The Road to Boyle

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.

For the rest of my Week 8 picks, please visit the FCIAC Football Blog.

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?