@snet.net. For additional information go to www.cthssports.com.

Here is the Connecticut roster for the Governor’s Cup

Two weeks later is the New Haven-Fairfield County Hall of Fame Classic at West Haven’s Ken Strong Stadium.

The rosters for the Hall of Fame Football Classic are listed here. Game time is Friday, July 8, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7. Visit www.newhavenfootballfoundation.com for more information.

From upstate:

An absolutely wonderful Father’s Day column from Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant on the subject of Fermi football coach Bill Beeler: Shooting Makes Fermi Coach, Manchester Officer Beler Appreicate Father’s Day More.

Beeler, if you recall, was shot in the shoulder during a hostage standoff in Manchester a month ago. He’s recovering with spirits flying. Great to hear. Great read.

Notebook

Notre Dame-Fairfield released some news on a pair of their athletes, Nigel Beckford and Theo Tumba, earning MVP honors in their respective classes at the National Underclassman Scouting Combine in Hartford. Click here for more details.

Add: League changes

A quick glance at the Connecticut football leagues shows that the CCC has realigned its monstrous conference again into more of an SCC model. The league goes one further than the SCC, with three divisions split into east and west. Division I has 10 teams (5 each); Division II has 12 teams (6 each) and Division III has 10 teams (5 each).

No other changes are listed (yet).

Camp Listing

From July 15-17, Jack Cochran’s ‘The Program’ football camps will be hosting a several summer clinics. The Friday Night Lights QB-WR Academy; the Dwight Freeney D-Line, pass rush academy; the Andrew Pinnock running back adcademy and the All-American linebacker academy. Go to http://www.theprogram1.com for more details or contact Jack Cochran at (860) 748-8899 or cochranjack@att.net.

Anything else?

In just a few weeks, it’ll be time to get your summer’s football fix with the state’s two all star games.

First up, is the Rhode Island-Connecticut Governor’s Cup all-star game Saturday June 25 at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $8.

This year the game will be held at Southington High School’s Fontana Field — named after the former Southington coach and director of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association which puts this game together. The venue is moving to Southington from Rentschler Field in East Hartford because UConn is installing new grass turf.

Team Connecticut’s coach is Masuk’s John Murphy.

John Ferrazzi, Sheehan-Wallingford; Sean Marinan, Xavier; Harry Bellucci, Hartford Public; Jayson Martinez, Kingswood Oxford-West Hartford; Chuck Lynch, New Milford, Bruce Buchla, Old Saybrook; Andy Guyon, Xavier; Tyrone Abrahams, Windsor; and Jon Esmail, Hartford Public.

Rhode Island will be coached by Chariho’s Mike Kelly. Practices for this game begin 10 days prior.

The Connecticut roster is below. We’ll give you the roster and cheat sheet on Rhode Island a little later (i.e. when I have time to format it). If you want more info, read the Connecticut High School Coaches Association’s Spring Newsletter here.

♦♦♦

Next up is the 15th Annual Hall of Fame Football Classic between New Haven and Fairfield County which will be held at West Haven’s Ken Strong Stadium, Friday, July 8, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7.

St. Joseph’s Joe Della Vecchia is leading the charges for Fairfield County this season. He will be challenged by his mentor and former coach at St. Joseph, West Haven’s Ed McCarthy.

(Hoo boy).

Practices for the Hall of Fame football Classic begin June 27. Fairfield County will be practicing at St. Joseph. West Haven will be practicing at Ken Strong Stadium.

Get more information from the New Haven Chapter’s website.

ROSTERS

13th Annual Governor Cup

Rhode Island vs. Connecticut, June 25 at Southington HS

Connecticut All-Star Team

(The positions weren’t listed on the program we were provided. We’ll have those as soon as we get them).

Name, School

Joe DellaVecchia, St. Joseph
Kyle Nolan, Branford
Erich Berzinskas, Morgan
Montrell Dobbs, Ansonia
Jon Esposito, Conard
Max Delorenzo, Berlin
James Ward, Wilbur Cross
Brian Kelly, Brookfield
Tyler Dube, Southington
Tirrell Young, Notre Dame-West Haven
Mike Georgalas, Shelton
Nainy Bah, Morgan
Colin Smith, Norwich Free Academy
Wynton Borders, Capitol Prep
Marc DesRuisseaux, Stratford
Brendan Coan, Old Saybrook
Tom Linden, Xavier
David Shainess, Glastonbury
Dashon Riley, Hillhouse
Dayquon Byrd, Crosby
Robbie Goldstein, Lyman Hall
Ryan Peloquin, St. Paul’s
Peter Kelly, Norwich Free Academy
Paul Sullivan, South Windsor
Tywan Jenkins, New London
Matt Cassidy, Manchester
Jack DeBlase, Woodland
Carlos Lozada, New London
Seth Devalve, Manchester
Lucas Desouza, Bridgeport Central
Malcolm Crossen, Glastonbury
Tyrell Holmes, Bristol Eastern
Phil Terio, Trumbull
Kevin Manning, Prince Tech
Shane Anane, Hartford Public
Tyler Matakevich, St. Joseph
Brian McClain, Windsor
Dean Tsoponides, Torrington
Chris LeSure, Wethersfield
Max Nacewicz, Newtown
Mark Robinson, Stamford
Kadeam Ward, Glastonbury
Walter Auger, Xavier
Maxx Frisco, Sheehan
Tyre Pinder, Hartford Public
Stephan Dance, New London
Kevin Maxen, Pomperaug
Willie Maxen, Pomperaug
Tyrick Thomas, Windsor
Desmond Grey, Ledyard
Joe Delaguila, Berlin
Eddie Glenn, North Haven
Chris Valenti, Bethel

♦♦♦

HALL OF FAME FOOTBALL CLASSIC:

New Haven County vs. Fairfield County, July 8 at Ken Strong Stadium

NEW HAVEN COUNTY ALL-STARS

FAIRFIELD COUNTY ALL-STARS

We have a couple of weeks before this kicks off and another game to play first (Saturday’s Governor’s Cup at Rentschler).

But judging by many of the comments left on this blog recently, a lot of you have been absolutely dying to see the rosters for the 14th Annual New Haven County-Fairfield County Hall of Fame Football Classic, which will be held Saturday, July 10 FRIDAY, JULY 9 at West Haven’s Ken Strong Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

And, honestly, I’ve been kind of anxious as well. After all, after last year’s 49-0 loss, the brass of the Ralph DeSantis Fairfield County Chapter have spent the past year sounding the battle horns and galvanizing the base to make sure this year’s team puts on a decidedly better showing.

New Haven County leads the all-time series 9-4 and has won six out of the last seven years.

I attended two of the Fairfield County Chapter events this offseason, and their call to arms has been seared into my brain. From new president John Barbarotta’s gentle, yet persistent, calls to all of the chapter members  to Jerry McDougall‘s fiery, podium-pounding declaration: “We’ve got to make sure we win that game!”

Yeah.

We all know, you can’t win if you don’t have talent, which is why the unveiling of the rosters is a crucial step in winning the battle.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the rosters. No positions were given, but I think we know where most of these guys play.

Of course, many of the region’s best recruits are missing — likely off to college already. But after a quick look, I think there’s still plenty of talent on both sides.

But who’s got the best?

I’ll reserve judgment for now. Let us know what you think. Which chapter has the better roster? Vote in our poll below and add your comments. (more…)