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Two deserving teams with different pedigrees were crowned champions tonight at the FCIAC boys and girls soccer finals at Norwalk High School.

Staples, with a starting lineup that featured just three seniors but made up for its youth with a high skill level, defeated Greenwich, 3-1, to win the boys title. It was a fitting outcome for a revered program celebrating its 50th anniversary as the Wreckers won their 25th crown. It was the team’s fourth title in the past 12 years but just the second outright in that span.

Staples perhaps best demonstrated its mettle in Monday’s semifinals, when it overcame a sluggish first half against Norwalk in which it could easily have been down two goals if not for a pair of outstanding saves by Adam Liu before erupting for three second-half goals in a three-minute span.

This Staples team played with the same skill level and class as its more seasoned predecessors. Dan Woog, who once played for the team, covered it for the Westport News and then was an assistant coach, has kept the program at the same high level as his venerable predecessors: Albie Loeffler and Jeff Lea.

In tonight’s opener, St. Joseph, which had never even played in an FCIAC final, won its first title with a 2-0 win over Darien. There is even a link between the two: Sarah Frassetto scored the Cadets’ first goal. Her father, Don, is a former starter for Staples.

It was a disappointing loss for a Blue Wave team that is enjoying the best season in its history and will be a definite threat when the state playoffs begin next week. Jon Bradley has done an outstanding job developing the team into a power.

While a lot of the conversation after the game was about Frassetto’s perfectly placed direct kick and Jessica Schloth’s brilliant individual move that led to her scoring the Cadets’ second goal, their unsung hero was Alyssa Gillespie, who seemed to have the ball attached to her foot the entire second half. It was her ability to control tempo with the lead that was the real key to St. Joseph’ first title.

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One of the biggest mysteries of the scholastic sports season is which college will get the services of Tevin Baskin, Trinity Catholic’s outstanding basketball player. Baskin originally said he wanted to make a decision by November, before practice starts.

Yesterday, at the Crusaders’ football game with Stamford, Baskin said he now likely won’t make his choice until the spring.

“I need more time and don’t want to rush it,” Baskin said.

Providence and Massachusetts have been the rumored likely places for Baskin to land.

“That’s what a lot of people think, but not me,” Baskin said.

When I asked him if a gun was put to his head today and he had to make a choice where would he go, Baskin smiled.

“I’d take the bullet,” he said.

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When the Trinity Catholic High School volleyball team traveled to Ridgefield on Wednesday, it was surprised to discover some extra supporters in the stands.

The members of the Stamford High School team.

In this era of selfish, crass behavior in scholastic sports, here is the type of story that should be making headlines.

Stamford and Trinity played each other on Monday, with the Black Knights capturing the city title in four sets. The Crusaders still needed one more win to qualify for the state tournament for the first time since 2005.

The Stamford players asked their coach, Mike Smeriglio, if they could go to Ridgefield to show their support for the Crusaders. Smeriglio, whose team had a bye on Wednesday, cut short practice and the Black Knights took a road trip that was not on their schedule.

Consider this was not a journey across town, but to one of the farthest outposts in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference. And to those cynics out there who might think the Black Knights had an ulterior motive, they did not stand to benefit from the outcome: they had already been eliminated from qualifying for the FCIAC Tournament.

Smeriglio and Trinity coach Craig Pucci have been close for a long time, dating back to when Pucci was the Crusaders’ assistant coach under Al Malizia. Pucci works at Smeriglio’s summer camp.

And the players on the two teams are close. As if often the case when Stamford teams face one another, games are contentious and friendships are put aside for a couple of hours. Afterward, there are hugs, smiles and a return to everyday life.

The Crusaders went out and defeated Ridgefield in five sets to return to postseason play.

But they were hardly the only winners on the night. At a time when only bad news makes the front pages and inspirational stories are relegated to small type, the Black Knights proved themselves to be worthy role models for others to emulate.

Stamford may be 9-8 in the standings, but in the game of life they are a perfect 1.000.

The Black Knights have done their open updating of the dictionary, proving contrary to popular belief, you cannot spell Class without S-H-S.

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Ever since the Week 5 games controversy developed, I have spent countless hours on the phones with FCIAC football coaches and administrators. Beyond trying to find out who was at fault for the miscommunication, I think the one thing that has come out of all this is the recognition that the current playoff system stinks and a new one is in order.

As anyone who follows college football can tell you, a format based on points and strength of schedule is awful. The problem is having a 19 team league and the limitations due to Thanksgiving games.

I plan to write a column next week with my own proposal for a new system. It is hardly perfect, but perfection is unattainable in this case. I think it is more palatable than the current one and to anything else I have heard.

Before climbing out on the limb I was wondering if anyone out there has any ideas that are worth consideration. Remember there are a lot of constraints, but if you can think of something better than what we have now please send them along. I’ll post them and who knows, maybe you can offer me something better to propose for my column. If so you will get full credit.

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In 26 years as a sportswriter, I can’t ever recall a story where I have received such contradictory information as the controversy over just one of the FCIAC’s games in Week 5 counting in the league standings. It resurfaced again on Friday with a phone call from a coach.

At this point, after talking to about half of the coaches, some said they knew about the situation, others said they didn’t. Some athletic directors told me they informed their coaches, and one of those coaches told me that was not the case. Some administrators told me they believe there are a few coaches who won games that are trying to raise the issue now hoping to gain the extra win in the league standings.

I’ve heard about 5-6 different explanations, and at this point all I can tell you with any degree of certainty is that the ADs, FCIAC board of directors and principals approved having the games in the fifth week not count in the league standings. I also think there were probably a few ADs who did not pass along this information to their coaches.

Perhaps the only good that can come out of all of this is to address the current scheduling situation, which is a mess because of having 19 schools and the Thanksgiving games are more important to the league than its championship, which philosophically I have a big problem with.

The current point system is awful, but I’m not sure where the improvement lies. It would be great if you could find a 20th school. Have 2 10-team divisions, with the winners playing in the final.

I’m trying to come up with a better idea than the current formula for a column. I have a few ideas.

If anyone out there has a good solution I’d love to hear it.

So would the FCIAC.

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The furor over all but one of last week’s Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference football games not counting in the league standings is mounting again.

One coach, who asked not to be identified, told me this morning that in the preseason packet all coaches are given, there is not one mention that the Week 5 slate would only count in the state rankings.

There seems to be no question that the FCIAC’s athletic directors, board of directors and principals approved this scheduling quirk, brought on by a rare season in which there are 11 games instead of the usual 10. And it appears that this information may not have been properly conveyed to the coaches.

The feeling of the coaches is that they are being forced by administrators to adopt a basketball mentality, where teams play 18 league games and two non-league contests.

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli, who is the head of the FCIAC football committee, told me this morning, “I don’t think football is a sport where you can’t count games. It is not like other sports because you don’t play as many games. Our ADs voted on it and the principals so we have to abide by it.”

The football coaches are unhappy but right now they have little recourse.

Check this out: High school football fans should check out a fascinating story on the front page of today’s New York Times about schools using what is known as an A-11 offense, a wild version of the spread in which all 11 players on the field are potentially eligible to receive a pass.

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A controversy pitting football coaches against administrators has arisen in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference over the past few days with the news that last week’s games, except for one, will not count against league records.

John Kuczo, the league’s executive secretary, said he was puzzled by the uproar that has been created. He said the current schedule was approved by athletic directors last October, then agreed to by the board of directors and given final approval by the principals, who have final say, in January.

“Apparently some people have conveniently forgotten about this,” Kuczo said. “It is all in writing. I think this is coming from just a couple of people.”

Chip Salvestrini, the athletic director at Danbury High School, backed up Kuczo’s assessment.

“It’s pretty simple, pretty clear,” Salvestrini said. “It was passed officially. People in our conference knew it was going to happen. I’m surprised why people feel differently about it now.”

According to several coaches I have spoken to, including New Canaan’s Lou Marinelli and Ridgefield’s Kevin Callahan, they were under the assumption that last weekend’s games would count in the league standings. Marinelli, who is the head of the league’s football committee, said he was stunned when told otherwise on Monday.

“Had I known this I would have objected and I did object when I it was explained to me a few days ago,” Marinelli said. “This could create some problems. Never in the FCIAC has this happened where football games don’t count.”

Ironically, because of a confusing schedule created because each team is allowed to play 11 games this year instead of the usual 10, the Rams’ 25-0 win over Norwalk on Saturday is the only one that does count against the standings.

One of the teams most hurt by this is Ridgefield, which upset Greenwich, 21-14.

Callahan, a member of the league’s board of directors, said he was unaware of the rule and is doing his due diligence to get verification. He is going through his athletic director, Carl Charles, who is requesting minutes from the meeting where the schedule was passed.

“I’m a little confused,” Callahan said. “It doesn’t mean it’s not there. Maybe I missed the meeting. I just want to make sure.”

Teams that benefit are Greenwich, which was spared a second league loss and elimination for a league title berth, and St. Joseph and Wilton, which remain undefeated in the FCIAC despite falling last week, respectively, to Stamford and Westhill.

The league coaches might be unhappy but basically nothing is going to change, which is the perspective Staples coach Marce Petroccio, whose team defeated Danbury last weekend, is taking.

“I think what the league did was with good intentions,” he said. “For whatever reasons there was a lack of communication and whether we agree with it or not we have to live with it. In the end we will have the 2 best teams in the FCIAC final.”

There is a lot more to this story, which I will have in tomorrow’s paper.

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Tonight was a disappointment for Stamford High School and a celebration for Westhill at Boyle Stadium.

The Vikings won their first city field hockey title since 2004 with a 3-1 victory. The biggest winner of all, however, was fans of the sport. And there were many of them out tonight.

This is the strongest Stamford and Westhill have been during the same season in years. The Black Knights have the edge in flash, with dynamic scorer Madi McLaughlin and dominant midfielder Laura Dembofsky, while the Vikings have been riding the finishing power of forward Alli Oakes and a team with few stars but who perform extremely well together.

The Westhill defense was under extraordinary pressure for much of the game as the Black Knights took 16 shots and attempted 12 penalty corners. But Shannon Tallcouch made eight saves in goal and was supported by a strong defensive effort.

Though Stamford lost six starters from last year’s state championship team, it still has all the pieces in place to make another strong postseason run. Right now the biggest concern has to be maintaining confidence as it tries to solve its problems finishing plays.

“I’m disappointed with the result but happy with the effort,” Stamford coach Matt Forker said after the game.

A few skeptics were puzzled by how the Vikings could get two penalty strokes nine minutes apart in the second half, both of which Oakes converted into goals. But they forced the situation with several good counterattacks.

With Oakes having one of the best offensive seasons in school history and her teammates providing strong play all around her, Westhill is a team no one will want to face in the playoffs. And with each win has come increased confidence.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Westhill coach Emily Lisy said. “They have worked hard and I am really happy for them.”