The earthquake relief efforts may be thousands of miles away, but the tragedy has hit home in the FCIAC football community.
Several FCIAC schools have significant Haitian populations: The schools in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford stand out. I asked Stamford head coach Kevin Jones how his team is doing, and he said it’s been a hard time for quite a few of the students in the school. As of Wednesday, several students were still waiting to hear from family in and around Port-au-Prince.
And everyone is doing their part, Jones said. The student body has raised nearly $3,000 for the relief efforts
Jones also said former offensive tackle Vladimir Ducasse, who is a projected third-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft, has heard from his father, step-mother, sister and brother, and that the family is safe. Ducasse’s father sent Vladimir and his brother to the United States to live when they were teenagers.
Ducasse was able to donate 20,000 cases of Vitamin Water to the relief efforts, Jones said. Today, Ducasse told Boston Herald that he plans to use his status as an NFL draft pick to be to not only help out his homeland, but to encourage others to do the same:
“I’m excited about the Senior Bowl,” Ducasse said. “I’m excited about the NFL combine. I’m excited about getting drafted and playing in the NFL. At the same time, I have weight on my shoulders because I feel I have to do something to help out back home.
“That’s always on my mind,” he said. “I want to be able to donate money. I want to speak out. I want to do my part. Right now, I want to use my role to tell people to help send food, clothes, money. This is all very important.
“If all goes as planned,” he said, “I’ll have the ability to do those things.”
Bassick was also hit hard: Head coach Frank Marcuccio said six kids on the soccer team, eight on his team and three on the girls basketball team were awaiting word as of Wednesday.
Later that day, Jordan Claude, a senior All-FCIAC lineman and all-league shot-putter on the track team, got the word he hoped not to hear. His father was among the dead.
Bassick, too, has been encouraging its students to give what they can to the relief efforts. The school was collecting for American Red Cross.
Central head coach Dave Cadelina said a freshman player lost family members. Pete Tucci of Norwalk said members of the 2009 team were not affected, though he hadn’t heard about his players from the 2008 team. McMahon athletic director Joe Madaffari said his school, too, is involved in helping the relief efforts.
How you can help The FCIAC Football Blog was going to work with its long-time Fairfield County High School Football Player of the Week sponsor, BlueStreak Sports Training, to organize a blood drive, figuring that would be the next logical step for the recovery efforts.
But BlueStreak president Matt Cole was informed they are booked solid through June.
American Red Cross’s suggestion: They want businesses to spread the word about locations and times of blood drives. You can find them here: http://www.redcrossblood.org/ct.
There may be five regional teams competing for state championships on the field this Saturday, but the Bassick Lions are in a battle for a national title online.
This is one of 10 finalists in the State Farm Friday Night Feats video contest on YouTube. If the video of its last-second win over city rival Harding receives the most ratings, the Bassick football program will win the $15,000 grand prize.
Now the teams competing in CIAC finals on Saturday have to win on their own, but Bassick needs the public’s help. Please click on the below video (which will brink you to YouTube) and rate the video. Again, Bassick will win if it gets the most ratings.
Heck, it’s only going to take a minute out of your day, and will help your neighbor out.
Voting has begun, and runs through Dec. 10.
Here’s the press release that was issued Tuesday through PRNewswire.com:
State Farm today announced the 10 finalists of the Friday Night Feats high school football video contest on YouTube. The contest highlights the biggest moments from this year’s high school football season – big hits, Hail Marys, break-away runs and miracle finishes – as voted by the fans themselves. A panel of judges selected the finalists from the 51 videos fans voted as Zone winners. Viewers will choose the grand prize winner by voting for their favorite video on YouTube between Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.
“The Friday Night Feats contest has captured some of the biggest moments in high school football – from early season match-ups all the way through the playoffs,” said Hall of Fame lineman and Friday Night Feats judge Anthony Munoz. “State Farm is excited to be there for the all of the schools who have participated this year. Now it is the fans’ turn to be there for their schools as they vie for the grand prize of $15,000.”
Friday Night Feats Finalists
Summerville High School (Summerville, SC) – “SHS Football #3 Safety Punt Return”
Roland High School (Roland, OK) – “Air Ranger”
Broken Arrow High School (Broken Arrow, OK) – “2009 Friday Night Feats – Ronnie Price Broken Arrow High School – Hurdles Over Defender”
Mountain View High School (Mesa, AZ) – “MV Bounce Pass”
Mount Mansfield Union High School (Jericho, VT) – “Greatest or Worst play in football history depending on your side”
Gray’s Creek High School (Hope Mills, NC) – “Gray’s Creek Bears – Devonte Cooley LEAP”
High School (DeLand, FL) – “Deland Bulldogs Shontrelle Johnson TD run vs Wekiva Mustangs”
Bastrop High School (Bastrop, TX) – “Bastrop’s Josiah Monroe to Auston Shipley”
Rockdale High School (Rockdale, TX) – “Rockdale Tiger Football – Sanders to Wright Hail Mary 2009″
Joining Munoz on the Friday Night Feats judging panel were Scout.com Recruiting Experts Scott Kennedy, Steve Robertson and Brandon Huffman, as well as Kid Reporter Daniel Radov from SIKids.com. The panel determined the national finalists based on the “wow” factor, athleticism, impact of the play, and creativity of the video, which included the title and brief description of the play.
Now it is the fans’ turn to vote with winners announced on Dec. 14. The grand prize is $15,000 with $10,000 for first place and $5,000 for second place. State Farm will have awarded almost to $160,000 to schools during the Friday Night Feats contest this year.
To view contest information and contest rules visit www.FridayNightFeats.com. To see the finalist videos and all of the others submitted this year, visit the State Farm Friday Night Feats contest on YouTube at www.youtube.com/fridaynightfeats.
Who is the Fairfield County Player of the Week for Week 8? It’s New Canaan receiver Kevin Macari.
Against Greenwich, Macari had seven catches for 166 yards and touchdowns of 16 and 46 yards. He also caught the game-winning two-point conversion in New Canaan’s 35-34 come-from-behind victory.
Here’ who else was nominated for the airfield County Player of the Week award were:
Khairi Fortt, LB, Stamford (11 tackles, two sacks, 48-yard interception return for a touchdown)
Silas Redd, RB-LB, King (31 carries for 332 rushing yards, five touchdowns, five tackles and an interception)
Axel Lee, S, Central (10 solo tackles, 3 special teams tackles and a sack)
Chris White, DT, New Canaan (12 tackles, 4 for a loss and two sacks)
Mike Lefflbine, QB, Greenwich (10-18-0-151 passing, one passing touchdown, 33 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown)
Bo McCarty, LB-TE, Ridgefield (11 tackles and a 9-yard reception on a key third down)
Turner Baty, QB, New Canaan (23-35-1-329 passing, three touchdown passes and a 2-point conversion pass)
Candidates for the Fairfield County Player of the Week award are nominated either direct from their coaches, by media recommendations or by fans of the FCIAC Football Blog on Facebook.
So was the New Canaan-Greenwich game as exciting as the scoreboard made it seem? It sure was. New Canaan came back and won it 35-34. Here’s a roundtable discussion I did after the game on BlogTalkRadio with Jason Intrieri of the FCIAC Football Blog, Rob Adams of WGCH, and Matt Levine of WSTC/WNLK.
We tried to get New Canaan head coach Lou marinelli to come on the air, too. But we couldn’t get the message to him on the field. Apparently the New Canaan fans pouren out onto the vield, making it a virtual sea of students.
Fairfield Ludlowe takes on a great unknown during its FCIAC bye week. They have scheduled a team known as “Randolph” on the CIAC schedule. But it is a team better known as the Harlem Hellfighters.
Randolph Campus is its “host” school, but the Hellfighters are a co-op/club team made up of high school students from all around Manhattan. The team was founded by former NFL player Duke Ferguson because he was shocked at how few opportunities there were for Harlem’s youth to play organized football.
The Hellfighters also have not played a game this season, according to this recent article in the New York Daily News.
According to that article, the Hellfighters played in a PSAL championship game two seasons ago against a predominantly white school.
The New York State Sportswriters Association reported on its blog that Ferguson saw a racial epitath written on a bench, which was targeted at his team.
The Daily News said in its report that the Hellcats were removed from the PSAL’s 2008 schedule, and the team has a pending lawsuit against the city’s Department of Education.
Number-one New Canaan faces its biggest test of the 2009 season to date: A trip to Greenwich to play the scored Cardinals. Once third in most of the state polls, Greenwich has dropped way out of the Class LL race by virtue of its 14-13 loss to Central in Week 6.
But a Greenwich win over New Canaan – paired by a Trumbull win over Ridgefield, would put Greenwich in the driver’s seat to make its Thanksgiving game against Staples the FCIAC title game.
A loss, and Greenwich would be virtually out of everything.
But New Canaan is not a guaranteed victory. The Rams enter Week 8 on a 23-game winning streak. And quarterback Turner Baty has thrown for a mind-boggling 1,100 yards over the past three games. It’s also a balanced attack: Greenwich will need to be aware not only of Kevin Macari and Cody Newton, but slot receivers Willie Ouelette and Peter Gronseth and Peter Park, Tim Robustelli and Joe Costigan out of the backfield.
The knock on Greenwich this season has been its defense, which is quite surprising since its starters have given up only one touchdown. Best to say it’s an underrated group. And it can defend the pass: Cameron Ferrara has three interceptions for Greenwich, and the Cardinals have defended 10 passes on the season, led by Colin Bawol’s four.
This could be a good chance to see Greenwich quarterback Mike Lefflbine step up in a big game situation. Lefflbine’s numbers really don’t tell the full story, since he’s watched the second half of many games from the sideline because of blowouts. But he does have 12 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. He also leads the Cardinals in rushing.
I think this is going to be a classic last-team-with-the-ball wins kind of a game. Even though both teams are in passing-oriented offenses, I don’t expect a shootout.
But I expect the Rams to return home with the win.
New Canaan is on top of the Bill Gonilo 5 media poll of Fairfield County high school football teams after seven weeks.
The Rams received 16 of the 17 first-place votes, and one fourth-place vote. Pomperaug, which is fourth in the poll, received the only other first-place vote.
The Bill Gonillo 5 poll is a media ranking of the top teams in Fairfield County. All FCIAC and SWC schools, plus FAA, CSC and SCC teams based in Fairfield County, are on the ballot for consideration.
Ballots are totaled on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 formula.
The poll is named in honor of Bill Gonillo, the former News 12 sports anchor who died in September 2007 from complications related to diabetes. The poll also supports the American Diabetes Association’s mission to find a cure for and raise awareness of the disease, which affects 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8% of the population.
November is American Diabetes Month. For information on local events, click here.
Rank
Team
First
Points
Last
1
New Canaan Rams
16
164
1
2
Staples Wreckers
0
98
3
3
Masuk Panthers
0
72
4
4
Pomperaug Panthers
1
70
3
5
Central Hilltoppers
0
50
5
Also receiving votes: Greenwich 36, King 19, St. Joseph 10, Newtown 6.
Is losing by more than 50 points embarrassing and demoralizing to a football team if the stronger opponent benches its starters midway through the second quarter? Or is it more embarrassing to take a knee on four consecutive plays to keep from breaking a rule that’s intended to keep the lesser team from being embarrassed?
Well Greenwich last night had to take a knee on four consecutive plays to comply with the CIAC’s score management rule. And that happened in the third quarter last night against Westhill. And the Vikings cut the Greenwich lead to 45-7 by scoring on the ensuing drive.
The rule was put in because former Bloomfield and New London coach Jack Cochran thought it was necessary to run up 80 point leads on weaker opponents while his second stringers never saw the light of day. Last season in a mockery of the rule, he ordered his punter to run through the end zone for a safety – a 50-yard loss on the play – to keep a lead under the rule that was set out to stop him.
Cochran is gone now. He’s a football dad at Masuk. I’m sure the CIAC is keeping this rule in place just in case some school is crazy enough to take a chance on Cochran, who is a great coach but known to wear out his welcome wherever he goes.
But these high school coaches wear big-boy pants. They can police themselves. They’ve proven they can put sportsmanship into play and put the reserves in when it gets out of hand. And in some cases, they’ve seen teams start to mount comebacks just when they think they can start putting in the reserves.
I remember a game a few seasons back at Kennedy Stadium, Tony Catapano’s first season in charge at Warde. The Mustangs saw a 35-or-so point lead over Bassick evaporate in the second half. If it wasn’t for the official in the booth running a few seconds off the clock here and there to just get the game over with, Bassick may have won on its final drive, which ended when time ran out.
What do you think? Is the 50-point rule getting out of hand?
