Overtime

STAMFORD — Nate Quinn threw three first quarter touchdown passes and New Canaan High School held off a late comeback bid to defeat Darien and win the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship, 28-20, before a crowd of 9,500 at Boyle Stadium Wednesday morning.

It was the first league title since 2000 for the Rams (11-0), who will be the No. 1 seed in the CIAC Class MM playoffs, which begin Tuesday. They are the No. 1 team in both state polls and will be attempting to win their third straight CIAC championship.

Darien, which is now 10-1, slipped to the third seed in the Class MM Tournament, meaning with semifinal wins the teams could meet again in eight days for the state title.

The much-hyped game, dubbed the Turkey Bowl in both towns, saw the two teams enter Wednesday’s game unbeaten. It drew what is believed to be the second largest crowd for an FCIAC final, surpassed only by the 1966 game between Stamford Catholic and Rippowam.

Wednesday’s game appeared as if it would be a blowout early, as Quinn, the Rams’ dynamic quarterback, completed a 21-yard scoring pass to Mike DiRocco just over two minutes in. Before the first quarter had ended, he had connected with his favorite receiver, Kurt Ondash, on touchdowns of 67 and 30 yards to give New Canaan a 21-0 lead.

But the Blue Wave battled back and got within 21-14 on Nikki Dysenchuk’s 1-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

After the Rams blocked a field goal attempt, Chris Sciarretta secured the victory with a 28-yard touchdown run with 3:54 remaining.

Darien got a touchdown on the game’s final play.

New Canaan athletic director Jay Egan said early this afternoon that sales for tomorrow’s Darien-New Canaan FCIAC final are up to 6,800. With the walk-up crowd, one suspects the final gate could reach somewhere between 7,500-8,000.

For those who cannot get to the game, it will be broadcast live on the AM dial at 1400WSTC/1350WNLK. Kickoff is at 10:30.

Egan again emphasized that because parking will be tight, people coming to the game should try to carpool.

When Jay Egan pulled into the parking lot outside his office at New Canaan High School this morning, he was amazed to find a line of several hundred people waiting to purchase tickets for Thursday’s can’t-be-hyped-enough FCIAC title game between the Rams and Darien.

“This game may be too big for that stadium,” the New Canaan athletic director said jokingly, referring to Boyle Stadium, the new home for the contest after it was moved from the Rams’ home field on Monday to accommodate the huge crowd expected. “The interest is unbelievable, and because people think there’s going to be a shortage they are buying them up.”

As of early this afternoon there have been about 6,500 tickets sold, meaning around 2,500 were purchased today in a little over five hours. The numbers are split about evenly down the line between the schools. Darien athletic director John Keleher said while the line at his school was not quite as long as New Canaan’s, people were buying tickets in blocks of 10 and 15 apiece.

“There’s no precedent for this,” Egan said. “The way people have reacted to this, you have to step back and see how interested people are in the communities.”

Say what you want about how the FCIAC handled the 11th-hour change in venue — and I can guarantee you I have been removed from the league’s Christmas card list for this column in today’s paper: Delay in decision to switch hurts FCIAC’s credibility — Thursday’s game at Boyle is going to create one of the great spectacles in recent history and a real bonanza for the FCIAC.

Just to clear up one point people were wondering about: New Canaan will get to host the schools’ Thanksgiving game next year since it lost the home game this year.

Since fans outside of the two towns have yet to get tickets, there will probably be a decent sized walk-up crowd. It would not be surprising if it reached or surpassed 8,000.

Egan advised people to try and carpool to the game because the parking will be extremely limited for the number of people attending. Besides the lot across from the school, there will be space available at the Tully Center.

Hopefully now all the controversy has been cast aside and the focus can return to the game.

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli is still upset by the way the situation was handled, but he said this afternoon, “My job was to do what’s best for the kids and that’s what I did. Now it’s time to move on and get ready.”

The ongoing saga over the location for Thursday morning’s FCIAC football championship game was finalized this afternoon when the FCIAC Board of Directors took the decision away from New Canaan and decided to move the contest from Dunning Field to Boyle Stadium.

New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli found out about this at 3 p.m. on his way to practice and to say he is irate would be an understatement. I just got off the phone with him at 4 and he still hadn’t told his players.

There was talk about moving the game for a few days to accommodate the large crowd. The FCIAC told New Canaan it was the school’s choice to make, and New Canaan athletic director Jay Egan put the decision in Marinelli’s hand. Marinelli decided to keep the home game, then Darien petitioned the FCIAC and the FCIAC board of directors decided to move the game.

New Canaan put a limit of 4,000 tickets, and they were sold out at 10 this morning, in just over two days. Boyle can hold about twice that amount.

Egan said tickets sales will resume at both schools tomorrow morning.

Egan said, “I supported playing the game at home and support the coaches and players wanting to play at home, and now I have to support the FCIAC’s decision and go forward. I resent being put in the middle of this.

We’ll have more on this in tomorrow’s paper, but the FCIAC is doing a pretty good impersonation of the CIAC, the most feckless organization around. While the FCIAC’s intentions are good, they can’t put the choice in Marinelli’s hands and then say they don’t like the decision.

I just got off the phone with New Canaan football coach Lou Marinelli and in his words “it is 99 percent certain” the FCIAC title game against Darien Thanksgiving morning will be played at Dunning Field.

There was some talk of moving the game to Boyle Stadium because of the huge crowd expected. Right now New Canaan is estimating it can accommodate a crowd of 4,000 and 3,500 tickets were sold the first two days they went on sale. Boyle could handle about twice as many fans.

Marinelli met with his players today and they agreed: they do not want to give up the home-field advantage, especially after playing on the road for six straight weeks before last weekend’s game against Wilton.

“I feel we owe it to our kids and the community to keep it in New Canaan and be selfish about it,” Marinelli said.

Marinelli said he was told last week by Jay Egan, the school’s athletic director, and administrators that the decision was his to make. Unless something has changed, Marinelli plans on walking into Egan’s office tomorrow morning and telling him to prepare for the biggest crowd in the history of Dunning Field.

“I talked to the kids and they agreed that whether we have 8,000 people or 4,000 people, we all thought it was important to keep the game at home for several reasons, including out of respect for a lot of the people in New Canaan who wouldn’t come to the game if it was in Stamford,” Marinelli said.

Expect New Canaan to take some criticism this week for not moving the game to get the largest crowd possible.

But you really can’t get on the Rams for wanting to maintain their home-field advantage. When Staples and Greenwich played for the FCIAC title last year under similar circumstances the game wasn’t moved. The same thing happened seven years ago when Greenwich and Danbury met on Thanksgiving for the championship.

Most schools under the circumstances would want to maintain their edge. You can’t blame New Canaan for doing so, though a lot of fans unable to get tickets no doubt will.

If anything should change tomorrow, the deadline for making a move, we will have the information for you.

Word has leaked out about the possibility that the FCIAC championship game between New Canaan and Darien may be moved to Boyle Stadium Thanksgiving morning. I learned about this yesterday morning and spoke both to New Canaan’s athletic director, Jay Egan, and coach, Lou Marinelli, and all I can tell you is as of right now no decision has been made.

Egan understandably has tried to keep the possibility out of the press for fear that there could be a lot of talk about moving the game and then nothing happens. He is trying to limit any confusion. But a lot of people have been inquiring about the situation so here is a thumbnail sketch.

Tickets went on sale Thursday at the two schools and 3,500 were sold in two days. Egan said the school can reasonably handle around 4,000 people. So the possibility was raised about moving the game to Boyle Stadium, which can hold about 6,000-7,000.

The decision is New Canaan’s call and right now the people involved are torn about what to do. The Rams don’t want to give up the home-field advantage. They also played six straight games on the road before hosting Wilton a week ago yesterday.

On the other hand, there is something to be said about getting the chance to play before what would be one of the biggest crowds for an FCIAC game in recent memory.

Two other variables: Egan is concerned about the problem of a huge traffic nightmare becoming exacerbated by people without tickets taking up parking spaces and then being unable to get into a sold-out game. And the playing surface at Boyle is the first-generation turf that is as hard as a rock.

Marinelli said yesterday he really was conflicted about what to do. He said he planned on talking to his players today to get their input.

What is the right answer? I don’t think there is one. New Canaan cannot be faulted for not wanting to sacrifice a home game. There is also the allure of the huge crowd and the New Canaan people wanting to make tickets available to everyone.

All I can tell you with any certainty is a decision will be made by early afternoon tomorrow. Stamford and Westhill will be playing their holiday game at Boyle the night before.

Check back and we will have updates as they become available.

The New Canaan-Darien sports rivalry is as intense and passionate as any in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference. No matter the sport, players and coaches from both sides have the date of their meetings circled on the calendar.

The schools’ annual Thanksgiving football game is the benchmark, drawing the biggest crowds of the year. With the teams’ contest this year for the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship, the buildup and anticipation is perhaps greater than at any time in their 80-year history.

And if today is any indication, the scene at New Canaan High School Thursday morning is going to be electric. Tickets went on sale today and, according to New Canaan athletic director Jay Egan, 1,500 have already been sold.

The presale will continue and Egan strongly suggested that fans buy their tickets as quickly as possible because there is a possibility sales will be cut off if demand is too strong. Egan said right now the anticipated limit is around 5,000 people.

Tickets can be purchased from the athletic departments at both schools. Prices are $7 during the presale and, if there are any remaining, $8 the day of the game.

Check back here for more news and stories as the countdown to the Turkey Bowl showdown has begun.

One of the more bizarre scenes of the fall sports season took place this afternoon at Wethersfield High School. The Stamford High field hockey team won its second straight state title after playing Simsbury to a 1-1 tie to produce co-champions.

It was strange enough to have a deadlock that denied both teams the kind of celebration associated with a championship.

Because the CIAC was not prepared for the outcome, it had just one plaque and set of medallions for the winning team. It was decided that Simsbury would take home the plaque and Stamford the medallions.

Though the Black Knights will eventually get a plaque, the players wanted to get a picture on the field with it. So Emily Powers, one of the team’s senior co-captains, went up to Simsbury coach Pamela Hammersmith and asked if she could borrow the plaque. Hammersmith would not relinquish it.

Powers is one of the friendliest and least imposing looking players on the team. Did Hammersmith think Powers was going to take the plaque and make a dash for the bus?

In the end, the Stamford players used the same resourcefulness it took to win their second straight state title. They posed with the runner-up plaque and made sure to cover up the part that said “runner-up.”