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We all are guilty — fans, players and coaches, especially the media — of calling particular games the biggest one of the season.

Just to use FCIAC boys basketball as an example of what happens in every sport, at every level, every game counts the same 1/20th toward the standings and state seedings, league games 1/18th toward trying to qualify for the conference tournament.

The BIG game on the last day of the regular season is predicated on what happened in the 19 before it. December wins and losses carry the same weight as those in February.

Still, the perspective of sports comes from a prism focused on the present. And heading into Friday night’s slate of games, just two games separate the seven teams that are currently battling for the final three spots in the league tournament.

Five of Friday’s nine games have a direct bearing on the playoff picture, assuming the top three schools — Westhill, Trinity Catholic and St. Joseph — are secure in qualifying.

Here’s a look at the games to watch (all are 7 p.m. starts).

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Ridgefield (10-3) at Bridgeport Central (9-3): I’ve heard a number of people write off the Tigers after they were picked apart in every way by Trinity Catholic on Tuesday night. I’m not one of them, though Ridgefield has demonstrated some flaws — lack of speed, the need for better point guard play, allowing top teams to dictate tempo — that need to be addressed. This is an opportunity for the Tigers to at least temporarily silence the skeptics on the road against a Central team that, despite inconsistent tendencies, I consider a viable championship contender.

OTHER GAMES OF NOTE

Fairfield Ludlowe (6-7) at Bassick (8-6): Few gave the Falcons any chance of being within sniffing range of reaching the FCIAC Tournament, yet they sit just one game out of a spot. They are at matchup disadvantages on many nights, but have compensated by slowing down games and forcing opponents to play at a methodical pace. What to make of the Lions, the two-time defending champions and February darlings annually? They have lost three straight games, albeit to Ridgefield, Central and St. Joseph. They really need a win here badly.

Greenwich (7-7) at Westhill (12-1): People keep waiting for the Vikings to fall, but with their 32-minutes-of-hell trapping defense it has yet to happen. They are the paradigm of a team where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Cardinals are in the pack of teams trying to get into the league playoffs. It will be interesting to see if they look to pound the ball inside to center Alex Wolf, who could create matchup problems, if the Greenwich guards are able to get by the traps.

Norwalk (10-4) at New Canaan (5-8): Are the Bears a legitimate championship threat or just a very good team? They lack a true playmaker to make it easier to create chances for Roy Kane, Jabari Dear and company. New Canaan is actually closer to qualifying for a league than a state playoff spot.

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With 41 percent of the vote, Stamford High School has won the voting portion of the 2nd annual Overtime Fan Showdown. Ridgefield, with 24.5 percent of the vote, finished second and Norwalk, with 18.2 percent of the vote, took third place.

Thus, Stamford receives 5 points, Ridgefield 3 and Norwalk 1 heading into the video portion of the competition, which counts for the other 50 percent of the scoring.

The winning school will receive $500 for its athletic department, with $100 going to the second-place school.

Each of the nine finalists will now submit a video of no longer than two minutes showing their fans in action at a game of their choosing. We want to see loyalty, not rowdy misbehavior. The deadline for the videos is Feb. 10. As we receive the videos, we will post them for viewing. A panel of our sponsors will then judge the videos. They will give a 3 to the best one, 2 for the second-best one and 1 for the third-best. The school that earns the most overall video points, like the voting, will get 5 points, second place will be worth 3 points and third place worth 1 point.

The other schools competing are: Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, St. Joseph and Westhill.

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The Staples girls indoor track team, which won the FCIAC Western Division championship, is the Overtime FCIAC Team of the Week.

The Wreckers will get T-shirts courtesy of BlueStreak Sports Training, Garden Catering, the Stamford Advocate, Karl Chevrolet, Innovative Health and Rehabilitation, New Balance of New Canaan, Riko’s Pizza, Mitchells/Richards, Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Cafe, Voice of an Angel and Dr. Brown’s Baby Products.

Staples beat out the Fairfield Ludlowe gymnastics, Ridgefield girls hockey, Stamford/Westhill boys swimming, Darien girls basketball, Wilton gymnastics and Danbury girls basketball teams.

We will pick a new set of finalists for this week’s award, with the vote starting Sunday.

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Brandon Fulco of the Trumbull wrestling team and Alyssa Malvarosa of the Wilton girls basketball team are the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Players of the Week.

Fulco and Malvarosa will each receive T-shirts and plaques from BlueStreak Sports Training.

Fulco, wrestling at 160 pounds, won all four of his matches last week by pins to improve his record this season to 30-4.

Malvarosa had 9 points and 9 rebounds in the Warriors’ surprising rout of unbeaten Stamford and finished with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists in a win over Norwalk.

Nominations are open now until Tuesday at 10 a.m. for this week’s winners.

To nominate an athlete, click on this link and email in the name of the person you are nominating.

Please include all of the player’s statistics for the week as well as the team results.

The award will be judged on games/matches/meets played Monday through Saturday of each week. Please wait until an athlete is done competing for the week to submit your nomination.

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We’ve discussed all the surprising upsets this season, and the parity that should make the FCIAC Tournament next month one of the most wide open ever.

Perhaps overlooked, or not fully appreciated, is the most stunning big story to date: The Westhill boys basketball heads into tonight’s intra-city battle with Stamford as the lone remaining unbeaten team in conference play.

People keep waiting for the Vikings to slip up — I admit to being partially guilty of this, though I’m on the record as saying this has been the most fun Westhill team to watch in a while — but it hasn’t happened.

One person who has maintained a steadfast confidence in the Vikings is their coach, Howard White.

“I knew of their capability,” White said in a telephone interview on Sunday night. “Some of the kids that were role players demonstrated what they could do last year for the junior varsity team. Each one has bought into my system.”

With players like Tony Dobbinson and Chris Walters graduated, White was aware he was not going to have that go-to, consistent 20-point scorer this year. So he molded his strategy to fit a roster of unselfish and unheralded players.

Westhill's Guyveson Cassamajor last week in a win against Warde.

“We had to change,” White said. “I felt we had to change due to the fact we didn’t have that one player we could depend on. So we had to rely on our defense to create offense.”

The Vikings’ trapping defense has been one of the most effective in the league, leading to turnovers that have ignited a strong transition offense. Only one team — Bassick — has managed to score more than 57 points against the Vikings. The Lions did so twice as the teams split a pair of meetings, accounting for Westhill’s lone loss.

Westhill, 11-1 over all, has allowed 43 or fewer points six times.

“In my 10 years here this is the best defensive team I have had,” White said. “It was very hard at first to get the kids to buy in from a defensive standpoint. But they feed off of their energy.”

That frenetic pace has led both to easy layups and trouble with turnovers. Westhill often uses a three-guard attack, with senior Terrell Middleton and a pair of sophomores, Jeremiah Livingston and C.J. Donaldson, a transfer from Kolbe Cathedral. Ballhandling has been part of the maturation process.

The Vikings, to their credit, have been able to overcome their mistakes. They committed 32 turnovers against Bridgeport Central and still won by eight points.

The guards have blended well with the frontcourt of twins Yveson Cassmajor and Guyveson Cassmajor and Ariel DeLaCruz, plus a productive bench.

Livingston, who seems destined to be one of the FCIAC’s top players for a long time, leads the team with a 16-point average, while Yveson Cassmajor is averaging 11 points.

The team’s play has been a bright spot for White, who attended the first few games but handed the coaching duties to assistant Roberto Nieves while he dealt with the return of prostate cancer and having his gallbladder removed, before returning full time.

“I’m doing pretty good,” White said. “I have my moments. I’ve had my good days and I’ve had my bad days. It has been hard but I have received a lot of support from my family, friends and the team.”

So are the Vikings for real? White said yes, with a caveat.

“There’s no way we can win a championship still turning the ball over 20 times,” he said. “No way. But if we improve on that? Absolutely.”

The Vikings have a murderous road into the postseason: they finish the season at home against Trinity Catholic and St. Joseph, then on the road at Ridgefield. Many consider that trio the best three teams in the league right now. Westhill has defeated the Crusaders the last two seasons.

“We did that same schedule last year,” White said. “That’s the way the schedule came out. There’s not much you can do about it.”

The Starting 5

1. ST. JOSEPH (12-1): Force me to place a bet now and I would make the Cadets an ever-so-slight favorite to win the FCIAC title. EVER-SO-SLIGHT.

2. TRINITY CATHOLIC (11-1): Big home test Tuesday night against Ridgefield.

3. WESTHILL (11-1): Can’t wait to see how the Vikings will stack up against the elite teams at the end of the season. For now they have to focus on not looking ahead.

4. RIDGEFIELD: (10-2): Will the Tigers’ stock fall with a loss to the Crusaders?

5. BRIDGEPORT CENTRAL (8-3): You can make a case for four teams in this spot. I’m going with the one of the four that I think is the best if all their players play their best.

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Westhill's Purple Pack was last year's Overtime Fan Showdown winner.

They battle from the bleachers, from the stands, and now, in the age of social media, on Twitter.

So, for the second year in a row, we ask the question: which FCIAC school has the best fans?

We call it the Overtime Fan Showdown.

We have nine schools, including defending champion Westhill and runner-up St. Joseph, taking part in this year’s showdown.

We are adding a different element this year: in addition to the fan videos each team must submit, we are also holding a vote.

Part 1 is a straight-out vote here on the blog running until noon on Thursday. There will be a little twist: I will announce on Twitter unlimited voting for two brief windows. You won’t know when. So it will be to your advantage to get your fans following me on Twitter: to do so click here.

The team that wins the vote will receive 5 points. Second place will be worth 3 points and third place will be worth 1 point.

The voting counts for half of the competition. The second half will be the video contest. For a complete list of all the rules click here.

The schools competing are: Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Ridgefield, St. Joseph, Stamford and Westhill.

So vote early and, when we go to the unlimited periods, vote often. And check back to see which school wins the voting portion of the 2nd annual Overtime Fan Showdown.

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We have seven teams coming off of strong performances on the menu for the Overtime FCIAC Team of the Week vote.

Your finalists are: the Fairfield Ludlowe gymnastics, Danbury girls basketball, Wilton gymnastics, Darien girls basketball, Stamford/Westhill boys swimming, Ridgefield girls hockey and Staples girls indoor track teams.

The winner will get T-shirts with our new logo courtesy of BlueStreak Sports Training, Garden Catering, the Stamford Advocate, Karl Chevrolet, Innovative Health and Rehabilitation, New Balance of New Canaan, Riko’s Pizza, Mitchells/Richards, Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Cafe, Voice of an Angel and Dr. Brown’s Baby Products.

The Falcons scored 129 points in a win over Darien and 133.55 in a win over town rival Fairfield Warde.

The Hatters remained undefeated with victories against St. Joseph and border rival Ridgefield.

The Warriors remained unbeaten by scoring 137.85 and 134.85 points to win a pair of tri-meets.

The Blue Wave ran their winning streak to six games with wins over Trinity Catholic and Staples.

Stamford/Westhill improved to 4-2 with wins over Staples and Brien McMahon/Norwalk.

The Tigers defeated Greenwich, 7-1, and Wilton, 7-0, to improve to 8-3.

The Wreckers won the FCIAC Western Division championship.

The voting is open until noon on Wednesday. So vote below and check back to find out who is this week’s Overtime FCIAC Team of the Week.

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Trinity Catholic coach Mike Walsh (left) and former St. Joseph coach Vito Montelli, close friends, prior to last week's game.

Anyone who thought retirement was going to mean winter trips to Florida or afternoons in front of the television for former St. Joseph boys basketball coach Vito Montelli, well, doesn’t know Montelli.

The only coach the Cadets had ever had in the sport, Montelli stepped down at the end of last season, following the last of his 11 state championships.

Montelli’s resume is stunning: 878 wins, the most by any New England coach in the sport, over 50 years.

Montelli may not be on the bench anymore, but he is still in the gymnasium for every game, is a regular at the school, where he still maintains an office, and is a short walk away for his successor, former assistant Chris Watts.

“I come in almost every day,” Montelli said prior to St. Joseph’s home game last week with Trinity Catholic. “I have a little space they gave me in what is the senior lounge. I do what I’ve always done. I try to take care of business, but my time is mine. I hang around, and if I want to go home early, I go home.”

Basketball has always been Montelli’s profession, hobby and passion. So understandably, the break, from an emotional standpoint, has been difficult.

“I love watching the games,” Montelli said. “Sure, I miss it, but it was time. The way my legs feel, my hip. It was the best thing I could do, I thought.”

At 11-1, the Cadets currently have the best overall record of any FCIAC team under Watts, who knows he has a great resource to tap if necessary.

“I try to stay out of Chris’ hair,” Montelli said. “If he has a question he asks me. He’s doing a good job and the kids respect him. He has a good staff he put together.”

It is hard to imagine Montelli not remaining a fixture at the court that bears his name, though after a half century in a different capacity.

“It’s been great; they’ve been good to me here,” Montelli said. “They let me come and go as I please, and my wife and family understand. It is different. Do I feel it? Yeah. You had something for so long and you let it go. It’s not taken away from you. It takes a while to adjust.”