Overtime

There is a strong pool of five finalists for the BlueStreak FCIAC Player of the Week award.

They are: Cayleigh Griffin of the Trinity Catholic girls basketball team, Doug DelBene of the Ridgefield boys basketball team, Olivia Hompe of the New Canaan girls hockey team, Julian Gendels of the Staples wrestling team and Natalie McLaughlin of the Bridgeport Central girls basketball team.

The winner will be announced tomorrow morning and receive a plaque and T-shirt from BlueStreak.

Nominating for next week’s award begins tomorrow at noon.

Just a reminder that you can nominate an athlete for the BlueStreak-Overtime Player of the Week award until noon on Tuesday. Readers as well as coaches and athletic directors are eligible to nominate someone.

Here’s a reminder on the process:

Nominations will be accepted from noon on Wednesdays until noon the following Tuesday. The award will be based on an athlete’s performance during the week (not on the season to date), from Monday-Saturday.

To nominate someone, please click on the “Send Your Nominations” link at the top right of the blog between the two BlueStreak ads. Please do not use the comments section of this posting. Give me the athlete’s name, school and the reasons for consideration (please include all pertinent statistics).

It should go something like this: “I would like to nominate Mary Smith of the Darien girls hockey team, who had four goals and two assists as we defeated New Canaan, 2-0, and Ludlowe, 3-1.” It is as simple as that. It would also help to include a contact number so we can get in touch with you if your nominee ends up winning.

After the voting closes, I will pick 3-5 finalists. Matt Cole, the president of BlueStreak, will then pick the winner, who will be announced each Wednesday and receive a plaque with his/her name on it as well as a T-shirt.

Khairi Fortt had two tackles and Silas Redd had one carry for eight yards as their East team suffered a 30-14 loss to the West in today’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

The two players returned home after the game — Fortt to Stamford and Redd to Norwalk — and tomorrow will head to Penn State to begin their college careers.

(Recent King graduate Silas Redd is in San Antonio this week for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the 10th anniversary of the bowl. Past alumni of the bowl include the likes of Tim Tebow, Terrelle Pryor, Noel Devine, Mark Sanchez, Adrian Peterson and Reggie Bush. Redd who won the ‘G Award’ at Football University’s Top Gun this past June in Florida as the elite camp’s top offensive player. Redd, who is heading to Penn State, will be blogging about his week in San Antonio.)

Last night I got a chance to see some close family and friends at the BBQ, which took place at the Alamodome. I saw my high school coach and his wife, my parents, my brother and his friend, my sister and my two uncles. It was great to see all of them there. I got a sense of home when I was eating and hanging out with them, which felt really good.

When I got back to the hotel I turned on the National Championship game. When I watch football on TV, I tend to study the other running backs and see what they do so I can improve my game. In this case I was watching Mark Ingram, the best RB in the country. He’s a beast out there. Everyone can see his strength and how he cuts and breaks tackles, but I was impressed with his blocking and the little things he did to help his team win. He’s a great player.

Today we had a little walk-through to polish everything up. We’re pretty confident and I think it’s going to be a good game. The mood around the rest of the players from both teams now is a little more serious. I think everyone’s anxious at this point and we can’t wait for the kickoff.

Personally I do get a little nervous before games and have some trouble sleeping the night before. To ease that I’ll listen to Jay-Z tomorrow and approach the game the same way I do every game — just to do whatever I can to help us win. I’m looking forward to it.

(Recent Stamford High School graduate Khairi Fortt is in San Antonio this week for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the 10th anniversary of the bowl. Past alumni of the bowl include the likes of Tim Tebow, Terrelle Pryor, Noel Devine, Mark Sanchez, Adrian Peterson and Reggie Bush. Fortt won the ‘G Award’ at Football University’s Top Gun this past June in Florida as the elite camp’s top defensive player. Fortt, who is heading to Penn State, will be blogging about his week in San Antonio.)

We had a BBQ at the Alamodome last night and met some band members. They were actually pretty cool and they’re all really talented. The food was pretty good but the unsweetened iced tea was terrible — it could’ve been a little more, um, sweeter.

I hung out with my solider, Staff Sergeant Atkins, and we made up our pre-game handshake for player introductions. It’s going to be hot. We run up to each other, turn around, run up again, we do a cool one-two slap starting low and ending high and then we end with a jumping back bump. We’re going to get a little animated too.

We were allowed to go back to the hotel a little early so we could watch the Texas-Alabama game. I was rooting for Texas because we’re (Penn State) playing Alabama next year in our second game. I thought Texas was going to come back at the end but ‘Bama was too good. It was nice to just sit back and watch the game as a fan.

I’m really pumped for the game tomorrow. I know I’m going to be a little nervous but I’m also excited to be on a national stage like this. I’ve never been on NBC before so I’m definitely looking forward to that. The camera loves me so I’m hoping for a couple close-ups, just kidding. And to make it all better, we’re going to win the game.

I hope everyone’s watching.

I will have a final blog from both Khairi Fortt and Silas Redd from San Antonio sometime tonight, but just a reminder that both players will be playing in tomorrow’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which will be televised by NBC at 1 p.m.

Currently, over 100 alumni of the bowl are in the NFL, with seven Pro Bowl selections this year alone and eight first-round picks in last spring’s NFL Draft. The bowl continues to launch careers, such as players like Tim Tebow, Terrelle Pryor, C.J. Spiller, Tom Savage, Nick Mangold, Reggie Bush, Adrian Peterson and Mark Sanchez.

Between eight to 10 players are expected to announce their decision for college during the national broadcast.

Keith Segovia, the former Stamford High School soccer star who went on to win a national championship at Southern Connecticut State University and play professionally in Europe, lost his long battle with cancer early this morning. He was 31.

Keith was a special person in so many aspects. He was one of the best players to come out of the city, first for the Black Knights, and then helping Southern to the Division II title in 1999. He went on to play professionally for two years in Poland.

Keith was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005, and since staged a heroic battle to beat the disease. He was steadfast that he was going to get his playing career started again.

For the last several years, Keith found a different — and more impressive — way to stay close to the sport: coaching youth girls soccer, imparting both his knowledge of the game and teaching aspiring young players about proper values.

Just three weeks ago, despite a snowstorm, several hundred people showed up in Norwalk for the Keith Lee Segovia Indoor Soccer Classic, a seven-hour night of soccer tournaments that raised money to defray the huge medical expenses the Segovia family has incurred.

“He was an inspiration to the entire adult and youth soccer community in Stamford and the entire area,” Bob Pepi, the director of Stamford Youth Soccer,” said this morning. “But more so he was an inspiration to us as a friend and an example of how to live your life.”

(Recent King graduate Silas Redd is in San Antonio this week for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the 10th anniversary of the bowl. Past alumni of the bowl include the likes of Tim Tebow, Terrelle Pryor, Noel Devine, Mark Sanchez, Adrian Peterson and Reggie Bush. Redd who won the ‘G Award’ at Football University’s Top Gun this past June in Florida as the elite camp’s top offensive player. Redd, who is heading to Penn State, will be blogging about his week in San Antonio.)

Yesterday we were paired up with soldiers during the player/hero challenge, which is a fun competition between the East, West and Soldiers. We had a push-up, sit-up and eating competition. I was in the sit-up event and did 53 in 1 minute — we (the East) won that one and the whole thing as a matter of fact.

I was assigned to Staff Sergeant Madonna and he was sharing tons of stories about his time in Iraq. He’s been injured by roadside bombs and he’s been shot in the chest like 3 or 4 times. The crazy thing was that he was telling me all this so nonchalantly — as if I was telling someone about a sprained ankle. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

At night we were hanging out with the Football University Youth All-Americans — the top 7th and 8th graders. Some of these kids have put up crazy numbers. There was one kid who put up like 65 touchdowns in a 12 game season — are you serious?

I was also trying to give a lot of these guys advice because I remember being that age and having dreams about playing in college. I told them to stay humble, be respectful, and not to let anyone out-work you. I also wanted to stress the importance of education. I told them if they don’t have the grades they’re not going anywhere.

I’m sure they hear that a lot, but hopefully coming from me, someone who’s close to them in age, the message will get through.