New Canaan and Staples are undefeated. Greenwich has one loss and plays the Rams Friday night. Bridgeport Central and Darien have been hot. St. Joseph and Ridgefield have just one loss apiece but seem to have lost the love.
The FCIAC regular season is getting ready for the final turn, and there are a number of big games each of the next three weeks.
Still, the discussion over which two teams will meet for the FCIAC football title — and which team will win the title — has been getting louder and louder.
So I’m asking all of you: which team is the best in the FCIAC? I’ve given you seven choices and until noon on Friday to decide.
FCIAC executive secretary John Kuczo sent out an e-mail to athletic directors two days ago regarding a rule change for postseason soccer games that no one was aware of.
Instead of playing two 10-minute overtime periods to settle ties, if one team is leading at the end of the first period, it will be declared the winner.
The rule was met with scorn at today’s FCIAC Tournament quarterfinal game between Staples and Westhill, which the Wreckers won, 5-0. Staples AD Marty Lisevick said no one knew when or why the CIAC soccer committee made the decision, and that state soccer coaches apparently were not even polled about it.
The preferable format would be sudden-death overtime, but under the new rule, if weather is a factor, a team winning the coin toss is going to have a huge advantage.
So much for the idea of golden goals. If a team wins in the first overtime period, are we going to call them silver goals?
More importantly, for you historians out there, save for the Division I boys basketball tournament, which it got rid of after two years, can anyone out there remember the CIAC implementing a rule that actually improved high school sports in Connecticut?
Alex Stevenson seemed to have the perfect life. She was one of the best catchers in the FCIAC and a three-year starter on Darien High School’s volleyball team. The Blue Wave went 100-0 during her four seasons.
But the smile on the outside often masked what was going on inside, and through a chain of events during the fall of her senior year, Stevenson’s life spiraled out of control. She became addicted to cocaine, stopped going to school and her family was forced into an intervention and sending her away to a rehabilitation program in Utah.
What seemed headed for a tragic ending instead turned into an inspiring one. Through the same indomitable spirit she showed on the volleyball court, and with the love and support of her family, Stevenson brought her life back together. She is currently a student at Fairfield University and aspires to one day be a counselor in the type of wilderness therapy program that proved to be part of her salvation.
I had hoped to shoot a video today to promote the story of Stevenson’s fall and rise that will appear in Sunday’s Advocate, but unfortunately she is home sick with the flu.
Instead, you will have to wait a few days to read about an amazing 19-year-old woman who was noted for her warm smile, lost it and had to go through hell to get it back.
I apologize for the lack of updates on the blog this week. I have been working for the past month on what I can honestly say has been the most challenging story of my career.
I have done hours of interviews and re-interviews and have filled an entire steno pad with notes.
The story is going to run in Sunday’s paper and I hope to post an interview either tomorrow or Friday with the subject to promote it.
For now, let me say that it involves someone who was a prominent female athlete two years ago on one of the most respected teams in the state, and who through a variety of circumstances saw her life spiral out of control into cocaine addiction. Fortunately, she was able to fight her way back through her own toughness and with the support and love of her family and friends.
Check back for a video interview tomorrow or Friday, and I promise that I will get back to providing you with more regular posts very soon.
Staples quarterback Brandon Pacilio is in New York right now, having the ankle he broke in Saturday’s 40-0 win over Warren Harding examined by the Jets’ team doctor. In a best-case scenario, Pacilio, a senior, could return in four weeks.
Right now the 6-0 Wreckers are standing confidently behind Pacilio’s backup, Keith Gelman, who they believe will prove to be an effective relief pitcher who can close out a game, or in this case a season.
Gelman is a senior who has been playing on special teams.
“He’s been waiting a long time for this opportunity,” Staples coach Marce Petroccio said. “He worked hard in the offseason. He has an opportunity and he’s excited to take advantage of it.”
Pacilio was injured early in the second quarter on the Presidents’ muddy field, with Staples out in front, 7-0, at the time.
“He was running with the ball and a kid fell on his leg,” Petroccio said. “It’s hard to see on film. I don’t think the field conditions helped, but I don’t think you can say they contributed to it. It’s just a shame for a kid who has worked this hard as a captain and done so much for the program.”
The Wreckers have taken the right mental approach to the situation. They are rallying around Gelman rather than acting like their season has been endangered.
“In a sense this has brought us together,” Petroccio said. “This is a really close team, and Brandon is going to meet with Keith and tutor him.”
Don’t think for a second that the Wreckers’ championship hopes have ended. There does not appear to be an overly dominant team in the league, they have a strong defense, and while you never look past any opponent, with Ludlowe, Wilton and Trumbull on tap the next three weeks, Gelman should have the chance to get proper seasoning before the Thanksgiving Day game with Greenwich, which could have considerable postseason implications, perhaps even for the FCIAC championship.
Lucas Moraes moved here from Brazil a year ago and spent last fall on Stamford High School’s freshmen soccer team. Then, in what has become a growing trend throughout the state, Moraes showed up for spring football to try out as the Black Knights’ kicker.
Moraes was not recruited by Kevin Jones, Stamford’s football coach, to make the switch. Moraes said he watched football on TV, studied other kickers, was caught up by the emotion of the sport and liked the cheerleaders.
Moraes had his shining moment last night, kicking a 25-yard field goal with seven seconds left to lift Stamford to a 15-14 win over Trumbull.
A six-yard run by quarterback Jalen Holmes put the Black Knights on the Trumbull 9-yard line with 30 seconds left. It was windy and rainy, and Stamford had one timeout left. Jones decided to let the clock run down before using it with seven seconds left, much to the consternation of some of his assistants and many of the fans in the stands.
“I had confidence in Luke,” Jones said.
Jones hit a low line drive that sailed through the uprights and was mobbed by his teammates. After the game ended on the following kickoff, Moraes was lifted on the shoulders of his teammates, who sang, “Ole, ole,” a chant usually heard up top on the school’s soccer field.
In the team’s locker room after the game, Moraes was approached by a reporter. The other Black Knight players gathered around to listen.
Asked how he felt, Moraes responded with an expletive, then asked, “Can I say that for the paper?” The Stamford players roared.
Today’s game between New Canaan and St. Joseph is on as scheduled at 1:30 p.m. at Dunning Stadium. Both teams come into the game undefeated.
The Rams, the No. 1 team in the state, will try to avoid the upset bug that hit the state yesterday, when Greenwich, Hamden, Simsbury, Montville, Ansonia and Trumbull were all defeated.
If you can’t get to a high school football game tonight but want to follow all the action, come back here starting at 6 and click on the window below. All of our staff writers will be posting updates after every score, every quarter or when something noteworthy happens.
And if you are at a game and want to provide your own updates, log onto a Twitter account on your mobile phone and put #ctfb at the end of your tweets. That way you can also get updates on your phone as well.
