NFA-Xavier game set for Friday night at Rentschler Field

East Hartford — Norwich Free Academy will play two-time defending champion Xavier for the Class LL state football championship on Friday at 7:05 p.m., the CIAC announced this morning during a press conference at Rentschler Field, site of all four state title games.

NFA (12-0), the fifth seed, will be playing in its second state final. The Wildcats, fresh off a 30-28 upset of top-seeded Staples in the semifinals on Sunday, lost to Southington in the 1998 championship game.

Xavier (11-1) is the No. 3 seed.

On Saturday, Ansonia (13-0) will play North Branford (12-0) for the Class S title at 10:35 a.m., Hillhouse (10-2) faces Berlin (11-1) in the Class M final at 2:05 p.m., and Hand (12-0) defends its Class L title against Windsor (11-0) at 5:35 p.m.