West Haven’s Ervin Phillips.

West Haven all-state tailback Ervin Phillips has received his first major college football offer: Syracuse.

Phillips shared the news on Twitter Friday afternoon. The offer was confirmed by Ryan Murphy of CuseConfidential.com, the Rivals.com site covering Syracuse recruiting.

Phillips, a 5-11, 180-pound back who should be one of the state’s best players in 2013, was naturally excited:

Phillips has been a standout since starring alongside his brother, Kevin, as a West Haven freshman in 2010.

He led the Westies in rushing last year with 1,030 yards and 22 touchdowns. West Haven was 8-2 and reached the Class LL quarterfinals where it lost to Staples. The Westies have reached the playoffs twice over the last three seasons with Phillips in the lineup.

Ervin Phillips has been all-state and also a Levi Jackson team selection.

With NFA’s Marcus Outlow committed to Boston College, 2013 is shaping up to be the year of the tailback. Phillips has an offer to go with his D-1 interest. There’s also Ansonia’s Arkeel Newsome (who already has a UConn offer) and Hillhouse’s Harold Cooper.

Here’s Phillips’ junior year highlight tape:

Former Bunnell and UConn standout Marcus Easley poses with Craig Bruno, his high school coach, after being inducted into the Bunnell High School Athletics Hall of Fame last weekend.

Marcus Easley, former Connecticut Post all-star, walk-on-turned star receiver at UConn and fourth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2010, was inducted into the Bunnell Athletics Hall of Fame Friday night.

Easley was honored during the 21st Annual Bunnell High School Athletics Hall of Fame & Senior Athlete Recognition Banquet. Former coach Craig Bruno was his presenter.

“It’s a real distinguished group of athletes,” Easley told the Buffalo Bills’ official blog. “To be recognized, to leave a legacy, and to know that people can read about me 50, even 60 years down the line means everything to me.”

The Buffalo Bills and former UConn coach Randy Edsall both sent letters congratulating Easley on the accomplishment, Bruno said.

“It was an honor that he chose me to induct him into the Hall of Fame,” said Bruno, now the head coach at Naugatuck. “It was a great night and couldn’t happen to a more deserving kid.”

As a receiver and linebacker, Easley led Bunnell to its first state playoff appearance in 2004 and was an Connecticut Post all-star pick at linebacker.

He walked on at UConn and played sparingly for years until his breakout senior season, during which he caught 48 passes for 893 yards and eight touchdowns.

Easley’s time with the Bill has been limited, as well. He spent his first two seasons on injured reserve. He was cut, but re-signed by the Bills last season and saw time in three games.

He replaces Vinny Camera, who started the program and coached six years before leaving to take over at Fairfield Ludlowe. This is Theriault’s first head coaching job.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Theriault said. “I’m expecting most of the staff will return and I’m looking forward to take what Vinny started and continue to build a strong program. Vinny left a good foundation and I’m looking to keep it going as best I can.”

An electrical shop teacher at Platt Tech for the past two years an an electrician for the past 15 years, Theriault played free safety at Bristol Central until graduating in 1995.

He said he coached football camps and clinics in New Hampshire –mostly defense and defensive backs — during the early 2000s but stopped and took a approximately a decade-long break due to “family commitments.”

During his brief tenure as a Platt Tech teacher, Theriault said he began to get an itch to coach again. “I realized I still have that love and that passion for the game,” he said.

Theriault was in discussions to join former coach Vincent Camera’s staff but, again, “due to family concerns, I couldn’t give 110 percent of my time,” he said.

He believes he’s ready this time. After discussions with Camera and assistant coach George Baglini, Theriault applied and got the gig.

He becomes the second head coach in the six-year history of the Platt Tech football program.  Platt Tech is coming off its first winning season. The Panthers were 6-4 in 2012.

“We’re very excited,” Murphy said. “He’s totally as passionate about football as I am about softball. We can’t wait to get started.”

That brings the current coaching vacancies down to five.

NO VACANCY (22)

• Abbott Tech — Rich Holmes
• Avon — Jim Caouette
• Central — Brian Gordon
• Cheshire — Don Drust
• Branford — John Limone
• Bunnell — Doug Cotto
• East Lyme — Rudy Bagos
• Elllington/Somers — Sean Byrne
• Fairfield Ludlowe — Vincent Camera
• Fitch — Jordan Panucci
• Naugatuck — Craig Bruno
• Bacon Academy — Erik Larka
• Lewis Mills — Jose Santana
• Maloney — Pierce Brennan
• New Milford — John Murphy
• Masuk — David Brennan
• Platt Tech — Chris Theriault
• Rockville — Rob Scholtz
• Stamford — Jamar Greene
• Torrington — Gaetan Rodriguez
• Trinity Catholic — Donny Panapada
• Woodstock Academy — Clay Killingsworth

VACANCY (5)

• East Haven – East Haven is interviewing its final candidates early this week. Could have a decision… next week?
• Notre Dame-Fairfield — Notre Dame is interviewing candidates on Thursday. Decision could come next week.
• St. Bernard/Norwich Tech
• Wilby
• Old Saybrook

Round and round the Coaching Carousel goes. When it’ll stop, nobody knows (I kill me.)

Bleggi said Notre Dame whittled its finalists down from 19 applicants. Some candidates, he said, might be asked to return for a second interview before Notre Dame makes its final decision.

Finalist names aren’t known.

Back in March, Notre Dame inexplicably fired Dawon Dicks after one season and a 1-9 record.

The next coach will be the school’s fifth since Jeff Bevino left for Foran in 2006.

Arkeel Newsome runs for a touchdown in the 2012 Class S title game (SPB)

Ansonia all-stater Arkeel Newsome has been nominated to participate in the U.S. Army’s All-American Bowl which will be held Jan. 4, 2014 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Newsome (5-foot-8, 180) is the only Connecticut player to receive one of the bowl’s 400 nominations. The bowl’s roster will be whittled down to 90 by a traveling selection tour, which will announced its picks from September through December.

Newsome is a two-time Connecticut rushing champion. With 3,763 yards and 58 touchdowns, Newsome was one of the nation’s top rushers as a sophomore in 2011. As a junior, he ran for 2,245 yards and 38 touchdowns. Overall, he’s run for over 6,800 yards, an average of 11.2 yards per carry, and scored 108 touchdowns in his three-year career.

Behind Newsome, Ansonia has gone 28-0 and won two consecutive state championships.

Here’s the complete roster of nominees.

Round and round the Coaching Carousel goes. When it’ll stop, nobody knows (I kill me.)

It’s been a few weeks since we last checked on the vacancies and — woah — there’s been some movement. y’all.

Second time’s the charm at Woodstock Academy

Woodstock Academy coach Clay Killingsworth (Norwich Bulletin)

This time, he got the gig. The Norwich Bulletin reported Killingsworth hire back on April 22.
Killingsworth takes over a position once held by his mentor, NFA head coach Jemal Davis.

Killingsworth actually began his coaching career with Davis at Woodstock Academy when the program started eight years ago. This is a homecoming for the 33-year old coach.

“(Davis) said that it was a natural progression and he was excited for me and was ready to see what I could do here,” Killingsworth told The Bulletin.

And so the ECC is now down to just one coaching vacancy: St. Bernard/Norwich Tech.

No Vacancy at Rockville, after all

If you recall our lament about some of the CCC schools living behind some impenetrable anti-internet shield, you will recall we knew very little about an apparent coaching vacancy at Rockville. It existed, yes, because the job was posted.

But — short of actually acting like journalists and actually giving a call to fair Vernon (Why? Because: Vernon, you guys) — we knew precious few details due to the great ‘CCC Firewall.’

Undeterred we kept checking and, lo and behold, this tiny little item from March sprung up from behind the Manchester Journal-Inquirer’s paywall:

Rockville fills 2 jobs

And there it was: Rob Scholtz had been re-hired as the head coach.

Apparently, Scholtz, a 27-year old Enfield corrections officer who graduated from Rockville in 2004, was under an interim tag last year and had to reapply for his job, hence the posting. He’s ready to get back to work:

“I see the toughest of the tough at work, and I don’t want to see our kids go down that path,’’ Scholtz told the J-I. “So I try to keep them headed down the right path, and while we’re at it, let’s win some football games.’’

Scholtz is the second-youngest of the new crop of football coaches. He’s eclipsed only by 26-year old Fitch coach Jordan Panucci.

So there we are. Nothing really new in Rockville.

Meet the new coach / Same as the old coach

We won’t get fooled again.

As for the rest of the vacancies, which topped 24 or 25 at its greatest advance, we are now down to seven openings with about three months to go before the start of fall practices.

NO VACANCY (21)

• Abbott Tech — Rich Holmes
• Avon — Jim Caouette
• Central — Brian Gordon
• Cheshire — Don Drust
• Branford — John Limone
• Bunnell — Doug Cotto
• East Lyme — Rudy Bagos
• Elllington/Somers — Sean Byrne
• Fairfield Ludlowe — Vincent Camera
• Fitch — Jordan Panucci
• Naugatuck — Craig Bruno
• Bacon Academy — Erik Larka
• Lewis Mills — Jose Santana
• Maloney — Pierce Brennan
• New Milford — John Murphy
• Masuk — David Brennan
• Rockville — Rob Scholtz
• Stamford — Jamar Greene
• Torrington — Gaetan Rodriguez
• Trinity Catholic — Donny Panapada
• Woodstock Academy — Clay Killingsworth

VACANCY (6)

• East Haven
• Notre Dame-Fairfield — We have a call in to AD Rob Bleggi to check on ND’s progress. Incidentally, we still don’t know why Dawon Dicks was let go.
• Platt Tech
• St. Bernard/Norwich Tech
• Wilby
• Old Saybrook

Asaph Schwapp holds his Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year Award banner during a recent trip to Weaver High School (via http://www.instagram.com/ace_schwapp)

Former Weaver star Asaph Schwapp carries the ball for Notre Dame vs. USC on Oct. 15, 2005. (Photo by Sporting News/Sporting News via Getty Images)

Asaph Schwapp, who starred at Weaver and then played at the University of Notre Dame, died Wednesday. He was 26.

Schwapp, whose nickname was ‘Ace,’ died of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form a blood cancer.

Schwapp was raised by his aunt and uncle after his mother,  Evelyn, died of cancer in 1996, according to the Hartford Courant.

He was a National Honors Society member who starred as a running back and linebacker at Weaver under Rob Fleeting, now at Windsor.

As a senior Schwapp was named the 2004 Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year after rushing for 1,313 yards and 13 TDs and making 74 tackles, eight sacks and five interceptions. As a junior, he ran for 1,110 yards.

Though recruited by Ty Willingham, Schwapp wound up playing for Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame. Schwapp played in 39 games for the Irish at fullback from 2005-2008.

Schwapp graduated with a business degree from Notre Dame and signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent in 2009. Though he never made it onto an NFL regular season roster, he eventually became the face of the fledgling and short-lived Hartford Colonials in 2010. The Colonials lasted just one season.

On Wednesday morning, Weiss announced on Twitter Schwapp was ‘gravely ill’ and asked for prayers. Schwapp reportedly died a few hours later:

Sad news! Ace has passed on! A fine young man! May his soul rest peacefully in Heaven. Please pray for Ace and his family. Breaks my heart.

— Coach Charlie Weis (@CoachWeisKansas) May 8, 2013

Jake Golic, a Northwest Catholic grad who plays at Notre Dame, and his father and ND alum Mike Golic also expressed their condolences on Twitter.

Lost a good friend and an even better man today in Asaph Schwapp. Keep his family in mind today #ND

— Jake Golic (@JGolic88) May 8, 2013

ND grad and former ND FB player Asaph Schwapp passed away today at 26 from lymphoma, as sincere a person as I have ever met gone to soon.RIP

— Mike Golic (@espngolic) May 8, 2013

The CIAC on Monday released the list of high school football programs holding spring practices this year.

Maybe this is a sign of the times or maybe it has to do with the enormous amount of football jobs that changed hands, but the numbers are dwindling.

Last season, there were 75 teams participating in spring practices. This season, there are just 64.

Eighty-two teams have opted to begin practices a week earlier in August.

Overall, 18 schools dropped spring practice while seven schools added spring practices, a net loss of 11 spring teams.

Of the 18 schools that dropped spring practice, eight of them have new coaches in 2013: Ludlowe, Masuk, Torrington, Maloney, Rockville, Bacon Academy, East Lyme, Ellington/Somers.

Only two schools with new coaches in 2013 (Avon and Woodstock Academy) have actually added spring practice. The rest remained the same.

Locally, St. Joseph, Bethel, Oxford have added spring practices. Ludlowe, Harding, Wilton and Masuk have dropped it.

Spring football in 2013 can begin any time beginning May 24, 2013. It consists of 10 days, including a mandatory three-day conditioning (no pads, no contact) and must feature just one, two-hour session per day. Spring practices can’t continue further than the school’s summer closing.

Spring practice schools can begin fall training no earlier than August 19, 2013, and must include five days of mandatory conditioning practice (no pads, no contact). Full practices can begin August 24.

Schools that opt for extra days in the fall can begin August 14, 2013 and must include five days of mandatory conditioning practice (no pads, no contact). Full practices can begin for those schools on August 20.

Here’s the list of the 64 spring football schools, sorted by regional leagues first and working backward.

• FCIAC (14 of 19): Bassick, Central, McMahon, Darien, Danbury, Warde, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, St. Joseph, Stamford, Staples, Trumbull, Westhill. (Dropped: Ludlowe, Harding, Wilton. Added: St. Joseph)
• SWC (8 of 14): Bethel, Bunnell, Barlow, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Oxford, Weston. (Dropped: Masuk. Added: Bethel, Oxford)
• SCC (12 of 19): Amity, Branford, Hand, Hamden, Hillhouse, Lyman Hall, North Haven, Sheehan, Shelton, West Haven, Wilbur Cross, Xavier. (Added: none. Dropped: Cheshire.)
• NVL (7 of 14): Ansonia, Kennedy, Naugatuck, St. Paul, Wilby, Wolcott, Woodland. (Added: Wolcott. Dropped: Crosby, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart, Torrington).
• CSC (1 of 12): O’Brien Tech. (Added: none. Dropped: none.)
• CCC (8 of 32): Berlin, Bristol Central, Fermi, Farmington, Platt, Simsbury, Southington, Tolland. (Dropped: Maloney, Manchester, New Britain, Rockville, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield. Added: none.)
• ECC (5 of 15): Windham, Griswold, Montville, Stonington, Woodstock Academy. (Dropped: Bacon Academy, East Lyme. Added: Woodstock Academy).
• Pequot (9 of 21): Avon, Coginchaug, Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton, Cromwell, Enfield, Hyde, Lewis Mills, Valley Regional/Old Lyme, Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby. (Dropped: Ellington/Somers. Added: Avon, Cromwell.)

Below is the full list found on CIACsports.com

Ridgefield’s Sam Gravitte

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.

Vincent Camera

Vincent Camera, the only football coach in Platt Tech’s history, has been hired as the next head coach at Fairfield Ludlowe.

Ludlowe athletic director Dave Schulz confirmed the hiring of Camera via email Wednesday afternoon.

“Vinnie was the standout candidate in the interview process and we are looking forward to him joining our staff at Fairfield Ludlowe,” Schulz said in a statement.

A 1997 East Haven High graduate who played football at Fairfield University, Camera was a Platt Tech math teacher coaching football at Fairfield Prep when Platt Tech tapped him to become its first football coach in 2007.

He coached the Panthers for six years and was 24-37-1. His final year was his best. Platt Tech was 6-4, the first winning season in school history.

Ludlowe, meanwhile, is coming off a bizarre 5-5 season. Former coach Matt McCloskey officially announced his resignation at midseason and the team subsequently rattled off four straight victories to finish at .500.

Ludlowe hasn’t had a winning season since it was 5-4 in 2009 (not including a forfeit).

Sources had said Camera was the prime candidate to take over back in February. But it took almost two more months before his hiring became official as the school attempted to find him a teaching job.

“Being a guy who graduated from Fairfield U and coached at Prep, I always felt some ties to the (Fairfield) Community,” said Camera, 34. “My brother lives in town. I’m not too far away in Milford. I’ve always thought the sky could be the limit in Fairfield. The town has a great youth program, plenty of resources and money to support them. Between all those resources and the talent and qualify of kid they produce, the potential to be successful is there.”

Camera will meet with his new players and begin constructing a staff immediately. He was also hired be a teacher at Ludlowe.

He said he hopes one of his assistants will take over at Platt Tech.

His hire has whittled the statewide coaching vacancies down to seven Eight 

The statewide coaching vacancies remain at eight.

Read the full story here.