The Fair Field

Here we are.

With one night left, the FCIAC is a debacle. There are five teams– Warde, Trumbull, Danbury, Greenwich and Bridgeport Central– tied for the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds at 9-8. Ludlowe and Staples are one game behind with 8-9 records, and Stamford is a game up on the five in the No. 6 position.

This much can be confirmed. But according to the FCIAC, both Ludlowe and Warde are mathematically alive for one of those two spots. Ludlowe needs a ton of help, even if it beats Darien on senior night at Ludlowe on Wednesday.

Every game FCIAC game Wednesday night, except Wilton at New Canaan, has playoff ramifications. Warde hosts St. Joseph, Greenwich travels to Danbury, Trumbull hosts Trinity Catholic and Central must visit McMahon. If Stamford beats Harding, the Black Knights will be the league’s No. 6 seed.

Have you got all that? Good. Now here’s how each team can reach the FCIAC playoffs, starting with the clubs from Fairfield. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll leave Staples out. If the Wreckers wanted to be mentioned, they should’ve held a 21-point lead at McMahon Monday night.

Warde (11-8, 9-8) controls all the cards here. If the Mustangs win Wednesday, they’re in. The only problem is, to get

If Sal Siciliano and Warde can upset St. Joes, the Mustangs will be in the FCIAC tournament

in, Warde must do what no other team in the league has done this year: beat St. Joseph. The Cadets are 19-0, 17-0 in the league and have arguably the best player in the county, Timajh Parker.

Warde can also get in with a loss, but it gets much trickier with that. If the Mustangs lose, they must hope for Trinity to beat Trumbull, McMahon to beat Central and Danbury to beat Greenwich. The Mustangs would be the No. 8 seed if all that happened, by virtue of their wins over Trumbull, Central and Greenwich.

Simply put, if Central, Trumbull, Greenwich and Warde end tied, the Mustangs get in because they’ve beaten all those teams.

Ludlowe (8-11, 8-9) has the hardest road of any team not named Staples. First things first, Ludlowe needs win at Darien to even have a prayer of the FCIAC tournament.

I was told by the FCIAC that the Falcons, mathematically, are still alive, but I still haven’t figured out the equation that gets them in. Ludlowe would have to finish in a bizarre multi-team tie scenario and then have Ridgefield beat Westhill for the Falcons to have the “best win.”

Greenwich (11-8, 9-8) and Danbury (11-8, 9-8) will play in Danbury at 7 p.m. If Warde loses to St. Joseph, this becomes a play-in game for the last FCIAC spot. The loser is out, the winner is in.

Either way, the loser is out. If Warde wins, and Danbury beats Greenwich, the Hatters would need Trinity to beat Trumbull to get in as the No. 7 seed. If Warde and Greenwich win, the Cardinals would need Trinity to beat Trumbull and Central to lose to McMahon to get in.

If Warde, Danbury and Central all win, and Trinity beats Trumbull, Warde and Danbury would be in. Warde would have the best win and would be the No. 7 seed. The Hatters would then get in by virtue of that head-to-head win over Central.

Ah, Bridgeport Central (10-8, 9-8). The Hilltoppers stand to gain the most if Warde loses. Central loses any tiebreaker with Danbury by virtue of that 109-106, double OT loss on opening night, but with a win over Brien McMahon would be the No. 8 seed, as long as St. Joseph caps the undefeated season.

If Greenwich beats Danbury and Warde loses, Central would be the No. 7 seed and Greenwich would be No. 8. Unless…

If Trumbull, and standout guard Travis Fonseca, can upset Trinity Catholic, the Eagles will likely reach FCIACs

…Trumbull (10-9, 9-8) becomes the fly in the ointment. The best case scenario for the Eagles involves Trumbull beating Trinity, Warde losing to St. Joseph, Central falling to McMahon and Danbury beating Greenwich.

If Trumbull finishes in a three-way tie with Danbury and Central, the Eagles and Hatters get in by virtue of the fourth tiebreaker, “best win.” Trumbull’s best wins would be over the FCIAC’s No. 2 seed, either Westhill or Trinity Catholic.

If Trumbull loses, it’s out.

Confused? Yeah, so am I. And we haven’t even gotten to the seeding tiebreakers that involve the 2-5 teams. The likeliest prediction involves Central and the winner of Danbury/Greenwich. But given the FCIAC’s bizarre schedule to date, I find it hard to believe that will happen. Look for either Trumbull or Warde to upset their opponent and sneak in the dance.

I guess, we’ll reconvene on Twitter Wednesday night.

Fairfield’s girls basketball state tournament were released Wednesday.

In Class LL, No. 31 Ludlowe will visit second-seeded Lauralton Hall on Monday at 7 p.m. No. 19 Warde will trek to Glastonbury on Monday night as well.

In Class M, ND will travel to Hartford to play Classical Magnet in its first-round game on Monday at 7.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

My parents taught me to admit when I was wrong.

Sorry buddy.

Perhaps last week’s column was wrong.

The column which got the Warde community up in arms last week, centered around Dave Danko’s ability to coach in big games. I pointed to the fact that Danko is 0-3 in state championship contests as reason.

However, Danko is 3-3 in FCIAC championship games, has won eight division titles in 18 years of coaching at Fairfield High School and Warde. He has won big games in there. He won 12 games this year. He’s a very good coach.

He’s been a sportsman all the way through too. He’s never gotten a technical foul, and has helped thousands of girls go to play college basketball. He does a lot of things that don’t get publicized, and I did not mean to diminish that in any way.

I certainly didn’t appreciate the power of my story, and for that I’m sorry. A friend of mine says “truth without compassion is a weapon” and I didn’t show much compassion to my buddy Danko. I’m most regretful for that fact, and also am deeply sorry.

I will remain accountable to the words I said and stand by them. Was I harsh? Yes. Was I wrong? Not entirely.

But I am sorry.

Onto happier subjects, the SCC boys basketball tournament field will be set by tonight.

The dominoes will begin to drop this afternoon. Hillhouse and Career Magnet battle at 3:30. If the Academics win, they’ll finish their SCC season unbeaten, with two wins over the Panthers, and as the No. 1 seed.

Why does this matter? Because Prep is sitting in the third spot with a 16-1 conference record. Should Hillhouse beat Career for the second time and Prep win on the road at Cheshire tonight, the Jesuits will slide into the No. 2 spot and earn a first-round SCC bye.

If Career beats Hillhouse, Prep would share the regular-season SCC championship, but be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. Career would be No. 1, Hillhouse would be second, because the tiebreaker is “best” win.

If Shelton loses to West Haven, the Jesuits will clinch a first-round bye whether they beat Cheshire or not. If Shelton wins, and Prep is the No. 3 seed, the Gaels will play at Alumni Hall on Thursday.

Confused? No? Good.

Then we’ll move onto the FCIAC, that should confuse everyone. Right now there are eight teams within one game of the tournament’s Nos. 6-8.

Ludlowe must start by winning tonight, and root for Trinity to beat Central, Bassick over Stamford and its rival Warde to conquer Greenwich tonight. The Falcons will also be rooting for Danbury and Staples, because they have the tiebreaker over both.

Warde, on the other hand, has a more arduous trek to the FCIAC playoffs. The Mustangs only hold the tiebreaker over Staples, Trumbull and Central, but do play Greenwich tonight. Warde must win out– an unlikely feat with No. 1 St. Joseph coming to Fairfield Wednesday– and finish a game better than Ludlowe, Stamford and Danbury.

I’m going to suggest we let tonight play out and re-convene Wednesday, mostly because there are far too many scenarios at play. But that’s what the Fairfield teams need to root for, at least for tonight.

Apparently a cakewalk through the state of Connecticut is not likely for Connor Henry and Fairfield Prep's hockey team after it lost 2-0 to ND-West Haven on Saturday

The No. 1 hockey team in the state isn’t as invincible as we once thought.

Fairfield Prep was shut out on Saturday at rival ND-West Haven. The Green Knights got goals from Greg Zullo and Colby Cretella, to earn a 2-0 victory at Bennett Rink.

ND could slide into the No. 1 slot, especially since its loss to Prep was just 4-3 on Jan. 7. Prep could fall to No. 2 according to the New Haven Register poll, but hasn’t slid in the CIAC Division I poll.

When asked whether or not he’d like to see Prep again, ND coach Bill Gerosa said “Wouldn’t it be great to see them in the finals? But we have 7 more games to win before that.”

Prep coach Matt Sather told me he expects to see ND again, “I imagine we will and I hope we will. They’re a great team.”

In championships this weekend, Warde finished fifth at Class L wrestling, Ludlowe was 11th. Thomas Anania and Pharoh Eaton were champions for Warde at 160 and 132, respectively.

In track, Prep’s Patrick Corona finished fourth at the 1,000 meters, earning a trip to New Englands and the New Balance nationals. He’ll be joined by Warde’s Harry Warnick, who placed third in the 1,600 and second in the 3,200.

Ludlowe’s Sydney Kay and Andrew Fernandes finished ninth in the 55-meter and 600, respectively. For Warde, Cate Allen and Lia Joham were 11th in the 1,000 and 300, respectively. Allen also placed 10th in the 1,600.

I’ll be at Ludlowe at Trumbull boys basketball tonight, then St. Joseph at Warde boys on Wednesday. Beyond that depends on the playoffs.

Have a great week.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

Podcast: Fairfield Sports Cafe

Here is the most recent edition of the Fairfield Sports Cafe podcast.

In this week’s edition, I recap Fairfield Warde’s girls basketball team’s loss in the unofficial FCIAC play-in game, preview the FCIAC and SWC girls basketball tournament, breakdown the SCC and SWC boys basketball playoff scenarios and also discuss ND-Fairfield’s state qualifying and full-time head coaching announcement.

I’ll be at ND-Fairfield’s first round SWC girls basketball tournament game on Saturday at 5 p.m., so look for updates coming on that.

If you have questions, comments, concerns or anything else, feel free to email me at ppickens@bcnnew.com or get the conversation started with me on Twitter.

Have a great weekend.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

Just when I thought ND’s hockey team was coming on and Prep’s was due for a loss.

Christian Abraham/Notre Dame-Fairfield wasn't happy with some of the penalties that was called against Fairfield Prep on Saturday.

It wasn’t unreasonable to consider. Jesuits were coming off a narrow, 2-1 win over North Haven. The Lancers had won four straight, and were knocking on the door of the Division I playoffs. A 1 p.m. start could’ve set the stage for Prep to sleepwalk.

Except one problem. Prep wasn’t going to sleepwalk through two Senior Days in a row.

The Jesuits scored on four power plays, en route to an 8-1 win over their in-town rival, ND. You can read my full story for more on that.

Prep’s power play is officially running at 38 percent, which is awfully impressive. ND interim coach Steve Heatherman has seen that dominance first hand this season, watching the Jesuits pop seven man-advantage tallies in the clubs’ two head-to-head contests. After the game, he couldn’t contain himself.

“The calls were terrible. A good official is consistent. So you’re consistently good or consistently bad. But, I mean, you guys (myself and two other press members) were there. What did you think?” Heatherman said. ” I’ve been around hockey for many years, and at the college level, those guys know. Down here…they should understand the importance of it. I want the officials to let the boys decide the game.”

It’s fair to say that ND could’ve had more than the two power plays it was given, inconsistent is a good word to describe them, but “terrible” might be going a bit overboard. The loss to Prep snapped ND’s four-game win streak.

I said on Twitter, that Heatherman would likely be hearing from the CIAC because of those remarks. Whether he has or not, I don’t know, but he did have some nice things to say about Prep too.

“They’re a fabulous team,” Heatherman said. “If you give them in advantage, it’s hard to stop.”

The Jesuits lost to ND-West Haven on Senior Day a year ago, but weren’t going to let lightning strike twice.

“Last year on senior day we got beat,” Prep coach Matt Sather said. “Guys remembered that and made sure that it didn’t happen again.”

Sather said Matt Brophy’s return from a broken hand has been the key difference to Prep’s sizzling PP. Prep is clearly head and shoulders above every other team in the state, and it is due mostly to special teams and goaltending. Prep’s PK is working at 92 percent, and the Jesuits have only allowed 12 goals in their 12 games against Connecticut.

Not bad at all.

Connor Rog and his dad, Joe, after the Millrose Games on Saturday.

Speaking of Prep, Gatorade state cross country runner Connor Rog raced in the Millrose Games’ boys high school mile on Saturday night in New York.

Rog placed seventh out of the 12 runners in the mile. You can watch his race on YouTube, if you’re interested.

Rog told me during his signing day ceremony how excited he was to race in the Millrose Games. It’s certainly an honor, considering the event has been held since 1908, and The Armory is one of the most historic venues in tri-state area sports.

Warde’s girls and boys basketball teams are in position to reach the FCIAC playoffs.

Dave Danko’s girls squad won a key game, holding off Ridgefield 56-50 Friday night, which put the Mustangs in a tie for seventh place. If Warde splits its final two games, it’ll likely reach the FCIACs for the first time since 2009, the year the Mustangs won the whole thing.

The boys have games with Darien, Stamford, Greenwich and St. Joseph. Warde certainly could win three of those, and would finish 10-8 with tiebreakers over Greenwich and Stamford. I’m sure that would be enough to clinch at least the No. 8 seed.

Wrestling, track and gymnastics championships all were contested this weekend.

Prep finished fifth at SCC Wrestling. Warde and Ludlowe each finished in the top-5 at the FCIAC tournament, with the Mustangs placing second and Falcons coming in fifth. Good for both teams.

Ludlowe and Warde also placed in the top-five at FCIACs in gymnastics.

The Class L meet, featuring Fairfield Warde, was postponed due to the inclement (well, THREATENING) weather on Saturday. It will be contested on Monday in New Haven. Ludlowe’s girls  earned two points at LLs, thanks to Sydney Kay’s fifth-place finish in the 55-meter dash.

Prep’s Patrick Corona took third in the 1,000 on the boys side as the Jesuits finished 15th with 11 points.

Where I’ll be this week

Monday- Ridgefield at Ludlowe, girls basketball, 7
Tuesday- Prep at Shelton, boys basketball, 7
Wednesday- Ludlowe at McMahon, girls basketball, 5:30
Friday- Foran at Fairfield Prep, boys basketball, 7
Saturday- FCIAC or SWC Tournament girls basketball game, TBA

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

Podcast: Fairfield Sports Cafe

Here is the most recent edition of the Fairfield Sports Cafe.

Fairfield Warde offensive lineman Mike Money, center, signs his National Letter of Intent for Central Connecticut St., while flanked by his mom, Tricia; dad, Mike Sr., right, and head coach Duncan DellaVolpe.

In this edition, I talk about Mike Money’s signing for Central Connecticut State University, Warde, Prep, ND and Ludlowe’s suddenly hot boys basketball team, the maddening roller coaster ride the Fairfield co-op ice hockey team.

I also briefly preview Warde in the FCIAC wrestling meet and the Fairfield Prep vs. ND-Fairfield boys ice hockey team’s game on Saturday.

If you’d like to contact me, email me at ppickens@bcnnew.com.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

Entering last night’s Super Bowl, I knew the Pats and Giants would be hard-pressed to repeat the drama of the Super Bowl XLII.

AP Photo/ This picture looks familiar, doesn't it, Giants fans?

Sure enough, they did.

The Giants’ run to the championship was eerily similar to the one between 2007-08, right down to Eli Manning’s Lombardi Trophy picture, seen at right.

But in the end, it was a Super Bowl for the ages, and the Giants are champions again.

No matter what talk-radio, ESPN, or pundits around the country say today, New England’s litany of mistakes cost it the game. The Pats had a turnover taken off the board from a 12-men on the field penalty, failed to recover two Giants fumbles, and had drop after drop on the final drive.

Don’t pin this one on Wes Welker or Tom Brady, if you’re looking for a scapegoat, consider how the team was built. I’ve been saying all year that New England was thinner on offense than numbers would show. Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez are matchup nightmares, but if one is not healthy, the entire offense is average, even with arguably the greatest quarterback of all time.

The Giants executed, and don’t let anything the team tells the press today fooled you. Ahmad Bradshaw made the right play falling into the end zone. When a team is giving you points, you take them, no matter the circumstances. To put your faith into a snap, a catch, a hold and a kick on the last play of the Super Bowl is a lot of pressure, even from 18-yards out and no matter what Adam Vinatieri would have you believe.

Kevin Duffy is the winner.

The Post’s UConn men’s beat writer picked the Giants to win 27-21, the closest final score to the actual one in my mini-Twitter contest. Therefore he wins the shoutout.

Although, I had the Giants winning by 3, so I give myself props for that as well.

Stunners in Fairfield high school hoops were on the menu Friday.

Ludlowe coach Brian Silvestro told me on Thursday, his club’s game at Danbury was a must-win, since the Falcons entered with a 3-10 record and still have Ridgefield on coming up.

Needless to say, I thought the Hatters would win by 10.

Yet, Ludlowe took care of business on Friday night, holding off Danbury 61-57 to win its fourth game, and suddenly put itself in the mix for a state playoff berth.

I columnized last week about Silvestro’s worth to this team, and the Falcons now need to go 4-2, against some paltry competition, to reach the states. As long as Ludlowe doesn’t read its press clippings, the team should be good enough to reach Class L playoffs.

Meanwhile at Warde, the Mustangs looked ready to play, and Trinity Catholic did not.

The Crusaders seemed disinterested, and as though talent would be good enough, as it has been most of the year. The Mustangs worked and stole a 59-54 win against the FCIAC’s No. 2 team.

Trinity coach Mike Walsh told me after the game his club was out-played in 7 of 8 loose ball scenarios. This team is obviously as talented as any in the league, but apparently has had trouble playing as a team. Warde, who has had trouble with consistency, is now in states, but may see Trinity somewhere again.

If you didn’t see it, I wrote a pretty long feature on Terry Tarpey.

Fairfield Prep's Terry Tarpey is a pretty good dunker.

The Fairfield Prep standout swingman has become a giant in his own right of late. But there is MUCH more that couldn’t make the story, so here are some of the things that were cut.

Tarpey, on growing up and competing against his parents: “I wasn’t that good, maybe average. I still can’t beat my dad in 1-on-1.”

Terry’s dad: “I haven’t challenged him in 1-on-1 in a couple of years.”

Terry’s dad on comparing his game to his son’s: “We’re complete opposites. He shows me all the things I couldn’t do as a player.”

Terry’s sister, Kaitlyn, on her family’s competitive nature, and her brother’s basketball passion: “We’re a very competitive family…but I knew Terry would play basketball. He was carrying around a basketball at age 2.”

Terry’s dad on traveling for his son’s AAU basketball: “We spent a lot of quality time together…these are moments I’ll never forget.”

Terry, on his outlandish fashion that includes Nantucket red pants and pink socks: “Whatever keeps me loose, I’ll do…I play better when I’m loose.”

Terry’s mom, Ann Dzenutis, on Terry’s fashion sense: “It must come from his sister. I don’t know the first thing about fashion.”

Dzenutis on her son’s dunking: “I told him that you need to give the fans some reason to watch you.”

Tarpey on his goals for this season: “I’d love to see St. Joes again. I love playing great competition.”

I’ll be at Harding vs. Ludlowe boys basketball on Tuesday, Fairfield at Trinity Catholic hockey Weds., Ridgefield vs. Warde girls Friday and ND-Fairfield vs. Prep hockey on Saturday. Have a great week.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

Podcast: Fairfield Sports Cafe

Here is the signing day edition of the Fairfield Sports Cafe!

Fairfield Prep's Connor Rog says his letter of intent to run at the University of Virginia as Prep's coaches Bob Ford Sr., left, and Bob Ford Jr. look on.

I discuss Connor Rog’s signing ceremony to run at the University of Virginia at Fairfield Prep and Keegan Thimons’ signing to play soccer at Vanderbilt University.

The Fairfield co-op hockey win over Staples-Weston-Shelton, ND-Fairfield’s win over West Haven and Fairfield Prep’s terrific hockey week are all also discussed, and I make an unbiased Super Bowl prediction. Honestly.

If you’d like to comment on something you’ve heard or just say hello, send me an email at ppickens@bcnnew.com. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.

Fairfield Warde's Keegan Thimons-- flanked by Warde coach Tom Cunningham, her parents Molly and Jim and club coach Dave Flower--signs her National Letter of Intent to play soccer at Vanderbilt University.

Podcast: Fairfield Sports Cafe

Ludlowe vs. Warde is basketball is only where the podcast begins.

In this week’s edition, I touch on the two epic basketball games, Danbury’s romp over Warde wrestling, and we meet the new Notre Dame boys ice hockey coach, Steve Heatherman.

If you have feedback, questions, or just want to comment, send me an email at ppickens@bcnnew.com

Thanks for tuning in, and have a great weekend.

Pat Pickens is the sports editor of the Fairfield Citizen, a Hearst Connecticut Newspaper organization. Follow him on Twitter here.