November 23, 2011 at 2:49 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the greatest 24-hours of the Connecticut sports calendar.
Tomorrow, thousands of Nutmeg state residents will get up, rub the sleep out of their eyes, grab a cup of coffee or some breakfast and head over to their favorite Thanksgiving Day rivalry game.
It is a day where records are thrown out. Where everybody is undefeated. And a day where memories that will live eternity are created.
It is a day where advanced algebra becomes a pastime as everybody tries to figure out who is in, and who is out of the state playoffs.
But first, we start with the Wednesday night appetizers and there are plenty of these to whet your Thanksgiving Day appetite.
Here’s the regional schedule for Wednesday night:
SWC Championship Masuk at Newtown, 7 p.m. [Preview video above] | Danbury at Ridgefield, 7 p.m. | Abbott Tech at Wilcox Tech (Falcon Field, Meriden), 6 p.m. | Woodland at Seymour, 6 p.m.
There are also a few big games going on around the state, many with playoff implications.
Here’s what to look for
CLASS LL: Ridgefield needs to beat Danbury to get into position for a possible playoff berth in Class LL. Also huge tonight is Glastonbury’s game vs. Simsbury. Like Ridgefield, the Tomahawks need to win to get into position. Glastonbury is also counting on tonight’s New Britain-Berlin game. A New Britain win is a must if Glastonbury wants to reach its max of 112.0. A Berlin victory might cook the Tomahawks if Ridgefield also wins.
CLASS L: Tolland plays E.O. Smith in a key game for North Haven and Notre Dame-WH in the Class L race. A Tolland win would significantly decrease Farmington’s chances to qualify for the field with a victory, meaning North Haven and Notre Dame’s chances will drastically improve with victories.
Of course, Masuk needs to beat Newtown tonight to clinch a spot in the field. While a loss won’t quite kill Masuk, the Panthers will certainly take to the road for the playoffs.
CLASS S: Valley Regional (9-0) has already clinched in Class S, but their game vs. Haddam-Killingworth (7-2) tonight is massive for Weston’s Class S playoff hopes. As is Cromwell (7-2) vs. Coginchaug (6-3). A win by either Valley or Coginchaug or both will open the door wider for the Trojans. They’ll still be looking for bonus help, but without of those game, the field will be nearly complete and Weston’s hopes will be all but snuffed. Bloomfield is also looking for the same help.
Don’t expect much movement in Class M since all of the key games are on Thanksgiving.
And, of course, follow all the scoring action on the live blog below.
If you’re at a game, and want to participate in the live blog, just get a Twitter account and send updates from your game through your mobile phone. Remember to add #ctfb to the end of your Tweets to have your update show up on this space.
Our HUGE Thanksgiving Day live blog will begin tomorrow at 7 a.m. Thanks and enjoy the games.
October 31, 2011 at 10:54 pm by Sean Patrick Bowley
Nick Kelly leaps to pick off Darien quarterback Henry Baldwin in the third quarter of Staples' snowly 42-23 win over Darien on Saturday.
Bethel's Brian Birdsell fights through Bunnell tackles during his six-touchdown effort Saturday at DeSantis Field. Bethel defeated Bunnell 56-46.
We asked for an upset last week and we got it, with Bethel’s stunning 56-46 victory over Stratford at Ralph DeSantis Field.
That was the only local surprise. Statewide, we saw both NFA (to Stonington) and New London (to Fitch) catch the upset bug and the state playoff picture looked slightly different than they did just days ago.
Of more immediate concern, the SWC playoff race fell out of focus somewhat with Bunnell’s loss. Now it’s anybody’s ballgame for the right to face Masuk at Bunnell on Nov. 16. (Sorry, kids. it’s true. They’re a lock.).
Hand and Xavier remained unbeaten in the SCC. And everybody’s gearing up for that showdown … Oh, wait.
All and all, it was a pretty crazy week, if not for the games then for the snow that dumped on the region turning a handful of games into snowball fights. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s still causing havoc across the region. Many towns are still without power. Some schools have, of course, canceled classes indefinitely. The U.S. government had declared a state of emergency.
It’ll be worth watching how long some of these schools remain closed, and how their teams will be affected in the coming days.
John Prutting, St. Joseph — Interception return TD vs. Warde
Daron Britt, Law — Caught two touchdown passes in loss to Branford.
Tahir Manning, West Haven – Caught two TD passes to give West Haven a halftime lead in a loss to Hand
Taquan Broadway, Harding — 100 yards rushing vs. Norwalk
We’ll close the Top Performers section with a clip of Matt Paola‘s 54-yard field goal against Notre Dame-Fairfield. It tied the state record held by former Watertown star Rico Brogna … who just happened to be standing on the Notre Dame-Fairfield sidelines as the Lancers head coach. Paola and Rico posed for pictures afterward. Nice moment.
“When we were at midfield, I said to the offensive coordinator, `Get your two-point (conversion) play ready.’ ” — McMahon coach A.J. Albano, whose 2-point attempt failed in a 14-13 loss to Ridgefield.
Austin Calitro fends off a Trumbull defender during the Hatters' victory Friday night.
“Looking back now, I guess it was nice having that week off. The kids were fresh, their legs weren’t heavy. They were ready to play today.” — Stamford coach Bryan Hocter
“When we play in a tighter game than this it is really going to do us in,” — New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli on his team’s penalty-filled 28-14 win over Wilton
“We were terrible tonight, absolutely terrible. We have to move on to the next one.” – Trumbull coach Bob Maffei, whose team lost its fourth-straight game, keeping Maffei at 99 career wins.
“We want to go out with a bang and set the tempo for next year. Those guys have to work hard and (if they do) this is what happens.” –Danbury senior FB/LB Austin Calitro after beating Trumbull.
“The upset. It’s a powerful thing that can change your season. It’s one of the best feelings a football player can have.” — Bethel FB/LB Brian Birdsell, whose six touchdown runs toppled Bunnell from the unbeaten ranks.
“No. 36 had a great game for them. He was all over the field,” — Bunnell coach Craig Bruno on Bethel FB/LB Brian Birdsell.
“We knew that tonight was a do-or-die situation for us. But we are going to pick our heads up, keep going and finish the season strong.” — Brookfield coach Rich Angarano on his team’s 41-0 loss to Newtown, which dropped it to 3-4.
Weston's Danny Rogers scores the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter vs. New Fairfield in the snow last week.
“I should have punted. Everyone makes mistakes. We were all fired up and we wanted to end the game right there.” — Weston coach Joe Lato on a fourth-down call that led to New Fairfield’s go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of Weston’s 16-9 win.
“That could have been the greatest third quarter in Staples history.” –Staples coach Marce Petroccio on the Wreckers’ 28-point outburst leading to a 42-23 win over Darien.
“It’s a football players dream to play in the snow. It was awesome.” — Staples RB Joey Zelkowitz.
“I think our kids at the half thought we had the game won, and they are too good an opponent to do that.” — Darien coach Rob Trifone on his team’s 42-23 loss to Staples, in which it held a 17-7 halftime lead.
“That’s our goal right now. It’s really big because none of us have ever been in a playoff game before, in any sport. We can smell it.” — Norwalk QB Delshawn Wilson on the Bears’ shot at breaking a 13-year playoff drought.
A lot of good ones out there this week, most having to do with the blizzard at Staples Field. So we’ve decided to drop this week’s best Tweets into slideshow form
Here we go:
1 of 12 | Share
Tweets of the Week (Week 7 - 2011)
The best Tweets from Week 7 of the 2011 football season.
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The news that Torrington back Brenden Lytton had been carried off the field on a golf cart must have put a lump in every Torrington fan's throat. This announcement, Tweeted by Register-Citizen reporter Kevin D. Roberts assuaged their fears. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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SCC maven Ray Curren muses about Hand's penchant for slow starts against SCC teams from West Haven... (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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Curren again, this time explaining how Hand is undefeated despite two tough halves against said West Haven schools. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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From former Danbury News-Times Sports editor, turned correspondent, Kevin Hutson. Pretty self-explanatory. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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Ned Griffen of the Day, basically describing the events of Friday night: Bunnell, New London both going down. Darien was soon to follow. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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From yours truly. I sent this out just after Staples blocked a punt to set up their go-ahead TD in the third quarter. How right I was. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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Daily Darien reporter Eric Gendron during the Staples-Darien game. That about sums up the field conditions. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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David Liberatore sums up the entire Staples-Darien game in one sentence. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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Covering a football game in a blizzard was a first for me. And, I'm sure, these shivering cheerleaders on the Staples' sideline (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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Paul Edwards delivers a classic football coach's line while I complained my hands were frostbitten from holding a camera. (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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Ed Brunt brings up a hilarious point. When these co-op schools get together is it one massive student section or multiple? (Sean Patrick Bowley)
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I got a chuckle out of this.
Kris Davidson did a good thing during the snowstorm Saturday. Will God pay it forward when Danbury plays Greenwich in Week 9? (Sean Patrick Bowley)
Cheshire (4-3) at Notre Dame-WH (5-2), Friday, 7 – The Class L playoff door is opened just a crack for the Green Knights. They can’t lose again. And it only gets tougher against the cornered animal that is 4-3 Cheshire.
Ansonia (7-0) at Wolcott (6-1), Friday, 7 — They’re calling this an NVL showdown for the Brass Division title and a spot in the NVL title game. Or will it be just another Ansonia showcase. (We’re betting the latter).
Fairfield Prep (5-2) at Shelton (5-2), Friday, 7 — This game hasn’t meant a thing for years. With both teams clinging to faint playoff hopes, it’s pretty big now.
Woodland (5-2) at Holy Cross (6-1), Friday, 7 – Holy Cross can basically wrap up the Brass Copper Division (I always get those division titles mixed) with a title here. Might want DiGiorgi for this one.
Seymour (5-2) at Derby (2-5), Friday, 7 — Seymour’s not quite out of the Class S playoff race yet. They’ll need to win out. And, hey, this is a nice rivalry game.
Bethel (5-2) at Newtown (6-1), Friday, 7 – Amazing what an upset can do. In addition to giving their playoff hopes a boost, Bethel dropped some intrigue into the SWC championship race. It won’t mean much if they can’t solve Lou Fenaroli and Newtown. That 41-0 win over Brookfield was frightening.
Pomperaug (6-1) at Masuk (7-0), Friday, 7 — Finally! A Game! A game for Masuk. Its road to a second straight title finally starts climbing up hill after two months in perpetual 50-point hell. This is their first game against a winning team. Masuk should be ready. It’s been practicing seven weeks for this. Whaddya got Pomperaug? Your season begins or ends here.
Central (2-5) at Trumbull (2-4), Friday, 7 — The two Greater Bridgeport powers are down on their luck. I saw one Central player Tweet that a win here would make their season. I’m sure Trumbull feels the same.
New Canaan (7-0) at Stamford (4-2), Saturday, 1:30 5 p.m. – Moved from Friday (time changed), New Canaan has few hurdles left on the way to the FCIAC title game. The Boderick Brothers and Stamford are dangerous. But so is New Canaan QB Matt Milano.
McMahon at Greenwich, Saturday, 2 – This game’s of minor intrigue only because of McMahon’s shown it’s capable of knocking off the superpowers, it just hasn’t done it yet. Greenwich has a good shot at reaching state playoffs for the first time since 2007 and an outside shot at the FCIAC final. Game on.
Weston at Notre Dame-Fairfield, Saturday, 2:45 – Every game’s a big game for Weston from here on. They’re in the running for a Class S playoff but still have to play Masuk. So they’d better enjoy this ride, regardless of what happens next week.
The hardest working writer in all of football took a trip to Middletown to check the Game of the Year of the Week, Cheshire at Xavier.
Among the discussions, Xavier’s new offensive coordinator and its suddenly not-so-impotent offense. There’s also a note about the last time Greenwich allowed more than 50 points in a game
Brookfield quarterback Boeing Brown is the cover boy on this article from Investors Business Daily. Yes, IBD.
We’re as shocked as anyone, but the story is definitely apropos. It’s about how recruits use various social media outlets — Facebook, Twitter, what have you — to help boost exposure to college football programs.
Brown has certainly been proactive in that department, perhaps more than any high school football player I’ve ever seen.
Late add from down Stamford-way, the planned Oct. 21 meeting between Stamford and Berks Catholic (Pa.) is apparently off. Berks Catholic booked a home date with Imhotep Charter of Philadelphia that same day. It only came to Stamford coach Bryan Hocter‘s attention because he just happened to randomly check out Berks’ schedule. Stamford AD Pete Samperi got in touch with the Berks Catholic coach, who told Samperi he made informed his principal of the change, but not his athletic director.
Samperi:
“I’m really upset now I was counting on the team as our 10th game. It makes a big deal in the standings, for the whole state, not just us. Now we are basically short a game and I’m waiting to hear from the CIAC what to do.”
The answer is, most likely, nothing. Stamford’s out of luck just two weeks from the scheduled date. It will probably be ruled a no-contest and the Black Knights will be stuck with just nine games.
This comes not long after Trumbull’s out-of-state game with Catholic Memorial (Mass.) was canceled after the lights went out in the second quarter of their Week 1 meeting. That, too, was ruled a no-contest.
Ah, the strange but true stories of bye week. Anybody wanna join the FCIAC as the 20th team? They’ll be your best friend.
Nothing we didn’t cover here, just a little more in depth from the News-Times’ Kevin Duffy. He starts with a cute story about New Milford coach Chuck Lynch‘s daughter and her take on the SWC juggernaut. He also chimes in on the fickle pollsters.
Kyle and Remmy, your favorite semi-non-newspaper bloggers (semi, because Kyle freelances for the Republican-American) have been posting weekly video previews of the NVL season. If copious amounts of NVL news and analysis isn’t your thing, at least tune in to see what threads our boys are wearing this week. Very chic.
Fairfield Prep’s media department was hard at work this week compiling a video from last weekend’s victory over Wilbur Cross at Alumni Field. Lots of atmosphere captured, particularly the ceremony to honor former coach Rich Magdon for his decades of service to the Fairfield Prep program.
The dedication portion of the video begins at the 4:46 mark.
Of friends from Birdseye Sports covered the Darien-St. Joseph game. This week’s highlight is Peter Gesualdi’s acrobatic touchdown leap that gave Darien a 28-7 lead in the second quarter.
Included is yet another catch phrase, Oh my God, I don’t…. Yes! Yes! which, frankly, doesn’t ring as much as ‘Ain’t No Way.’
Our coworkers at the Greenwich Time have attempted to get some extra game highlights to help out yours truly. The equipment is limiting, but staff writer Scott Ericson did a fine job of capturing many of the touchdowns in Greenwich’s 51-33 loss to New London. So we helped him out by packaging all the highlights and postgame interviews onto an official video.
And, finally a couple of more football notebooks from elsewhere around the state:
October 3, 2011 at 12:43 am by Sean Patrick Bowley
Staples James Fruscaiante leaps up to catch a ball for a touchdown in Saturday's 24-21 victory over McMahon. Photo: Christian Abraham / Connecticut Post
They almost pulled it off.
New Canaan's Louis Hagopian muscles through the defense with help from Nick Pelli as New Canaan defeated Fairfield Warde 28-14 Friday night. Photo: Shelley Cryan
Fairfield Warde on Friday night, then McMahon and Hamden on Saturday night almost gave us the shakeup we were looking for.
While chaos rained [sic] upon the region Friday night, everything seemed to tidy up nicely, if not bizarrely, on Saturday.
Watching Derby and Ansonia play their second half at Shelton’s Finn Stadium riled up a few old-timers, I’m sure, but it did nothing to stop Ansonia from burying Derby 55-19. …Fairfield Prep kept its foot on the gas and defeated Wilbur Cross 35-18. …Hillhouse pulled away from Foran 50-26 [this and more from the Saturday Roundup].
Of all the teams forced to suspend play and return to the field Saturday, Hamden was the only one that looked rejuvenated by the day off. Down 24-14, the Dragons rallied to take a 31-24 lead behind quarterback Tim Dube, only to see if disappear quickly thanks to a 66-yard TD pass from Nick Nieves to Tahir Manning with just seconds remaining. Almost, Hamden. Almost.
In the SWC, it was a pretty tame week. We saw Newtown and Pomperaug both won handily and moved to 3-0 heading into Thursday’s mega SWC matchup. Bunnell is 3-0 after rolling Oxford, 55-20, behind a huge day from David Camille.
Casey Cochran broke the state record for touchdowns and Masuk broke score management against Stratford, 56-0. If the information we have is correct, coach John Murphy will not be suspended. Brandon Schmidt helped Bethel win a shootout vs. New Fairfield. The Wildcats are 2-1 along with Weston in the SWC. Brookfield (over Notre Dame-Fairfield), New Milford (over Barlow) also got their first wins of the season.
Darien's Peter Gesualdi sails over St. Joseph's Jon Prutting to score a touchdown during Saturday's game at Dalling Field. Photo: Autumn Driscoll
The Cardinals played, perhaps, the craziest game of Week 3, falling to New London 51-33. Kyle McKinnon torched Greenwich for 236 yards and three touchdowns. New quarterback Rob Key threw for 302 yards three touchdowns. The game also featured three interception return TDs, including (officially) a 99-yarder Greenwich’s Ryan Kelly scored from five yards deep in the opposing end zone.
[You can see highlights from that game here: second half | first half. We'll have a full version later.]
What does it say about New London? What does it say about Greenwich? (over 500 yards of total offense? Bananas.)
Quick notes, provided by Dave Ruden of The Advocate: Trinity RB/DB Shaquan Howsie is done for the year, as is Fairfield Warde WR Kevin Krug. Both suffered knee injuries in week two.
All and all, some interesting results, if not completely shocking. Are there some pretenders among the 3-0 teams. We’ll try to break it down in the coming days.
Peter Gesualdi, Darien — 2 TDs, 2 INT vs St. Joseph
Delshawn Wilson, Norwalk — 14 of 16, 191 yards, 3 TDs passing vs. Westhill
Dan Hebert, Newtown — 85-yard punt return TD, 2 INT vs. Weston
Casey Cochran, Masuk — 185 yards, 2 TDs, became state’s all-time leader in career passing touchdowns (86) vs. Stratford
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“I’ve been a head coach a long time and I’ve never seen a play just not count.” –Barlow coach Rob Tynan, believing officials during a 28-9 loss to New Milford incorrectly moved chains during a play. The ensuing argument lasted approximately 10 minutes.
“You can’t take us lightly anymore.” – Norwalk quarterback Delshawn Wilson.
“The kids were fired up to be home. I saw passion that we didn’t see before.” – Fairfield Prep coach Tom Shea
“It was Ansonia football weather. We wanted to get down and pound the ball. We wanted to get muddy. It was awesome.” – Dylan Vano, Ansonia lineman
“Even when we’re not blocking people, he runs them over. It’s a real nice thunder-and-lightning combination we have with (Fenaroli) and (Dan) Hebert.” – Newtown coach Steve George
“We just wanted it a lot. No one wanted to go home with a loss. It just wasn’t going to happen.” – Jack Massie, Staples QB
“We’ve got to walk out of here with our head held high and realize that we can play with a team like this. I knew we could. The kids knew we could. It hurts.” – A.J. Albano, McMahon coach
TWEET OF THE WEEK
This from @CTFootballLive, otherwise known as Bay on this space, responding to an update from @CurrenSCCat the Xavier-Cheshire game. Cheshire was down 14-0 at the time this came over:
Bunnell at Weston, Thursday, 3:45 p.m. – The honeymoon’s over for Weston as Air Castelot comes to town.
Ridgefield at Wilton, Thursday, 6 — OK, now we get to see what Wilton’s really all about.
Greenwich at Trumbull, Thursday, 6 — The jury remains out on both of these FCIAC contenders. Don’t look now, but this might be Greenwich’s highest hurdle until the FCIAC title game.
Newtown at Pomperaug, Thursday, 7 – Huge matchup in the SWC title race. Lou Fenaroli and the Hawks take on Eric Beatty and the Panthers in a clash of 3-0 teams.
Hand at Cheshire, Thursday, 7 — Hand finally gets to play an opponent of its caliber. Cheshire still licking its wounds from last week’s 42-20 loss to Xavier.
West Haven at Notre Dame-WH, Friday, 7 – Notre Dame’s rounding back into form after its 28-0 victory over Shelton. The Westies were just lucky to survive Hamden.
Holy Cross at Ansonia, Friday, 7 — Possible preview of the NVL title game?
Norwalk at Trinity Catholic, Friday, 7 – The big game before the big game. Can the Bears actually get to 4-0 heading into Week 5′s game vs. New Canaan?
ANSONIA AT DERBY … THE MOVIE!
We’ll leave you with the first-half carnage from Derby’s DeFilippo Field from Friday night. I’ve gotta say the last momest of the first half looked like the opening scene of ‘The Last Boy Scout.’ We didn’t shoot the second half at Shelton (camera troubles… I wonder why), but we got post-game interviews. Enjoy.
Fans at DeFilippo Field in Derby run for cover as a thunderstorm unleashes a deluge of rain late in the first half of Ansonia-Derby. The game, like many others, was postponed and resume tomorrow. Photo by Christian Abraham
The first sign of trouble came well before anyone really kicked off Week 3.
A Tweet, simply, from our pals at the Greenwich Time, all the way at the other end of the state:
It didn’t sound too ominous. Games all across Connecticut kicked off without a second thought.
Ansonia's Arkeel Newsome busts loose for big yardage in Friday's 36-20 postponed game vs. Derby.
But anyone with a smartphone tuned to a weather website (as I did) knew better. A short time later, the carnage made its way across the state like a tidal wave. Reports of thunder, lightning and rain … so much rain. Ominous weather updates in New Canaan (“nasty storm clouds brewing”), then Newtown (“sky is pitch black here”), then Waterbury (“lightning delay at Municipal”) all came across the feed. Then, “stands cleared 5 minutes before biblical storm arrived”). Games were quickly postponed, even the ones that had started.
Meanwhile, in Derby we saw a storm of another kind. Storm Arkeel.
Ansonia’s super sophomore Arkeel Newsome ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run on Ansonia’s first play and then added two more during a deluge of 36 Ansonia points. By the time the rain — buckets of it that cleared the packed stands at DeFilippo Field — finally hit the Valley, Newsome had amassed 200+ yards rushing.
The Chargers and Red Raiders played the last minutes of a 36-12 halftime in a monsoon. The last score was a short TD pass from Ansonia’s Elliott Chudwick to Jake LaRovera (clip at right). I gamely stayed outside to capture footage, and by the time I’d retreated to the press box, I looked like I’d jumped in a pool. The game didn’t last long after that. Postponed, like so many others, to Saturday.
They also finished down in New Canaan, where the Rams scored 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter to rally past Fairfield Warde, 28-14.They finished in Shelton, where Notre Dame scored 21 points in the second half to beat the Gaels 28-0. They finished at Fairfield Ludlowe, where Trumbull routed the Falcons. The rain didn’t get to Middletown, where Xavier moved up and down the field to down Cheshire 42-20 in the “Game of the Year of the Week,” according to Ned of the Day.
Video highlights from Cheshire-Xavier
And, of course, they finished an onslaught at Stratford, where Casey Cochran broke the career TD passing record and Masuk broke ‘score management’ with a 56-0 win over the Red Devils. Masuk’s John Murphy says he did everything he could to keep score down in our Roundup | Friday’s postponements/results.
So this is where we stand on Saturday. Games. Games. And more games on tap today and tonight. So don’t turn that dial.
September 30, 2011 at 12:14 am by Sean Patrick Bowley
Something’s not right here.
We’re about to begin Week 3 of the 2011 Connecticut high school football season, but, I’ve gotta be honest with you, it still has that 2010 taste to it.
Don’t get me wrong. 2010 was fun. Plenty exciting. But I’ve already seen that movie. We’ve already lived that day.
Paraphrasing Phil Connors: “Once again the eyes of the nation have turned here to this … TI-ny village in [southwestern Connecticut]… blah blah blah blah blah.”
A couple upstarts aside, New Canaan is still king of the FCIAC, Masuk still rules the SWC, Xavier is still bludgeoning the SCC, Ansonia the NVL.
Both Masuk and Xavier remain embroiled in a never-ending battle of public opinion for the top spot in the polls, which, by the way, haven’t significantly differed much from last year, either.
Pomperaug’s good. Bunnell’s good. Staples is good. Darien is good. Newtown is good. Hand is good. West Haven is good. We’re still wondering about Trumbull. Hillhouse is down, but not out. Greenwich is on the fence, as are a number of others. OK, yeah, St. Joseph isn’t in the picture, then again they were 1-2 around this time last year anyway.
What, pray tell, is really different? I’ll tell you: nothing.
Is this all you have to offer, 2011? 2010 II? Didn’t we do this last year? Have you run out of ideas?
Many of our preseason dark horses have already “been taken to the glue factory,” as Bay so succinctly put it in our comments section. We’re running out of trendy picks. The usual suspects are still standing.
So who’s left?
Weston takes on Newtown tonight in an intriguing SWC matchup that could tip the scales if the Trojans somehow pull it out. …Seymour? The ‘Cats are 2-0, but they haven’t really played anyone yet. TBA. …Norwalk? TBA until they host New Canaan as an undefeated football team. …How about you, Wilton? Looking good so far, but let’s see you take on New Canaan or someone.
What about the boys from Cheshire? They’re gearing up to take on jilted No. 2 Xavier tonight at Palmer Field. Taking out the defending No. 1 team in the state? Yes, that would be the significant switch we’re looking for. (OK, it would be a switch back to 2009, but a switch nonetheless.)
Shelton? The Gaels are 2-0, take on Notre Dame-West Haven. They haven’t been boss in the SCC since at least 2007. Football’s not the same around here without a strong Shelton club. We’ll keep an eye on them. …What about Derby? The Red Raiders had us excited for a spell, but then lost to Naugatuck. They won’t help our cause without beating Ansonia. …New Fairfield? Bethel? That’s a big game up there. Let’s see something. …Oxford? …McMahon? …Ridgefield? …Greenwich? (actually, I’ve gotten used to Greenwich being out of the mix.)
If I wanted 2010, I would just post all of last year’s videos and call it a day.
Somebody. Do something.
And fast, before we actually relive yesterday today.
September 25, 2011 at 1:02 am by Sean Patrick Bowley
Weston High School's Grayson Keith, left, and Patrick Rogers hit Brookfield High School's Kory Brown during a football game at Weston. Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 Photo: Scott Mullin
Some surprising results (Norwalk, Wilton), some not-so-surprising and one whopper:
Weston 21, Brookfield 20.
Oh, yes. And big congrats to the O’Brien Tech Condors for the program’s first victory. It took just two games and they might have lost their head coach to a knee injury in the ensuing celebration (he’s questionable for Week 3), but it’s all worth it.
Good. Stuff.
We’ll give you the news first. Analysis later.
Here are all the links from Week 2. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.
We had the first violation of the score management policy, Northwest Catholic 52, Weaver 0.
Unlike past seasons, the policy does not automatically suspend the coach pending any appeals. Now, the two teams and the game officials must submit a game report to a committee within 48 hours.
If the committee — comprised of the CIAC executive director, the football chairman, the CIAC board of control chairman, a coach an and AD — deems the proper procedure (i.e. pulling starters appropriately, running the ball, etc.) was followed, the coach will not be suspended. If the committee thinks otherwise, the coach will be suspended for the next game.
An improvement. Albeit an improvement over a dumb — nay! – idiotic, stupid and dumb rule.
Tyler said he began pulling his starters as early as the second quarter, but said they also need to be in action on the field.
“I don’t think there will be a problem,” he said. “We have a big game [at Bloomfield on Friday night] coming up. The kids, they won’t be in game shape if we don’t play them.”
UPDATE, Monday: Tyler will not be suspended. The CIAC committee rules that proper sportsmanship was displayed.
In other news, I’d like to chair committee to suspend the 50-point score management policy for the rest of creation.
Moving on…
Lytton puts Torrington in record books again
Torrington broke the single-game team rushing record with 647 yards in a 66-28 victory over Wolcott. The previous record was held by Stonington, which amassed 634 rushing yards against Bacon Academy in 2008.
Lytton briefly flirted with his own rushing record of 9 touchdowns in a game. He settled for six TDs on the ground and 426 yards rushing and also threw a TD. Teammate Jared Williams added 114 yards.
Tweet of the Week
From our friend @CurrenSCC, who’s written a weekly SCC football column for Elm City Newspapers since 2000 when I was its humble editor. He was at the Xavier-Foran clash at Vito DeVito Sports Complex. Please, kids, tell me you get this observation.
September 24, 2011 at 4:15 am by Sean Patrick Bowley
Good morning. What can we tell you?
Oh, yes. Football. Lots of football.
Recaps, get your game stories and recaps here, plus the live update blog. Lots of games were postponed to today (inexplicably, unless maybe you had grass. It rained, but not nearly enough to be a problem. Especially for you turf schools. C’mon now.) So lots going on.
UPDATE Masuk’s game vs. New Fairfield will be played AT New Fairfield, 7 p.m. The game was originally supposed to be at Masuk. So gas that car up, Masuk fans.
Cheshire (4-3) at Notre Dame-WH (5-2), Friday, 7 – The Class L playoff door is opened just a crack for the Green Knights. They can’t lose again. And it only gets tougher against the cornered animal that is 4-3 Cheshire.
ON THE AIR
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