IT IS, perhaps, the singular biggest complaint pervading the high school football landscape, particularly if you’re that lonely goldfish swimming in a shark tank.

Why don’t Connecticut high school football teams mostly play against schools of their own size?

Following constant complaints on this here space, Why must tiny, little ol’ Class M St. Joseph play a stacked schedule of Class LL teams in the FCIAC while its fellow Class M playoff contenders in the Pequot get to play against fellow pipsqueaks?

Or, to flip that equation, why does Class L Masuk or, even worse, Class LL Newtown or NFA have it so easy playing a wealth of Class M and Class S schools, arguably increasing their chances of reaching their respective playoffs while fellow behemoths must run a gauntlet of like-sized schools?

How is Connecticut’s football organization more like the NCAA than the NHSF? Why is it comprised of increasingly unwieldy leagues and utterly confusing playoff systems and (gasp!) yearly bouts of confounding realignment?

Can’t we play football like real football states which organize their schools into regional ‘districts,’ or ‘sections,’ based solely on size with the standings determining the playoff participants rather than some confounding BCS-styled playoff formula?

What if we did?

What if we created districts out of our four classes, and had the winner of each division, and maybe a couple of wildcards, qualify for the state playoffs?

Look no further.

We here at football central already have worked out some hypotheticals for you: We took each of the four class divisions from last year and attempted to group them into six (or, in Class S’s case, seven) districts based almost entirely on geography.

Schools will (more or less) play their neighbors and actually win its regional district to reach the state playoffs.

Simple, right? Problem solved.

Eh, not entirely.

For one, similarly-sized schools are literally all over the map. We discovered either too many schools were bunched into one region (meaning one unlucky school must find another district) or there were one or two schools far off by themselves, with no natural class rivals nearby (meaning their district games will be far, far away).

Some districting worked perfectly — The Naugatuck Valley schools or the Shoreline Schools in Class S, for example. But that was rare. Most took some moving around. A solution to creating a decent geographic mix often ripped a another apart.

Sometimes we had to break up a pair of natural, geographic rivals in favor of keeping others. Sometimes we had to search halfway around the state just to complete a “regional” district.

But we pressed on, no matter the absurdity.

We didn’t let our emotions get the best of us. We didn’t care if a district pitted one state power with a bunch of weaker ones, virtually guaranteeing that program would probably win ad infinitum. But we did try to maintain a balance. We also desperately tried to honor rivalries.

We organized like this:

With 36 schools in each class we decided on six schools per district. Class S proved to be trickier since it has 38 schools, so we divvied Class S into four divisions of five schools and three divisions of six (meaning they’ll have to play one extra district game).

Now, the three larger divisions would play five district games each and could fill their schedules by playing one crossover game against the remaining five districts (5 + 5 = 10). Maybe you could create those crossover games based on previous years’ results. Maybe.

We didn’t want to get too wrapped up in trying to figure out a playoff system based on these districts. But we had to have a rough outline, at least.

So here it is: Six district champions qualify for the playoffs. That would leave two spots. Maybe we could introduce a pair of wildcards by plucking the best two overall records from the second-place finishers. Then we could seed the field and off we go.

In Class S, you’d have seven division winners and a wildcard. We did run into a problem on scheduling. There are too many teams and unbalanced districts in Class S to fill everyone’s schedule easily.

Issues like this can topple the whole Jenga stack.

I’m sure it can be done somehow. Maybe we should expand the leagues a bit? Or contract the playoff divisions to three… Or maybe oust the Tech Schools and give them their own tournament… Or maybe oust both the tech schools and the Catholics…

Or maybe this whole thing is dead on the operating table.

Whatever.

This is merely a think piece, a very rough outline thrown together one rainy May afternoon/evening/night. By no means do we actually condone such an massive overhaul.

We’re just having a little offseason fun here.

The idea is to present a rough draft and then let you, dear readers, offer your own tweaks or ideas, as zany as those might be.

You don’t get much zanier than this.

So let’s take a look, shall we?

What would Connecticut football look like if it was organized into class-based districts?

How about this?

CLASS LL

easel.ly

CLASS LL SYNOPSIS

This was probably the easiest of the bunch.

New Haven schools were grouped, lower Fairfield County schools were grouped, Danbury region schools were grouped, Waterbury schools were grouped, West Hartford and East of Hartford.

The only real problem that arose was too many LL schools in lower Fairfield County, not enough in Danbury. So we grabbed the Norwalk schools and had them linked by Route 7, the rest along by I-95.

Fairfield Prep (an SCC school) and Trumbull (No Central rivalry, but how ’bout a rivalry with Shelton?) were pushed further east. Hartford County was divided in two.

NFA, being the only LL school far east of the Connecticut River, had to take a suck in this equation. We fit them into the closest league possible, which actually doesn’t look half bad. At least they have Route 2.

CLASS L

easel.ly

CLASS L SYNOPSIS
All of the Class L FCIAC schools formed one district. Done. Poor Platt Tech and Wilby got folded into a regional grouping with Bunnell, Masuk, Stratford and Pomperaug (hey, at least those schools stuck together). New Haven’s Ls fit together perfectly.

The problems arose up north. We wanted Middletown and Meriden together. We also wanted Farmington and Avon together. Torrington really mucked up the works, though, being all out in the middle of nowhere. So we decided to split north-south, with Meriden-Middletown forming the dividing line. We folded Platt/Maloney into a league with Bristol Eastern, T-Town and Avon-Farmington.

The other district, running north-south, encompassed northern Hartford Class Ls with Middletown. Rockville was the odd-man out and was shifted to the Eastern league. But again, at least Route 2 is nearby. East Lyme and Fitch have some traveling to do.

CLASS M

easel.ly

CLASS M SYNOPSIS

Here’s where the system started drifting into crazy land.

We started simply, grouping all six Class M Danbury area schools together and all six ECC Class M schools together.

Then the problems started. The Quiet Corner is Class M Central. There are far too many M schools for one district, so we had to start kicking out some of the fringes to help other leagues.

Poor Enfield. It’s position as the westernmost school of that group forced us to toss it into a Northwestern/Berkshire league with Wolcott, Watertown, Lewis Mills, Wolcott Tech and Gilber/Northwestern.

Same thing happened with East Haven and Vinal/East Hampton, they got sucked into a Wallingford/Berlin-centric league so we could form another around Milford.

St. Joseph, the only Class M school in the FCIAC, and their best friends, Bullard-Havens headed east into a league the three Milford schools and Hillhouse.

CLASS S

easel.ly

CLASS S SYNOPSIS

Outside of creating a true Naugatuck Valley league and a true Shoreline League, dividing Class S was an nightmare.

Plus, there was the 38-school issue. So we decided to break Class S into seven leagues — four 5-divisions, three 6-divisions — to make it a tad easier.

We started with the Naugatuck valley, kicking out St. Paul, Holy Cross and Sacred Heart to make it a 5-team division. We made Shoreline six by adding Coginchaug.

OK, so Holy Cross, St. Paul and Sacred Heart needed to get grouped with northwest schools Housy and Nonnewaug (sorry, guys. Geography) and, to balance it out, we threw Plainville in there since it’s a Bristol neighbor.

Hartford was a mess because there are approximately 800 magnet schools in that town. We tried several combinations, but ultimately decided to keep them together.

Cromwell and Rocky Hill were dumped into that district as leftovers. They were originally part of a ‘Suburban’ Hartford league based around Bloomfield, NWC and East Catholic. Canton and Granby Memorial’s location far north made them the only choice to complete the Suburban league.

Griswold, Plainfield, Stonington and Killingly on the Eastern edge of the state needed one more. So we plucked Stafford seeing how Stafford really isn’t anywhere, either.

Finally, what the heck to do with the far western edge? Trinity, Notre Dame-Fairfield and Immaculate? The perfect alignment of NVL schools mucked this up. In order to keep Ansonia-Seymour-Derby-Oxford-Woodland together, we had to work around them. Thus, poor Hyde Leadership and Whitney Tech got kicked East into what we’re calling ‘Bizzaro’ District.

Eh, could have been worse.

Odessa Permian has to travel 2+ hours just to play district games in Texas. I think we can manage.

So there they are, your imaginary Class Districts.

Any questions?

“But Sean,” you ask. “What happens when a bunch of schools change classes from year-to-year?”

Then stop doing that every year. Maybe make changes every three, four or five years instead. I think that’s how New York does it.

“What if new teams are added? That happens a lot.”

Then just add them and readjust as it arises. I don’t know.

“What about rivalry games between schools of different classes? We’d still like to see Greenwich-New Canaan, Staples-New Canaan, Notre Dame-Hamden, New London-NFA, Central-Harding…”

Easy. Allow a couple of non-district weeks. We’re flexible. Teams don’t necessarily have to crossover to all of the other divisions. After all, you just need to win your division to reach the playoffs. So these games would have no bearing on if you reach the playoffs. (That might actually solve a lot of scheduling issues).

“What about Thanksgiving?”

Maybe we could make that one of the crossover weeks. Purely optional. Since the game wouldn’t count toward playoffs, it would actually allow the state playoffs to begin a week earlier.

Any other questions?

We’ve heard and read a wealth of opinions on Jason Collins coming out as the first openly gay, active player in one of the four major American sports. They’ve come from all of the usual sides: fellow professional athletes, media talking heads and scribes, and public figures.

But, maybe I missed something (and I’m sure I have), but I haven’t seen or heard a take from our youngest generation until today.

Ridgefield’s Sam Gravitte is an all-state football and lacrosse player and an actor (he played Jean Valjean in the school’s production of Les Miserables) who’s (deservedly) off to Princeton this fall. He gave us a peek at what young men and women his age think of the fuss about an athlete’s coming out party in Ridgefield’s school paper, The Tiger’s Roar.

And, if you grasp the history of race/gender/homosexual relations in this country, it’s exactly what you’d expect from the youngest of our American clan:

He writes:

So what has taken sports so long? It seems that in America, the younger generation at least, we’ve opened our arms to gays. Indeed, in the past few years alone we’ve seen the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” initiative crumble in the military, gay senators come out and be elected in relatively large numbers, and two laws handling gay marriage issues reach the Supreme Court for deliberation.

But in a world strongly associated with heteronormativity, where the manliest of men, the strongest and most physical, the fastest and toughest compete daily, how can a guy who likes other guys possibly keep pace?

Because if you can play, you can play.

Gravitte goes on to tackle some of the different sides of the gay-athlete issue, but comes to the conclusion that Collins’ announcement was significant because it smashes barriers Gravitte believes shouldn’t have existed in the first place:

True friends understand that gay doesn’t define a person; it is a piece of a person. Many who tremble behind the wall are afraid of fitting into a category that society has deemed taboo. Because, to most, to be gay is to be different. And to be different is to be an outcast.

Jason Collins has let those athletes behind the wall know that they are not alone. And in today’s world of social progress and growing equality, look for more to rid themselves of fear and liberate themselves with the truth.

No matter what you may think of the issue, Gravitte’s position as a young, talented athlete and outstanding student is worth reading and understanding.

Read the full essay in RHS Tiger’s Roar here.

The Register Citizen of Torrington released a pretty explosive report on the state of Torrington High School and its football program today.

The story, by reporter Jessica Glenza, details a string of alleged dirty deeds and all around bad behavior by a few members of the team and the student population at-large.

The crux of the story is one we’ve become all-too familiar with this past week over in Steubenville, Ohio: Allegations of rape by two members of the football team — 18-year olds Edgar Gonzalez and Joan Toribio — and a student body backlash against the apparent victim, in this case a 13-year old middle-school girl.

Students at Torrington have taken to social media to bully the girl indirectly. In Tweets, they refer to her as a “hoe,” accuse her of “snitching,” and blame her for “ruining two lives,” which mirrors the aftermath of the recent Steubenville rape convictions.

The Register-Citizen combed recent Twitter accounts and provided an extensive look at some of the more damning Tweets:

“Even if it was all his fault, what was a 13 year old girl doing hanging around 18 year old guys..” – @LoryyRamirez

Gonzalez and Toribio have each been charged with three felonies, including second-degree sexual assault of a 13-year old victim, the Register-Citizen reports. While Gonzalez is being held in New Haven, Toribio is out on a $50,000 $100,000 professional surety bond and is being monitored electronically.

The report goes on to portray other signs of trouble in the year leading up to the rape charges.

It details previous felony robbery and assault charges against Gonzalez and former Torrington player Jeffrey Holder in March 2012 and how Gonzalez remained a member of the football team in spite of it.

Ex football coach Dan Dunaj told the paper he was aware of it and allowed him to play during the 2012 season.

Dunaj, a former Seymour assistant who resigned in January after five years as Torrington’s head coach, defended his stance, saying he allowed Gonzalez to play to keep him from further off the rails.

From the story:

“I reeled the kid in after that, and he walked the line. As a coach I was doing something right.”

“My process has always been like this, and I learned this from my high school coach, and I never got into any big trouble thank god, but if you didn’t give the kid a chance then who’s going to?”

Torrington athletic director Mike McKenna told the Register-Citizen he was unaware of the felony robbery charge against Gonzalez:

“That situation would have caused him to be suspended from the team, I can tell you that, and kept on suspension until the conclusion of the case.”

Add in the reports of a hazing incident in September — which Dunaj reported and led to five-day, two-game suspensions for four football players — and overall the Register-Citizen story suggests student culture has gone afoul at Torrington High School.

McKenna disagreed.

“If you think there’s some wild band of athletes that are wandering around then I think you’re mistaken. … If you look at crime statistics these things happen everywhere and we’re not any different than any other community.”

That led to a scathing Register-Citizen editorial which took McKenna and the Torrington administration to task:

“We hope and trust that the posture of denial and defensiveness Torrington school officials have taken toward the idea that there is a culture of abuse and harassment emanating from the high school football program will be dropped very quickly this morning.”

Read the entire profile, which includes all of the Twitter comments, plus comments from the Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko and others in the Register-Citizen:

Register Citizen:

• Victim bullied after rape allegations against Torrington football players.
• Arrest reports
• EDITORIAL: Bullying of rape victim exposes big problem in Torrington schools

♦♦♦

Updates:

The story has quickly hit the national consciousness, with aggregate news sites like Jezebel and the Daily Dot.

• Jezebel: Another sexual assault victim bullied online after rape accusations of Connecticut football players
• The Daily Dot: In small Connecticut town, it’s Steubenville all over again
• The Daily Mail (UK): Torrington football stars, 18, charged with sexually assaulting girl, 13, who classmates are now calling a ‘snitch’ and a ‘whore’ on social media.
• The Daily News (NY): 2 high school football players in Torrington, Conn. charged with sexual assault of 13-year old girl

Hartford AP reporter Dave Collins has reached Gonzalez’s lawyer:

Gonzalez’s lawyer, J. Patten Brown III, said he hasn’t seen the state’s evidence yet, but has been told the charges allege consensual, but statutorily illegal, sex. He said Gonzalez is not making any admissions about having relations with the girl and intends to fight the charges.

“Oftentimes people are arrested and when all the facts come out they’re different than what people assumed,” Brown said.

Alaine Griffin of Hartford Courant reports a third student has been suspended due to the case.

In a press conference, Torrington police have said more arrests are possible.

Here’s WTNH’s report on the incident: