Howdy,

One of these days, Wolcott head coach Jason Pace is going to learn how to yell without blowing out his vocal cords.

“Oh, yeah — it happens after every big game when it’s close at the end,” Pace said Sunday night, sounding as if he had been gargling barbed wire. “I haven’t found a way to communicate without yelling.”

Pace’s howling wasn’t in vain as his Eagles knocked off Naugatuck last Friday, 45-38, in a game between two unbeaten Naugatuck Valley League teams.

It was the best win of the young season for Wolcott (4-0).

“I have to say (it’s made them) more confident,” Pace said of the win. “It’s not that we didn’t believe we couldn’t beat them. I think we were the only ones in the state that thought we had any chance, but they’re more confident now.”

The Eagles qualified as the NVL’s wild card as they returned just five starters on both offense and defense. They graduated their leading rusher (Joe Lynch), their top two receivers (Jayson Matos and Adam Santopietro) and four offensive linemen.

The flip side was that quarterback Vincent Gambino returned. The senior threw for a school record 2,756 yards and 35 touchdowns last season.

“The biggest (positive) is that we knew we had Gambino coming back,” Pace said. “He had a great season last year and we knew he was only going to get better. We also knew that we had so many receivers. Only one was coming back (Sean Brooks) from last year, but we also knew that some of the younger guys were going to be good when it was their time.

“This group has been together for so long and just have a bond with each other. They’re committed to not failing, I guess you could say. They won’t lose. They won’t do that to each other.”

It’s not easy to outscore Naugatuck (3-1). Head coach Craig Bruno consistently runs one of the most wide-open and aggressive offenses in the state. His Greyhounds averaged 49 points through three games, and quarterback Jason Bradley had thrown 16 touchdowns and no interceptions. He threw seven of those touchdowns in a 57-24 win over Kennedy on Oct. 12.

Wolcott was able to keep pace with Naugatuck thanks to its ever-evolving offensive line. Left tackle Cole Phelps is both the only returning starter and senior.

“That’s been our biggest surprise,” Pace said. “Fortunately our offensive line coach (Bob Stockert) does a great job every year. He’s had to work with a younger group, and they’ve come together. They really have.

“Four out of the five are juniors, so that’s encouraging because they’re going to continue to get better. Cole has started since his sophomore year. I think he was 165 pounds last year. I think he’s up to 220 (this year). You can see that he put on 40-to-45 pounds of muscle in the offseason. He committed himself.”

Brandan Brown (right guard), Tyler Johnson (left guard), Justin Nadeau (center) and Phil Olmstead (right tackle) round out the offensive line.

Wolcott, like the Greyhounds, also has one of the NVL’s best quarterbacks in Gambino. He completed 18 of 30 passes for 229 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for a score. Senior Mike Audibert also ran 22 times for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

Wolcott’s defense also dogged Bradley all night. He completed just 7 of 19 passes for 140 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

“We were duly well aware how talented he was and how talented they were offensively,” Pace said. “They’re probably one of the most explosive units in the entire state. Our goal was to mix up our coverages and pressures.

“We didn’t want to be predictable. We’d drop back into our quarters coverages and gave him everything underneath. Some times we used press coverage. … Keep him in the pocket and force them to run the ball.”

Antoine Sistrunk ran 26 times for 156 yards and four touchdowns for Naugy. Bradley added 22 carries for 72 yards and a score.

“They had success with it (running), but it kind of took them out of what they like to do,” Pace said.

Wolcott is second to Brookfield (5-0) in the CIAC Class M rankings. Berlin (5-0), Ledyard (5-0) and defending champion St. Joseph (4-1) round out the top five.

The Eagles finish out the season with games at third-ranked Ansonia (Oct. 30), vs. Derby (Nov. 14), and at Holy Cross (Thanksgrabbing).

• • • •

We hope by now that you realize Polecat Worldwide is all about serving YOU, sexy reader.

A plan was in place to start (at some point) publishing a form of bracketology and predict which four teams will qualify for each of the CIAC’s eight (eep) divisions.

Loyal football fan/pool enthusiast Vince DellaVolpe got to pondering about Class S on the Twitter yesterday (you’re not regularly patrolling #cthsfb? What’s the matterwith you?) So we got to thinking that maybe the time is NOW for us to be wrong in public.

Here, then, are the predictions with SEVEN sensuous weeks left in our regular season:

CLASS LL-GRANDE: No. 1 Southington vs. No. 4 Stamford; No. 2 Newtown vs. No. 3 Glastonbury.

CLASS LL-PEQUEÑO (the kinda' SCC D-1 Invitational): No. 1 Shelton vs. No. 4 Xavier; No. 2 Cheshire vs. No. 3 Hall.

CLASS L-GRANDE: No. 1 New Canaan vs. No. 4 Naugatuck; No. 2 Wethersfield vs. No. 3 Darien.

CLASS L-PEQUEÑO (the kinda' CCC Invitational): No. 1 Middletown vs. No. 4 Platt; No. 2 Windsor vs. No. 3 North Haven.

CLASS M-GRANDE (FIXED~!): No. 1 Berlin vs. No. 4 New London; No. 2 Brookfield vs. No. 3 Abbott Tech/Immaculate.

CLASS M-PEQUEÑO (FIXED~!): No. 1 Ledyard vs. No. 4 Wolcott; No. 2. Ellington/Somers vs. No. 3 St. Joseph.

CLASS S-GRANDE: 1. Ansonia vs. No. 4 Seymour (again); No. 2 Valley Regional/Old Lyme vs. No. 3 Windham.

CLASS S-PEQUEÑO: No. 1 Northwest Catholic vs. No. 4 Hartford Capital/Achievement First; No. 2 North Branford vs. No. 3 Canton.

• • • •

The Day of New London Top 10 state coaches poll. … is at the top of this page.

• • • •

The New Haven Register Top 10 media poll: 1. Southington (4-0, 22 first-place votes); 2. Darien (5-0, one first-place vote); 3. New Canaan (5-0, two first-place votes); 4. Ansonia (5-0, one first-place vote); 5. Newtown (5-0, one first-place vote); 6. Cheshire (5-0); 7. Shelton (5-0); 8. Windsor (5-0); 9. St. Joseph (4-1); 10. Xavier (5-0). Ledyard (5-0) was tied with Brookfield (5-0) for 11th.

• • • •

Ned Freeman’s cold, calculating computer rankings for CalPreps and MaxPreps: 1. Darien (5-0); 2. Southington (4-0); 3. Shelton (5-0); 4. New Canaan (5-0); 5. St. Joseph (5-0); 6. Cheshire (5-0); 7. Xavier (5-0); 8. Ansonia (5-0); 9. Fairfield Prep (3-2); and, 10. Brookfield (5-0).

Ledyard is 21st, and Windsor 29th.

The computer rated Hand’s schedule the state’s toughest, and its opponents are a combined 20-5. The Tigers beat Wilbur Cross (37-24), which is a surprising 4-1. They’ve lost to No. 1 New Canaan (21-14), No. 5 Cheshire (17-13), and North Haven (28-19).

• • • •

Behold, the ballot that Polecat Worldwide submitted to media poll coordinator Pooch Diggity Dogg of the GameTimeCT Monolith:

1. Southington.

2. New Canaan.

3. Ansonia: Perhaps you've heard that it's won 48 straight games and could tie Cheshire's state record with a win at No. 7 Newtown this Friday night. You should check it out.

4. Darien: Still turning the ball over too much, but Shelton’s 38-35 win over Fairfield Prep forced some reshuffling. You see, Darien beat St. Joseph (21-17), and St. Joseph beat Fairfield Prep (48-33). We think Shelton’s win over Prep trumps Cheshire’s against West Haven (42-28), so the former was moved ahead of the latter. Now you see what Top 10 math looks like when putting together a ballot. Hey, we didn’t say it was 100-percent logical.

5. St. Joseph.

6. Shelton: The SCC’s best rivalry back in the nineties was Shelton vs. Cheshire. The two Housatonic Division titans used to do battle the last Friday night of the season, and it was glorious. And then the SCC reorganized, put Cheshire and Shelton into different divisions, and the two don’t regularly play anymore. BOO-OOOO. Bad enough that college realignment cost us Nebraska vs. Oklahoma, and Texas vs. Texas A&M.

7. Cheshire: Via Ray Curren, the Rams’ Andrew Yamin has run for 1,187 yards on 88 carries. GOD’S OFFENSE.

8. Newtown.

9. Xavier.

10. Wolcott: Deserves a top 10 spot after beating Naugatuck, our No. 5 last week.

11. North Haven.

12. Ledyard.

13. Hall.

14. Fairfield Prep: Its first-half failures in its Week 2 loss at St. Joseph were maddening. It deserves some credit for its schedule with wins over Stamford (4-1) and Notre Dame of West Haven (3-2, which beat West Haven last Friday). Its losses were to No. 6 Shelton (38-35) and No. 9 St. Joseph (48-33).

15. Stamford.

Just missed: Brookfield (5-0), Wethersfield (5-0), and ND-W.H. (3-2 — we’re marks for teams that play tough schedules).

• • • •

STORYTIME~!

Kountry Kyle Brennan, Waterbury Anarchist-American: Wolcott’s “upset” causes some reflection (it’s a fancy way to say he erred and picked Naugatuck).

Kountry and Remmington, NVL Blog: The lads preview all the NVL-SWC Challenge games except THE GAME (which they'll focus on later today).

Norwich Bulletin: Area notebook.

Bodacious Bryant Carpenter, Meriden Record-Journal: Notebook.

Ray Curran, GameTimeCT Monolith: Inside the SCC. Raymond focuses on Lyman Hall’s odd firing of head coach Rob Marone last week.

Mike "Ollie Optimism" DiMauro, TEAM DAY: Cue the violins for the ECC’s chief critics (ECC — Everybody Constantly Complains).

Pooch Diggity Dogg, GameTimeCT Monolith: Area notebook.

Francesco Grazianio, CPTV Sports: A video feature on Seymour cheerleader Nina Poeta and her battle against inoperable brain cancer.

Mark Jaffee, Waterbury Anarchist-American: Parente gives Wolcott leg up on NVL.

John Nash, Norwalk Hour: Area notebook.

Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report: The Blitz.

• • • •

NOTABLES~!

Spencer Turkel threw a 60-yard touchdown to Peter Lummis with 0.7 seconds left as Weston rallied to beat Bunnell on Friday, 41-29. Weston’s Zach Spencer ended the game by scoring on a 2-yard interception return. Adam Wojenski tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Cole Davis with 33.5 seconds remaining in the game to give Bunnell a 29-28 lead.

Alex LaPolice ran five times for 69 yards and two TDs and added four catches for 72 yards and a score for top-ranked New Canaan in its 42-14 win over Danbury on Friday. … Jasen Rose completed 30 of 36 passes for 360 yards and six touchdowns and ran for another in No. 2 Southington’s 54-20 win over New Britain on Friday. … Tyler Bailey ran 12 times for 158 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a 62-yard punt return during No. 3 Ansonia’s 61-35 victory over St. Paul on Friday. Tajik Bagley rushed 11 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns and Jai’Quan McKnight scored on a 63-yard run and an 85-yard kickoff return.

Andrew Yamin ran 24 times for 297 yards and a touchdown in No. 6 Cheshire’s 17-13 win over Hand on Friday. Nick van Dell ran 12 times for 122 yards and a score and completed 13 of 22 passes for 256 yards and a score for Hand. … Ledyard’s JoJo Shumaker ran 13 times for 210 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a 63-yard run to pace No. 8 Ledyard past Waterford on Friday, 55-13. Ty Ebdon also went 10-of-15 for 278 yards and five touchdowns.

Lars Pedersen scored on a 35-yard catch, a 16-yard reverse, and an 88-yard kickoff return for No. 9 St. Joseph as it routed Wilton on Friday, 49-20. … Mark Piccirillo was 17 of 24 for 233 yards and a TD and ran 25 times for 105 yards and two scores for No. 9 Shelton as it beat Fairfield Prep on Friday, 38-35.

Rob Parra had nine catches for 144 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 74 yards and two scores as Hall beat East Hartford on Friday, 49-14. Parra caught three of his touchdowns in the third quarter. Sam Dobbins completed 15 of 19 passes for 220 yards and five TDs for Hall. Enyce Walker ran 25 times for 284 yards and four touchdowns and had 373 all-purpose yards for East Hartford.

Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central both returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown in their respective wins on Friday. Luis Medina scored on an 80-yard kickoff return and Central’s defense had eight sacks in a 52-28 win over Bulkeley/HTMCA. Eastern’s Gerry Ouellette took the opening kickoff for a 90-yard TD and ran for 101 yards and a score in a 49-7 rout of Fermi.

Demetrius Evans ran 13 times for 120 yards and four touchdowns as Manchester thumped South Windsor on Friday, 52-26. … Travon Holder ran seven times for 108 yards and two touchdowns and had four catches for 110 yards and a TD to pace Cheney Tech past Wolcott Tech on Friday, 36-13. … Prince Tech’s Vincent Ruff ran 20 times for 206 yards and two TDs in Friday’s 22-14 win over Quinebaug Valley.

Avon scored twice in the first 2 minutes and 7 seconds of their 34-0 win over Enfield on Friday. … Trinity Catholic allowed just FOUR first downs in its 19-0 win over Foran on Friday. … Tyrell Diaz scored on runs of 67 and 74 yards as Stamford rallied to beat Ridgefield, 47-32, on Friday. The Black Knights (4-1) lost starting Jalen Brown to a hand injury and trailed by nine points at the time.

Chris Jean-Pierre ran 15 times for 190 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 88 yards and a score as Valley Regional/Old Lyme beat Cromwell on Friday, 44-0. Tyler Cheverier added two sacks, a blocked punt, and returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown. … Matt Sanzaro completed 8 of 15 passes for 148 yards and a TD and ran for two scores as Wethersfield thumped unbeaten Maloney on Friday, 41-0. The Eagles defense allowed Maloney just 101 yards, too.

Coginchaug stopped Gabe Eriksen on a two-point conversion run with two minutes left and held on to stun unbeaten Morgan on Friday, 26-25. Jake Ober ran for two touchdowns. threw a 56-yard TD to Kevin Crompton, and ran for a two-point conversion for Coginchaug. … Windham ran for 463 yards and five touchdowns as it trounced Fitch on Friday, 47-8. … Corey Maddox ran five times for 200 yards and three touchdowns to lead Hillhouse past Lyman Hall on Friday, 48-21.

Thomas Gallagher ran for 138 yards and four touchdowns as North Haven routed Sheehan on Friday, 41-17. Cole Pecora scored on an 85-yard kickoff return and a 55-yard punt return during the third quarter. The Titans, on the other hand, started their fourth quarterback this season as the first three were injured. … Joe Mwamba completed just 9 of 24 passes, yet amassed 282 yards and two touchdowns for Platt in its 28-17 win over Rocky Hill. The Panthers’ Tyzhan LEATHERWOOD added 32 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Jaylen Kelley completed 6 of 8 passes for 127 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two more as Seymour downed Wilby on Friday, 48-28. … Tyre Holman ran 10 times for 207 yards and three touchdowns to pace McMahon past Harding on Friday, 43-28. Holman scored on runs of 64, 67 and 33 yards. … Christian Lupoli ran 19 times for 135 yards and threw for 110 yards and a TD as Notre Dame of West Haven rallied back from an early 12-point deficit to beat hated rival West Haven on Friday, 40-33.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. More soon.

Vaya con dios.